What do you think about the Muslim police officer that refuses to shake hands with Men?

Question

Should the tradition be stopped as it will put such muslim police officers in an embarrassing position?

why has someone said we need to understand islamic law? We do not live in an islamic state. What has islamic law got to do with this?

Answer 1

Greeting mates.

First of all as a muslim i would apologies for all the wrong doing of my fellow muslims. i would firstly liek to clarify that it is the extremist who are waging this war or doing this terrorist act n nt the moderate muslims.so i plead nt to generalise the believer of islam teaching as terrorist or other unwanted views.

in every religion im sure there is a basic structure or teaching. Christians have it,Jews have it n so does Islam. i do agree being a policemen it is part of the job scope to communicate n interact with ppl n shaking hand would be unavoidable. so i agree that wat she did was wrong n adding to it she had failed to clarify her stand on y she did it. no doubt she was brave in duin in wat she think wat right. i do have to acknowledge that. but as part of the job, i do believe it is nth wrong n God would understand it n forgive her tat.

i as a muslim would also like to take this oppurtunity to condemn the extremist who call themselves as the fighter of Jihad. i as a muslim do not acknowledge them as a brother or even a fellow follower. they are a disgrace to the islamic society n it is because of their actions,moderate muslims like me are suffering. i would seek ur understanding n also ur judgement to properly differentiate between this fake muslims extremist n the moderate muslims. pls do nt hate us the moderate muslims or label us at terrorist coz we are innocent party caught between the cross fire. i plead u to understanding this. do pls differentiate between the 2 different groups. i would also seek ur help in being sensitive to each other religion. pls respect n understand each other religion. If a mosque(islam),the wailing wall(jew), n a church(christians) can be built in the same gorund n area in middle east, y cant we live as one when we stay under the same sky?

thanks for taking time to read this. appreciate it. God Bless..

Answer 2

This person is appointed to uphold the law, regardless of the persons gender, race or religious background. If they refuse to shake hands, which is a sign of trust and friendship, how can that be embarrassing? The tradition of hand shaking goes back many hundreds of years, when opposing sides would lay down their weapons, which was generally held in the right hand and shake the hand of their enemy. Whilst it may be a good idea in some cases to have a police officer of a different cultural background, they still joined the BRITISH police force and took an oath to serve The Crown. Yes, that oath does not include shaking hands, but that is how we, as British people greet each other on formal (and in some cases non formal) occasions.
It just seems to me that this person just wants their 15 mins of fame!

Answer 3

this is the same answer i used on a previous question:



EVERYONE!!!

let's not be racist. please understand this Muslim's position.

1st, you have to understand some Islam laws, its not a tradition. go to your dictionary, find the definition for "Haram", and continue reading this.

For a Muslim woman, she is forbidden/Haram for her to have any touch-contact with ALL males except her husband, father, grandfather, brother and elder relatives... that is the reason why she cannot shake hands with Sir Ian Blair...

in my country, where Muslims are the minority, it is perfectly understood of this issue. in fact, it is not even an issue! racial and religious harmony is very strong.
if we don't understand each other's customs, we are not shy to appropriately ask each other about it, and the other will explain. we understand and tolerate each other :)

that is why i feel racial and religious harmony is VERY IMPORTANT. with it, comes understanding of why the other guy does this and doesnt do that, etc... next, is tolerance, so that we can live together peacefully with no problems. and such consequences such as this won't even surface :)

Sir Ian Blair is definitely not in the wrong. i feel she is partially wrong, for she did not explained herself, because Islam is not fully understood in that country. if she did, there would be nothing to talk about :)

hmm... YES, i most agree. she should not have taken that job. being a police officer, means having to work with many people. that includes shaking hands too. she should have understood what its meant to be a police officer, before she became one. i'm pretty sure there are other jobs out there for her. she should consider switching jobs.

Answer 4

Good point, surely this is Britain and British law rules, not Islamic law. If you don't want to shake hands then don't put yourself in the situation where you are expected to. I can see a compensation coming to this officer, because she will claim she is being victimised, Oh well more tax payers money going down the drain !! No wonder they need some many safety camera's set up all over the place, how else are the police going to be able to support these claims !!

