The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, today won a major federal court order requiring the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) to provide Muslims their own weekly prayer service, or Jummah.
While Arkansas prisons allowed Christians, Catholics, Protestants and Jews to prayer separately, they did not do the same for Muslims. ADC had previously required Muslims to pray alongside people of other faiths, including Five Percenters and adherents of the Nation of Islam.
SEE: COURT ORDER
CAIR and Professor Douglas Laycock filed the lawsuit in 2019 on behalf of three incarcerated Muslims, Gregory Holt, Wayde Stewart, and Rodney Martin challenging ADC’s policy of requiring Muslims to pray with others who did not share their religion. The lawsuit challenged ADC’s policy under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which requires jails and prisons to accommodate the sincerely-held religious beliefs of incarcerees.
SEE: Muslim inmates sue over combined faith services in Arkansas prisons
“Just as the Arkansas Department of Corrections cannot require Christian and Jews to pray together, it cannot require Muslims and people of other religions to pray together,” said Gadeir Abbas, Deputy Litigation Director at CAIR National. “We’re thrilled that Muslims and others will have their beliefs respected and accommodated through the policy compelled by the court.”
He added that Washington, D.C., based CAIR offers an educational toolkit, called “A Correctional Institution’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices,” to help correctional officers and administrators gain a better understanding of Islam and Muslims.
SEE: A Correctional Institution’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: Gadeir Abbas, CAIR Deputy Litigation Director, (202) 742-6420, gabbas@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com