Muslim sues Tesco over alcohol

Muslim sues Tesco over alcohol
A Muslim said he is suing Tesco for religious discrimination because he was asked to handle crates of alcohol in a warehouse. (Advertisement) Mohammed Ahmed, 32, was employed at the supermarket giant's Lichfield depot in September last year for a job that included transporting various goods on fork-lift trucks. The Saudi Arabia national told a tribunal he had not been told when he started the job that he would be handling alcoholic drinks - a task he said was against his Islamic beliefs. The situation came to a head in the run-up to Christmas last year, when more alcohol was ferried to the warehouse in preparation for the festive season. Mr Ahmed, who moved to Derby in 2006, complained to Tesco in February, but claims he was treated unfairly as a result. After eight months working for the company, he left in pro-*test*-('"). The decision on his legal action, after a three-day employment tribunal held in Birmingham, is expected next week. __________________________________________________ Anyone like to guess what the decision will be? Wicked Tesco Islamophobic racists! Meanwhile, all the muslim-owned corner shops will still be busily occupied with selling us bacon, whisky and gin as fast as they can get it out the door! You couldn't make it up. And you have to ask: Why does this gentleman not return to Saudi Arabia whence he came if he does not like our ways?

Silly sod. I hope, and expect actually, that this claim will be kicked out. If it's not then there's no hope.

Re: Muslim sues Tesco over alcohol
The Saudi Arabia national told a tribunal he had not been told when he started the job that he would be handling alcoholic drinks - a task he said was against his Islamic beliefs. __________________________________________________ Anyone like to guess what the decision will be? Wicked Tesco Islamophobic racists! Depending on the exact nature of the highlighted text he could well have a claim. If I went for a job, and was told that it did not require me to work on Sundays (to which I have an objection) then I think I have every right to screw the company if they subsequently try to make me work on Sundays...if however I go to an interview &c. and don't mention that I'm not available for work on Sundays, then more fool me.

Re: Muslim sues Tesco over alcohol
If I went for a job, and was told that it did not require me to work on Sundays (to which I have an objection) then I think I have every right to screw the company if they subsequently try to make me work on Sundays...if however I go to an interview &c. and don't mention that I'm not available for work on Sundays, then more fool me. It's a supermarket. If he didn't realise that they sold booze then he must have been doping his shopping at....?

Re: Muslim sues Tesco over alcohol
If I went for a job, and was told that it did not require me to work on Sundays (to which I have an objection) then I think I have every right to screw the company if they subsequently try to make me work on Sundays...if however I go to an interview &c. and don't mention that I'm not available for work on Sundays, then more fool me. It's a supermarket. If he didn't realise that they sold booze then he must have been doping his shopping at....? That's why I think he may have a case. If I had an aversion to working with alcohol...sorry took me a moment to get that notion inside my head...if I thought I couldn't work with alcohol, and I went for a job with a supermarket I would raise the question of whether there was sufficient flexibility for me to avoid that part of the job - if he had been given such an undertaking, then I'm fully behind his claim. If he didn't raise the question, then he's dunderhead who's winging too late.

Note also that he worked for the company for 8 months. Odd that his religious convictions took so long to kick in. You'd have expected that he'd have been out of the door at the first sight of a bottle of Scotch really.

Note also that he worked for the company for 8 months. Which is noted in the article The situation came to a head in the run-up to Christmas last year, when more alcohol was ferried to the warehouse in preparation for the festive season. It's plausible that his views could be fitted in until the extra work-load for Christmas.

It's plausible that his views could be fitted in until the extra work-load for Christmas. Bit of a stretch though. I mean, they could have put him on turkeys, or christmas crackers or summat else ;)

It's plausible that his views could be fitted in until the extra work-load for Christmas. Bit of a stretch though. I mean, they could have put him on turkeys, or christmas crackers or summat else ;) My point is that the article is unclear. I've never worked in a supermarket - but it is pretty clear that as things approach Christmass they all go a little bit mad. Just because you're a reasonable person and would have tried to work around matters, doesn't mean that the little man from Tesco with a massively increased workload and an array of semi-literate employees to juggle would lose a dash of that reasonableness. Perhaps we should let the tribunal consider the case, rather than try the man based on a fraction of the evidence.

The fact remains that thousands of his co-religionists are selling booze and bacon to us infidels round the clock, which makes it pretty clear that there is no universal proscription against dealing in alcohol in Islam. So why should this fanatic get special treatment at all? It is the same with the wearing of the full Islamic monty by the ladies. All Islam desires is female modesty. No one should be awarded special status at work for attempting to go beyond the real demands of their religion. I have nothing against religious enthusiasm. It is a free country. But it seems to me it is up to the enthusiast to arrange his life in accordance with his beliefs. It is not for society, or employers, to mete out special treatment to a minority. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, do not normally seek jobs in the Blood Transfusion Service!

