Islamic terror attacks have taken the world by storm the last several months.  From Orlando and Istanbul, to Karrada and Nice, these and many other attacks have made fearful citizens eager to avoid becoming a target of Muslim radicals.  Instead of seeing the need to get tough with jihadism, some individuals see it as a time to make frightened concessions to the Muslim community.  These individuals tend to blame the political environment and the rhetoric of people like Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for the alleged hostility from Muslims.  Carol Hymowitz and Jeff Green wrote an article for Bloomberg about corporate America’s response titled The Rise of Muslim-Friendly Workplaces in Corporate America.  Even though the authors say the motivations for the more Muslim-friendly working environment are principled, they allude to the pragmatism that undergirds much of the business world.

Even outside of fear of drawing an Islamist attack, avoiding conflict with Muslim employees affects both the company’s ‘inclusive’ image, and its liability to lawsuits by activist groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).  When special interest activist groups put pressure on businesses to give into their demands businesses often (depending on the issue/s) concede rather than face bad publicity. Businesses placating to Muslim demands is one of the objectives of the Hamas-affiliated CAIR. Masquerading as a civil liberties organization for Muslims, CAIR, as mentioned in the video, pressures businesses into accommodating the most trivial of Muslim practices advocated for in sharia law.

For example, defending Muslim taxi drivers that refuse service to individuals with seeing-eye dogs because dog saliva is considered unclean or impure in Islam. In addition, dogs get blamed for repelling angels, annulling prayers, and other stigmas that are inherent in Islamic texts, such as:

Narrated Abu Talha: The Prophet said, “Angels do not enter a house witch [sic] has either a dog or a picture in it.” –Sahih Bukhari 4.54.539

Narrated ‘Aisha: The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, “Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).” I said, “You have made us (i.e. women) dogs. I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away. for I disliked to face him.” –Sahih Bukhari 1.9.490

The authors in the Bloomberg article reveal information that shows the strength of Muslim activism in trying to transform America through litigation – especially that of the workplace to become more sharia compliant.  The Bloomberg article states:

While people who practice Islam make up only about 1 percent of the U.S. population, some 40 percent of religion-based workplace complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission last year were related to Muslims. The agency has pursued a wide range of disputes, including whether Muslims can be fired for refusing to handle pork or alcohol at work. In many instances, the courts have said they cannot.

It’s shocking that such a small fraction of the U.S. population are exerting so outsized an influence.  What should businesses do – cater to Muslim religious demands in order to avoid complaints?  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states, “An employer does not have to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs or practices if doing so would cause undue hardship to the employer.”  Furthermore, trying to pacify sharia compliant Muslims is useless, since sharia is an all-encompassing ideology that dictates not just clothing and diet but includes rules for speech, prayer, banking, commerce, etc. The Bloomberg article gives a short list of how some companies are furthering this gradual sharia agenda:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. provides transportation to mosques, and other places of worship, for employees in offices not big enough to have prayer rooms. Alcohol wasn’t served at a recent party at a New York architecture firm because a new staff member who’s [sic] Muslim wouldn’t feel comfortable attending if it were, according to the office manager, asking not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the firm. At Accenture Plc, the corporate calendar is organized to prevent events from conflicting with Muslim holidays, as well as those of other faiths.

In addition, “[o]ne goal of the Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield Q&A session in Newark last year was to dispel concerns that Islam is a dangerous faith[.]” Since, when did it become the job of a health insurance network to advocate for Islamic apologetics?  Is that not the job of clerics and believers of the faith?  For that matter, when did employers become a free taxi service to the local “place of worship”?

We have seen accommodations for Muslim employees played out in businesses such as prayer rooms, prayer breaks, reassignments when faced with pork and alcohol products, permitting Islamic clothing and facial hair, and in many other areas. Some U.S. companies are willing to go to outstanding lengths to appease one percent of the U.S. population because some Muslim activists shout the loudest. Corporate America needs to say “No!” to more sharia.