ملخص الجهاز:
Cases brought by Muslims have established that prisoners have the right to assemble for religious services; to consult a cleric of their faith; to possess religious publications and to subscribe to religious literature; to wear unobstrusive religious symbols such as medallions; to have prepared a special diet required by their religion; and to correspond with their spiritual leaders.
The court record demonstrates that Muslim inmates' religious liberty claims, challenging prison regulations that impinge on the free exercise of the Islamic faith, have been accepted only under certain circumstances.
More often than not, however, the courts have found that Islam is principally a religious faith and Muslims a religious community despite any political teachings and, as such, are protected by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
While progress in prisoners' rights litigation was achieved in the 1970s," in the 1980s there have been some important cases involving Muslim prisoners that indicate that a reversal is at hand and demonstrate the need to continue to press for the protection of prisoners' rights to religious freedom 12 Finally with regard to this important area of law, it is important to take special note of a 1987 Supreme Court case that rejected a challenge to New Jersey state prison regulations that interfere with Muslim inmates' attendance at Friday prayer services because it illustrates how important it is to write `friend of the court' briefs.
) Kathleen Moore The Case for Muslim Constitutional Interpretive Activity 71 Chapter of the Islamic Society of North America) in order to illustrate that attendance at Friday Muslim prayer services is obligatory.