Danish minister: Muslims shouldn’t work during Ramadan, it’s dangerous for society

From the Danish edition of The Local , the Guardian and the Birmingham Mail

A Danish minister known for her strong anti-immigration views on Monday May 21st called for Muslims to take time off work during the fasting period of Ramadan, saying the practice is “dangerous for all of us”.

The comments from immigration and integration minister Inger Stojberg, a member of the centre-right Liberal Party, come after Ramadan, one of Islam’s most revered holidays in which Muslims around the world fast from dawn until dawn, began last week.

“I want to call on Muslims to take leave from work during the month of Ramadan to avoid negative consequences for the rest of Danish society,” Stojberg wrote in a column for the BT tabloid. “I wonder if a religious order commanding observance to a 1,400-year-old pillar of Islam is compatible with the society and labour market that we have in Denmark in 2018.”

She also said she feared the fasting could affect “safety and productivity,” giving as an example bus drivers who have “neither had a drink nor eaten for more than 10 hours . . . This can be dangerous for all of us,” she said

Critics scorn Inger Støjberg’s ‘completely absurd idea’ that daylight fasting is dangerous. 

The Finnish Muslim Union chair, Pia Jardi, called the minister’s suggestion “a completely absurd idea,” adding: “There’s no information or statistics to show that bus drivers or other Muslim workers would somehow behave dangerously while fasting. In most Muslim countries, stores and businesses continue operating as normally.” (Normal for Ramadan, that is, which in  latitudes where daylight and darkness are nearly equal, they turn night into day. Feast and attend mosque all night, and sleep from mid-morning until late afternoon.) 

But this advice to employers in the Birmingham Mail suggests otherwise

…a month of fasting from early morning to sunset is inevitably going to have an impact on Muslim members of the workforce, so this is something for companies to consider. 

Fasting during sunlight hours will have a different effect on each individual, although the likely impact will be to lower productivity levels of employees, especially towards the end of the day. Managers should be understanding of this and take practical steps to reduce the effect, such as scheduling important meetings early in the day or allowing employees to have a period of rest when they are showing fatigue. If attending a meeting is likely to exhaust the employee how much worse might they be doing something that takes more effort? Like driving a bus or taxi? 

Any less favourable treatment because the employee is observing Ramadan is likely to be classed as religious discrimination.

Where possible, offering flexible working hours during Ramadan, such as starting earlier, will help the employee as they will be at work during the hours they have the most energy.  Additionally, it will allow them to finish work earlier and avoid strenuous mental or physical activity during the later hours of the day. So the strenuous stuff will be covered by non-Muslim employees – what was that bit above about “less favourable treatment … is likely to be classed as religious discrimination.”