Anna Duggar Takes On Islam, Stirs Internet Controversy

Just a month after stirring controversy with a questionable tweet about Black History Month, Anna Duggar once again took to Twitter — this time, to take on Islam.

“WOW. Brutal Muslim holiday coming 2 school near you. As a Christian I’m offended.”

Her tweet included a link to an article explaining that the nation’s largest public school system — New York City — has made the decision to close school in observance of two Muslim holidays. Under the new policy, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, public schools in the city will close on September 24, in recognition of Eid al-Adha, which is also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. And the schools will also close for a day during the summer session in recognition of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the ending of Ramadan.

“Hundreds of thousands of Muslim families will no longer have to choose between honoring the most sacred days on their calendar or attending school,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in his announcement.

In a city where the Muslim population is estimated between 600,000 to one million, and in a school system that saw 36 percent of students calling in absent for the two holidays last year, the decision to close the school in recognition of those holidays has been met with general approval.

With the exclusion, that is, of Anna Duggar — who does not live in New York City. She also doesn’t send her children to public school where they do live, preferring to home school them herself.

After Anna Duggar’s tweet referring to the two Muslim holidays as “brutal,” many responded swiftly and negatively, calling for more tolerance from Christians, and quickly informed Anna about the history of the holidays, the basis of which can be found in the Christian Bible.

“Wow, anna, really?… Just fyi, one of those ‘brutal muslim holidays’ commemorates a bible story.”

And indeed, that’s true, as Eid al-Adha is a holiday that honor’s the biblical Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son to God when asked. After Abraham was asked to submit to God’s will in this matter, Satan appeared and tried to tempt Abraham to not submit to God’s will, and Abraham drove Satan away by throwing pebbles at him. In a symbolic commemoration of Abraham driving Satan out, stones are thrown at pillars that symbolize Satan during the Hajj rites of the Islamic holiday.

The story of Abraham’s sacrifice can be found in Genesis, although Islam and Christianity differ on which son Abraham was to sacrifice, with the Bible stating it was to be Abraham’s second son, Isaac, and Islamic commentaries stating it was to be his eldest son, Ishmael.

The New York City public school system also closes for the Jewish holidays of both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, as well as the Christian holidays of Christmas and Good Friday.

As with last month’s controversial Black History Month tweet — which you can read about here— Anna has not responded to any of the negative reactions, and the tweet itself has not been removed.

What do you think? Is Anna right to be “offended” by a public school with a large Muslim population closing in recognition of two of that religion’s major holidays?

[Image via zaptoit.com]