In the Public Schools

While enrollment in Islamic schools is growing, most Muslim children in the United States--69 percent, according to a 1996 poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington--still attend public schools.

For many, the experience is not always a pleasant one.

Sakinah Ayuoob, a 2nd grade teacher at Al-Ikhlas Academy in Detroit, for instance, recalls that a public school teacher once took layers of clothing off her daughter, stripping her down to the T-shirt and pants she wore underneath, put the other items in a bag, and told her to tell Ayuoob not to send her to school...