Maid 'sits on Quran during row with employer' in Dubai

The house maid's employer allegedly accused her of sorcery before she rubbed the holy book on her backside

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A house maid rubbed a copy of the Quran on her backside then placed it on the floor and sat on it, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Thursday.

On August 30, the Indonesian woman, 36, was accused of practicing black magic by her Emirati employer.

She said she denied the accusations and, when her attempts to convince her employer she was innocent failed, she picked up the Quran in her employer’s bedroom to swear her innocence on it.

Court records show she then rubbed the holy book against her backside, placed it on the floor and sat on it.
A police officer told the court the Emirati employer brought the maid into Al Rashidiyah police station at 4pm that day.
"She told me that she had an argument with her maid about house cleaning because she suspected the maid was not fulfilling her duties and that the argument escalated after which she confronted her of her fear that she was practicing sorcery," said the 45-year-old policeman.
He said the woman, whose age was not disclosed in court records, told him the maid disrespected Islam by sitting on the Quran.
"The maid admitted to me that she sat on the Quran," said the policeman.
In court on Thursday, the maid denied intending to disrespect the Quran and said she acted spontaneously.

"Is it a common practice where you come from to sit on the Quran as you swear on something?" the presiding judge Erfan Omar Attiya asked the defendant.
"No your honour, it is not, but I didn't mean to disrespect the religion, I am a Muslim too," she said.
Her verdict will be issued on October 30.