Designated terrorist group CAIR files lawsuit against State Department for forcing a new Muslim hire to shave his long beard or be fired. When Devin Brooks reported for training in West Virginia for his new security guard job at the U.S. Department of State, he was pulled aside and told his beard violated the agency’s facial hair policy.
Religion News A lawsuit filed Wednesday (May 3) by the Council on American-Islamic Relations against Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department claims Brooks was forced to shave his beard to keep his job and afterward was “denied permission to maintain a beard longer than ½ inch.” Rather than accommodate Brooks’ beliefs, the agency removed him from active duty and later placed him on administrative leave, then unpaid leave, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit requests payment for economic damages and emotional harm, along with other damages and fees. Llawyers representing CAIR argue in the lawsuit that these concerns don’t outweigh Brooks’ right to observe his faith.
When in mandatory training for his new position, Brooks was told that he would be sent home if he did not shave his beard. Forced to choose between his faith and his job, Brooks made the painful decision to shave. He then asked for permission to maintain a beard the length of which would be determined by holding it with his fist, a traditional length supported by many Islamic scholars.
The State Department denied Brooks’ request, citing safety concerns, and later ended Brooks’ employment, forcing him to find another job. “The Department of State’s so-called safety concerns are not an undue hardship,” said CAIR Staff Attorney Zanah Ghalawanji. “A fist-length beard doesn’t pose a safety problem, and we look forward to proving that in court.”
Today, we filed a lawsuit against the @StateDept on behalf of a Muslim security guard who was told he could not keep a fist-length beard, which he does for religious reasons, for “safety” reasons. Read our statement and watch the video below for more info.… pic.twitter.com/PKWgqprRog
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 4, 2023
In a letter on April 18, 2022, quoted in the lawsuit, a Department of State representative says the government can’t accommodate Brooks’ request for a beard due to safety concerns. “We have these policies on beard length in place to protect the guards and to ensure that if engaged in a physical confrontation they cannot be grabbed or pulled and used to manipulate a guard in such a way as to expose their weapons,” it says.
“As a result of Defendants’ unlawful actions, Brooks has suffered a loss of earnings, wages, seniority, and benefits, a loss of earning capacity, a loss of future earnings, a loss of enjoyment of life, embarrassment, humiliation, emotional distress and related damages,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants acted with malice and reckless indifference to Brooks’s federal protected rights.”
“Nobody should be forced to choose between their faith and their job,” said CAIR Staff Attorney Hannah Mullen. “The Department of State could have easily accommodated Mr. Brooks. Bureaucracy and a lack of respect for religion are not defenses to Title VII and RFRA.”
Having a beard is mustahhab (recommended) in Islam but not fard (obligratory).
Conversely, being clean-shaven is definitely not makruh (despicable) or haraam (banned).
I have been clean-shaven almost all of my life except for a few years when I sported a mustache. Beard – almost never.
Some modern-day YouTube mullahs make it sound as if you aren’t a good Muslim if you don’t keep a beard. They’re just plain ignorant of the exact thing that it says in the Quran.
There be the problem with modern day Mullahs. They have no concept of consistency. And they wonder why so many Muslims are having a crisis of faith.
Having a beard is Islamic. It’s sunna. You’re just not a “religious” Muslum. Good thing.
Anyone can file a law suit. In fact, tens of thousands of frivolous law suits are filed every year.
Let us know when you actually win a law suit, you poseurs.
CAIR loses the vast majority of these kinds of lawsuits. But even winning a few is way too much.
moslems make me sick
As with hijabs, let him have it. He’ll understand the safety concern when a violent perp grabs his beard and controls with with it. Even the Romans understood this, but Romans were smart.
This triggered a thought that I’ve wondered about through out the covid BS. It was how CAIR files lawsuits frivolously, yet I haven’t heard of one lawsuit being filed over a covid shot death or serious injury by CAIR…did Muslims even take the shots??? With the millions of Muslims just in this country, you’d think they would be piling on the suits if they had had injuries or deaths.
Unfortunately, Big Pharma was given immunity from lawsuits over the vaccines. Nobody can sue them for at least 100 years or something like that.
They were given immunity protection EXCEPT it shouldn’t apply if there were fraud involved with the manufacturing or the testing of the “vaccines”. Since there were no quality controls nor any legitimate trials, look for an abundance of lawsuits to be filed.
There was a symposium for hundreds of lawyers from around the country in March in Atlanta and once an attorney gets a whiff of substantial money to be had against Big Pharma, it’s “Katy, bar the door”.
Good, glad to hear that, especially for all the people who died as a result of that vaccine.
I don’t want to belabor the point since it’s off topic but very few are talking about the collateral damage from these sad deaths. I’ve been on dozens of Zoom calls with people from all over the country. Many have lost the breadwinner of the family and are finding it difficult to put food on the table. Very, very depressing situations for so many and totally needless. Blame goes directly to the evil Fauci and his cabal.
And Social Media sites are deleting those kinds of posts, I understand.
I’ve been wondering about that same thing for a few years now! I’m pretty sure they didn’t take the shots, and think they got ‘special permission’ not to get them. Or, which I doubt, they had false papers stating they had the shots, but we know that’s highly improbable because no one loves a fight and damages money from the Infidels more than CAIR!
Even though Christians and Jews had lost their jobs and military positions, I’ve never seen ONE Islamic person with a complaint or anything for that matter.
In addition, we can be SURE CAIR would have sued and be backed up with lawsuits to bring against the government and everyone else they deemed guilty.
And what of the mask requirements for Covid? To properly wear a face mask you must be clean shaven . See OSHA. How many Muslims were required to shave? Or even wear a mask? How do they work any job that requires a mask for hazardous conditions without being clean shaven?
Muslims have become a serious threat to our security and mental health. How do these devil worshipping disturbers even get to point consideration for interview? When is the next 9/11. It is easy to imagine how these enemies of mankind gloat and celebrate in private as well as public.
The next 9/11? Any day now considering all the potential Muslim terrorists who Biden has let in via the Southern Border.
Cair can go and fu_k themselves.