The fact remains that thousands of his co-religionists are selling booze and bacon to us infidels round the clock, which makes it pretty clear that there is no universal proscription against dealing in alcohol in Islam. Plenty of my co-religionists work on Sundays, should I be told therefore that I have no argument in favour of avoiding work? Islam is not a monolithic entity and has many different versions and interpretations - whilst Muslim A may happily drink alcohol, Muslim B may have no problem selling alcohol but would avoid drinking it, and Muslim C would avoid all contact with it. Thus you're totally wrong, it is far from clear that there is no universal proscription "in Islam".

Another point on this, is there actually a genuine religious objection in Islam to the handling of alcohol, rather than the consumption of it? As far as I can find, the only relevant verses in the Koran are; "They ask Thee concerning Wine and Gambling, Say: In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." (Surah Al-Baqarah:219) & "O Ye who believe! Intoxicants and Gambling, Sacrificing to Stones, and (divination by) Arrows, are an abomination, of Satan's handiwork; Keep away from such, that Ye may prosper." (Surah Al-Maaidah verse 90) Neither of which would appear to prohibit the fella from unloading it with a fork lift truck. And further, last year there was a similar issue with checkout staff refusing to handle booze. At the time there were various statements from Islamic sources including these; Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute and leader of the Muslim parliament, said: “This is some kind of overenthusiasm. One expects professional behaviour from people working in a professional capacity and this shows a lack of maturity. “Sainsbury’s is being very good, they are trying to accommodate the wishes of their employees and we commend that. The fault lies with the employee who is exploiting and misusing their goodwill. It makes no difference if it is only happening over Ramadan.” Ibrahim Mogra, chairman of the inter-faith committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said: “Muslim employees should look at the allowances within Muslim law to enable them to be better operating employees and not be seen as rather difficult to cater for.” Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2558198.ece

Another point on this, is there actually a genuine religious objection in Islam to the handling of alcohol, rather than the consumption of it? Rather than an agnostic/atheist and 2 Christians debating the internal varieties of Islam, perhaps we should realise that in parts there clearly does seem to be such a problem.

The fact remains that thousands of his co-religionists are selling booze and bacon to us infidels round the clock, which makes it pretty clear that there is no universal proscription against dealing in alcohol in Islam. Plenty of my co-religionists work on Sundays, should I be told therefore that I have no argument in favour of avoiding work? Islam is not a monolithic entity and has many different versions and interpretations - whilst Muslim A may happily drink alcohol, Muslim B may have no problem selling alcohol but would avoid drinking it, and Muslim C would avoid all contact with it. Thus you're totally wrong, it is far from clear that there is no universal proscription "in Islam". TJ ... you prove my point, dear boy! You are a Christian who does not propose to work on Sundays. So I have no doubt you have made sure to find a job that does not require you to do so. If this chap found the infidel's alcohol so spiritually defiling he should have found a job driving his fork-lift truck for a builder's merchant, or some other firm that does not deal in the evil fluids. A fork-lift truck already! :roll: By the beard of the prophet! How far fetched can a religious complaint be? He should be given the choice to do his job or move on and move out! :roll:

The fact remains that thousands of his co-religionists are selling booze and bacon to us infidels round the clock, which makes it pretty clear that there is no universal proscription against dealing in alcohol in Islam. Plenty of my co-religionists work on Sundays, should I be told therefore that I have no argument in favour of avoiding work? Islam is not a monolithic entity and has many different versions and interpretations - whilst Muslim A may happily drink alcohol, Muslim B may have no problem selling alcohol but would avoid drinking it, and Muslim C would avoid all contact with it. Thus you're totally wrong, it is far from clear that there is no universal proscription "in Islam". TJ ... you prove my point, dear boy! You are a Christian who does not propose to work on Sundays. So I have no doubt you have made sure to find a job that does not require you to do so. If I prove any point, it is my own - but it appears that you did not really read what I wrote above, so I shall attempt to precis: There are two potential cases here, in the first the gentleman in question was given an understanding that he could be kept away from contact with alcohol - in which case he is right to sue; in the other he was not, and is now trying to claim a violation of his religious principles which he previously hid from his employers - in which case he is wrong. That has been my point throughout - yours seems to have been to ridicule his scrupples and indeed to attack them as unIslamic...but it appears that a thread cannot go by with the words "Muslim" or "Islam" without this practice. :roll: :roll: :roll:

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