N.C. Judges Face Quran Question

On Whether Muslim Book Can Be Used In Court Instead Of Bible

(AP)  North Carolina judges will be asked this week to decide if witnesses in state courtrooms can be sworn in on the Quran rather than a Bible.

The move comes after Guilford County judges rejected the Greensboro Islamic center's offer last week to donate copies of the Muslim holy book.

The Administrative Office of the Courts will seek the opinion of the state's judges when they meet this week at judicial conferences in Asheville and Wrightsville Beach, AOC spokesman Dick Ellis said.

Ellis said he's not aware of anyone ever being allowed to swear on anything other than the Bible in a North Carolina courtroom. Anyone who objects to that may take an oath, which means they raise their hand and affirm to tell the truth.

"We'll take the input of the judges and bring it together and try to come up with an answer that pleases most people and follows the law," he said.

That move came after the AOC received queries on the issue last week from Guilford court officials and the News & Record of Greensboro.

In a preliminary opinion issued last week, an AOC lawyer said state law allows people to be sworn in using a Quran rather than a Bible, Ellis said. But Guilford County judges told officials with the Islamic center Friday that they wouldn't allow that in their courtrooms.

"An oath on the Quran is not a lawful oath under our law," Guilford Senior Resident Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Albright said earlier in the week.

That decision disappointed Syidah Mateen, who tried to donate the copies of the Quran.

"This is a diverse world, and everybody does not worship or believe the same," she said.