'SHAKING *SWEDISH-HANDS* STUDENTS'

To shake or not to shake hands has become a crucial question for Muslims in Europe.

One of the controversies began in Stockholm several months ago.

A 24-year old girl named Farah Aljajeh went to the office of a Swedish company called Semantex to interview for a job.

She had applied to be an interpreter for the company whose headquarters are located in Uppsala, a town outside of Sweden. When she arrived, a male interviewer was waiting to interview her.

Instead of shaking his outstretched hand, Alhajeh touched her hand to her heart and stated that she did not shake hands with men or women.

What happened next shocked her. Instead of being seated for an interview as she expected, she was asked to leave and shown the way to the lift.

In an interview given to the media, she described being completely astounded. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She was not about to just let it happen, however.

Instead of forgetting about the incident, as some would have, Alhaajeh filed a complaint with Sweden's equality ombudsman, saying that she had been discriminated against owning to her religious beliefs.

In turn, the company responded that that they were protecting gender equality and that Alhejeh's decision not to shake hands went against the policy of the company of treating men and women equally.

In front of the court, Alhajeh insisted that she did not shake hands with either men or women, hence treating both genders equally and not violating any company policy.

Her attorney argued that Article 9 of the European Charter of Human Rights protected her behaviour.

Semantex argued that hiring Alhajeh would have meant compromising their principles of gender equality and would have created awkward situation when Alhajeh was called to great subjects for whom she was interpreting.

In a three-two decision, the labour court came out in favor of Alhajeh, saying they had tried to balance principles of gender equality against the individual's rights to religious freedom.

They decided that Alhajeh had the right to offer a greeting of her choice and one that comported with her religious beliefs. They ordered Semantex to pay approximately Pound 3,500 in damages to her.

The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Rafia and Zakaria. And the operational publishing on other such incidents and happenings  continues in the near future.