Muslim teacher claims discussing Rushdie's Satanic Verses is harassment
Rabia Ihsan claimed she was harassed on religious grounds when one of her colleagues brought up the Sir Salman Rushdie novel in what she claimed was a deliberate attempt to 'provoke [her], incite hatred and create a hostile environment'.
The book was discussed when, not long after the assassination attempt on Sir Salman in New York, a colleague asked for book recommendations.
Ms Ihsan claimed the book, which was condemned as blasphemous by Ayatollah Khomeini, the late Iranian leader, was 'offensive to Islam'.
Sir Salman, 78, was forced into hiding for a decade after a fatwa was issued against him calling for his death.
In Ms Ihsan's case, it was ruled that it was not 'reasonable' for the biology teacher to conclude that her colleagues had harassed her by talking about it.
The tribunal, held in Glasgow, heard that Ms Ihsan, who is Pakistani, started working for Park Mains High School in Renfrewshire in 2010.
In October 2022, a teacher Laura Gardiner had asked for suggestions of audiobooks, and Mairi Lagan, another teacher, stated that after the stabbing of Sir Salman in August 2022 she 'downloaded a sample of Satanic Verses intending to learn more about the circumstances.
'However, she did not find that to be the kind of book she would read so she read no further.'
Ms Lagan was reportedly 'not aware that the book had any connection to Islam', and her colleagues 'stopped talking about' the book when Ms Ishan raised that it is 'offensive to Islam'.
The tribunal heard that Ms Ihsan thought the conversation was 'pre-planned to trigger her' and she believed it was 'an attempt to provoke [her], incite hatred and create a hostile environment'.
Ms Gardiner told the tribunal that she 'didn't realise that anything had happened' and Ms Lagan said she became 'concerned about how relatively innocent comments were being perceived by [Ms Ihsan]'.
A month earlier, in September 2022, Ms Ishan had been 'very upset' when staff in the science department put pages of the Creationist book, the Atlas of Creation, in the bin after discovering it had been 'sent unsolicited' to schools, and that its author had been convicted of sex crimes.
Ms Ihsan was 'very upset about the destruction of the book because of the holy symbol on the front cover' and raised her concern to the school's headteacher.
The deputy head teacher investigated the incident, and it was considered alongside a number of incidents which Ms Ihsan complained about in a grievance hearing.
She was signed off sick with work related stress in August 2023, and resigned in March 2024 while the grievance proceedings were still ongoing.
Employment Judge Muriel Robison said that regarding The Satanic Verses, 'neither of the staff directly involved knew that it was a book about religion.'
She added: 'Even if it could be said that raising this matter was unwarranted conduct related to religion which made [Ms Ihsan] feel uncomfortable, it was not reasonable for her to conclude that it had the proscribed effect [of harassment], particularly when the subject was dropped when she raised her concerns.'
Regarding the Atlas of Creation incident, the tribunal was 'concerned to hear that the book had been destroyed' but accepted that staff 'did not appreciate that the book contained a holy symbol and they did not appreciate that it was a book about Islam'.
All of Ms Ihsan's other claims, including discrimination related to race, religion and sex and constructive unfair dismissal were dismissed.
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