No Swim, No Passport!

The Swiss, like the Germans, are sticklers for the rules. Despite the level of cultural enrichment in Switzerland, the newcomers have to meet certain mandatory requirements before they can be naturalized and receive a Swiss passport.

Many thanks to Egri Nök for translating this brief report that was published on June 27 in the Austrian magazine Heute (Today):

Muslims not naturalized

Switzerland: Those who won’t swim won’t get a passport


Photo caption: Whoever does not participate in swimming lessons will not be naturalized in Switzerland. (Photo: Reuters)

In Switzerland, two Muslim girls (12, 14) were denied citizenship because they neither partake in swimming lessons nor in school camp. The two sisters from Basel assert these activities are incompatible with their faith.

According to Stefan Wehrle, the president of the Naturalization Commission, the legal situation is clear: adolescents in Basel who wish to be naturalized must comply with the compulsory education. And both swimming lessons and school camps are part of compulsory education: “Whoever does not fulfill that violates the law and will not be naturalized.”

Therefore, it does not matter that the two girls speak German well. This is the first time that an application for naturalization has been rejected for non-participation in swimming lessons. Thus, a precedent is set for future decisions, Wehrle told Swiss Radio SRF.

Legally, they were “on the safe side”. Therefore, the girls’ parents did not appeal to the decision.

5 thoughts on “No Swim, No Passport!

  1. That is a good precedent. We should start using these types of precedent in the US. Refuse to speak English, get a job, contribute in a meaningful way, give up your 6 century ideas about women, gays and interfaith marriage. then get the EFF out.

  2. “The two sisters from Basel assert that these activities [taking swimming lessons and partaking in school camp] are incompatible with their [Islamic] faith.”

    I have never heard that learning to swim is incompatible with Islam. What hadiths did they cite? And a few seconds of online search finds that “Our beloved Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH) said all Muslim men and women should learn to swim in case of an emergency like flood, drowning, water voyage and war.” Source:
    http://icbh.org/topics/swimming_and_islam.htm

    • Right! I mean, why then did they invent the burkini?

      I was raised on swimming lessons. Inspired partly by the fact that my Dad’s mother and little sister both died by drowning, but vital training just the same. I made it through the Red Cross program through Junior Life Saving. It’s been a few years since I’ve been in the water, but it’s like riding a bike or [wait, you can’t say that here], one never forgets.

    • Swimming classes in Switzerland would involve swimming in water ritually contaminated by its contact with the bodies of kuffar (infidels), and therefore off-limits to believers.

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