How prejudiced can people get?

from: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules.

Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia's Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and 2-mile times of any girl runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday's Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet.

Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt's cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates.
The outfit allows her to compete while adhering to her Muslim faith, which forbids displaying any skin other than her face and hands.
"It's not special," Kelly said. "It doesn't make me perform better."
But meet director Tom Rogers said Kelly's uniform violated rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which sanctioned the event. Uniforms are required to be "a single-solid color and unadorned, except for a single school name or insignia no more than 2 1/4 inches," he said.
Rogers said that he knew Kelly was wearing the uniform for religious reasons and that he offered her several options to conform to the rules while still respecting her faith, including placing a plain T-shirt over her unitard and then wearing her team uniform over it.
Kelly's mother, Sarah, and Roosevelt Coach Tony Bowden disputed that account. They said officials made several demands of her daughter before Rogers made his decision.
"First, they said she had to take her hood off," Sarah Kelly said. "Then, they said she can't have anything with logos displayed. Then, they said she had to turn it inside out. When I told them that there weren't any logos on it, they said she had to put a plain white T-shirt on over it."
Juashaunna Kelly has worn the same uniform for three years without any problems, including at last year's Montgomery Invitational. Rogers said officials must have missed the uniform last year.
"It wasn't a problem last year, and it's a problem this year? Make me understand why," Bowden said.
Kelly, whose 1,600-meter time of 5 minutes 17.49 seconds and 3,200-meter time of 12:00.81 are the fastest of any D.C. girl, was hoping to run fast enough at the Montgomery Invitational to qualify for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York on Feb. 8-9.
Bowden said the team has no other meets scheduled that would allow her to qualify for the event, which attracts dozens of college recruiters.

Can you imagine discussing the inclination to sin with the Prophet of God?

By: The Ed

I was reading the story of a young man who came to Prophet Muhammad, صلىالله عليه وسلم (peace and blessings be upon him) who agreed to abide by all the other Islamic principles, but requested permission to be allowed to practice fornication/adultery even after he embraced Islam, as he was strongly inclined to it, (possibly accustomed to practising it) and couldn't imagine living without it.

At the time, the Prophet was sitting with his Companions who loudly reprimanded the young man and rebuked him for daring to bring up such a brazen appeal.

What did Allah's Messenger صلىالله عليه وسلم do?

He called the young man closer to him and gently enquired: “Would you accept [to see] your mother [being a participant] in committing fornication/adultery?"

The young man replied: "No!" .

Allah's Messengerصلىالله عليه وسلم said:"Similarly, other people dislike to see their mothers indulging in fornication/adultery."

The Prophet صلىالله عليه وسلم further asked the young man: "Would you accept [to see] your sister [being a participant] in committing fornication/adultery?"

The young man replied: "No".

The Prophet صلىالله عليه وسلم said: "Similarly, other people dislike to see their sisters indulging in fornication/adultery as well".

Allah's Messengerصلىالله عليه وسلم finally asked: "Would you accept [to see] your daughter committing fornication/adultery?"

The young man again replied:"No"

The Prophet صلىالله عليه وسلم said: "Similarly, other people dislike to see their daughters indulging in fornication/adultery as well".

Then, Allah's Messengerصلىالله عليه وسلم prayed for the young man saying: "Oh Allah! Purify the heart of this young man, guard his private parts (from unlawful sexual contact), and enable him to lower his gaze".

The young man is later reported to have said:" By Allah! From that moment on, nothing was more hateful to me than seeking unlawful sexual relations ”

[A Prophetic narration reported by At-Tabaraani]

Notwithstanding the Prophetic precedent, can a young Muslim man or woman imagine going up to a respected leader of the community or a religious figure and discussing their inclination to sin, with a view to finding a solution?

If the answer is "no", then we are clearly failing to live up to the Prophet's example.

Muslim youth today need counselling, community and peer support and prayer if they are to emerge unscathed from their inclination to sin -- an inclination that threatens their well-being and happiness in this world and the next.

The factors that contribute towards Muslim youth being inclined to sin are numerous -- the means to combat them are pitifully few. Deploring the lack of hayaa/religiosity in "today's kids"; displaying an ostrich-like attitude and simply wishing the problems away; vague admonitions to the youth to "have taqwa" and "lower your gaze" without educating them about the "hows" and "whys" of the process, are proving to be completely inadequate methods.