N.Y. Muslims push for school holidays

NEW YORK -- Moneeb Hassan remembers having to choose between a final exam in American history or celebrating the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. In the end, he chose both.

He remembers finishing his 7 a.m. history exam in just 40 minutes, racing out of the classroom, jumping into his father's car and speeding off to the mosque.

Hassan, 17, is one of tens of thousands of students in the city who must perform a balancing act between academic and religious obligations during Muslim holidays. But the nation's largest school district hasn't sanctioned Muslim holidays.

"People came to this country for freedom of religion," Hassan said. "We're just asking for fair and equal treatment."

Muslim activists lobbying to add the holy days to the school calendar -- which takes school off for Christmas and the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- were heartened last week by a City Council resolution supporting the observance of the two holidays -- Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

A handful of school districts in New Jersey and Michigan have recognized Muslim school holidays, while efforts in Baltimore and Connecticut have failed recently.

New York City has the nation's largest school system. A 2008 study estimates 10 percent of the city's 1.1 million students are Muslim.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that honoring every religious holiday isn't practical.

The stress of catching up on schoolwork, rescheduling exams and having to ask for special permission to miss classes for the holidays is a routine that Muslim students shouldn't have to go through, Hassan said.

City Councilman Robert Jackson, a Muslim, said a bill that would mandate the holidays as state law has been introduced in Albany.