Answer 5

I think her actions were fair enough. What's wrong with just saying hello? Besides it's not about touching men it's a Muslim belief about hygiene and it is this kind of misassumption that leads to needless rows and the develpoment of racist views and racial slurs. It would have been better had you got your facts in order before posting questions on the subject. This is the kind of trick manipulative journalists play to inflame public opinion in a negative way. If Muslims don't like to shake hands as a greeting then so what? Who are we to impose our beliefs on them anymore than if the reverse happened?? And before anyone says they do, they absolutlely do not. Fundamentalists may seek to but they make up a small part of the faith. Do you ever ask why we can only shop until 4pm on Sundays? Because fundamentalist Christians don't like it so the rest of us have to put up with it! Talk about double standards!!

Answer 6

I agree with 'Ladymoonlight' or whatever her name is. She should be a Police Officer first and then a Muslim second, how on earth is supposed to work and arrest people or help people is she refuses to touch mens hands? I can't see her at the match on Saturday afternoon can you? The worst bit is, If she was this religious, how did she get through training where contact with males is vitally important in role playing etc...
Very silly.

Answer 7

"British Islamic leaders yesterday defended a Muslim woman police constable who refused to shake hands with her force's chief because of her beliefs.

"The Metropolitan police officer declined to have any physical contact with commissioner Sir Ian Blair at a passing out ceremony for newly qualified recruits.

"Muslim groups said her refusal was in line with common Islamic practice and called for greater understanding of cultural differences.

"Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the "overwhelming majority" of practising Muslims would avoid physical contact with a member of the opposite sex unless they were closely related.

"But he added that those employed as police officers or doctors, for example, would not have a problem with touching people in order to fulfil their duties. "This is not a sign of disrespect or anything. Indeed this is also the case with the Orthodox Jewish community," he said."

Answer 8

Which tradition, the shaking of hands or the Muslim reluctance to touch another person ? Neither should be stopped, if the Muslim police officer does his / her job correctly I don't see any problem. but I would like to know why they can not shake hands, I used to work with an Arab guy some years ago and when he shook hands it was odd, you could see it was bad for him but I never found out why.

Answer 9

You know, I'm sick to death of all this tolerant and understanding talk. Most civilized western countries have opened their doors to multiculturalism for many years. What has it gotten us? Lets see, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police can now wear Turbans, Sikh students can now come to school with their ceremonial daggers, racial profiling is alive and well, just try and get a job if you are a white English speaking male. It's time to stand up for tradition. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Loosely translated this means when in the USA our welfare offices will be open 24 hours a day to you, and please bring as many of your criminal brothers and sisters with you into our country. For we will bend over backwards, change traditions, take the Christ out of Christmas just for you. To answer the question, if the Police force hadn't advertised for a visible minority, and white males need not apply, we wouldn't have the problem. People should get jobs based on merit and merit only. I don't give a darn what color you are, race or religion. Just get the job done. She cannot perform the job adequately.

Answer 10

How is she going to do her job if she can't shake hands or have physical contact with men?

How's she supposed to arrest someone (male)? Put the handcuffs on etc?

Or help an old man who's fallen over/collapsed in the street?

Or restrain someone?

Presumably if she's so strict about her faith she won't go near a fellow officer with a police dog or help a blind person with a guide dog either!

Makes you wonder why she chose that career. Seems a bit stupid to me, police officers do have to shake hands and have physical contact with people to do their job! She can't just go through her career in the police force only arresting/helping women!

Answer 11

DOUBLE STANDARDS, If a European women were to go to certain predominantly `Muslim countries and failed to abandon her traditions in favour of the traditions of the said country she would risk being shouted at, bullied, imprisoned, raped, tortured, mutilated, limbs hacked off, eyes gouged out, stoned to death or killed by the religious police or torn apart from limb to limb by the locals. And before anyone questions the above or says it is not true I can state categorically that it is, I have been to these places.