CAIRO – A British Muslim mother has vowed to challenge Sheffield local council after she was threatened with a fine for taking her children out of school to perform the life-time journey to Makkah to perform umrah.
“I told her it was not a holiday – we would not be sitting on the beach. My family needed time together; Maryam was learning about Islam at school and this fitted in perfectly,” Shahnaz Bi told Express, referring to the school head teacher.
“The cities of Makkah and Madinah are the holiest cities in the world for every Muslim. We are commanded to do a pilgrimage known as hajj at least once in our lifetime.
“For me as a Muslim it is very important to teach my children the history of Islam and therefore I decided to take my daughters to this mini pilgrimage,” the mother added.
The dilemma started when Bi, a mother of four, took her two youngest children out of their primary school for two weeks to make the journey to Makkah for umrah, or mini hajj.
Taking two weeks off, she is now facing a £120 fine for removing daughters Maryam, nine, and Fatimah, seven, from Firs Hill in Sheffield.
The mother, who is being backed by campaign group Parents Want A Say, revealed she received a letter from the school’s head teacher saying she would be fined if the children were taken out of school as the trip to Saudi Arabia would be classed as an unauthorized absence.
The case comes as another parent, Jon Platt, supported by Parents Want A Say, is celebrating a High Court victory in relation to being fined for taking his own daughter out of school for a 10-day trip to Disney World.
Setting a precedent all over the country, judges ruled this month the businessman had no case to answer because the girl was a regular attendee at school.
Before the two-week vacation, Maryam and Fatimah’s school attendance was more than 90 per cent, their mum said.
The Ka`bah is the first and the most ancient house of worship ever built in this life.
Some commentators of the Qur’an say that it was first built by Adam (peace and blessings be upon him) and some others say that it was first built by the Angels on this earth.
When Prophet Ibrahim (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived at the place of the Ka`bah, the building itself did not exist. Even the city of Makkah had no inhabitants.
Allah showed Prophet Ibrahim the site of the Ka`bah (Al-Hajj: 26) and then he and his son Isma`il together raised its foundations and built it from the ground up. (Al-Baqarah: 127).
It is dedicated to the worship of one God. So by facing toward the Ka`bah in prayers, Muslims are stressing the unity of humankind under the Lordship of the One and only God.
Muslims from around the world pour into Makkah every year to perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.
Twelve million pilgrims visit the cities every year with the numbers expected to increase to 17 million by 2025.