Court told that maid sat on Quran during row with her employer

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

On August 30, the Indonesian woman, 36, was accused of practising 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 said 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 took 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,” a policeman stated. He said the woman 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, 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?” judge Erfan Omar Attiya asked her.

“No your honour, it is not, but I didn’t mean to disrespect the religion, I am a Muslim too,” she said.

A verdict will be delivered on October 30.