Policeman Sued His Force Over Epic Beard

Police officer Javid Iqbal, 38, of Bedforshire, England, doesn't just have any beard. No sir - he has what can truly called an "epic beard."

Daily Mail (yes, I know how you guys feel about this newspaper, but they always come up with the most interesting stories ...) has more on Javid's travail and lawsuit involving said epic beard:

A Muslim police officer claims he was forced out of his job by colleagues who made fun of his beard and called him a 'f***ing Paki'.
PC Javid Iqbal, 38, said white officers openly discussed in front of him how they were ' better' than their ethnic-minority colleagues. [...]
Mr Iqbal says he was sacked after fellow-officers in Luton launched a 'smear and witch-hunt campaign' during which they lodged a string of complaints about his performance.
He is taking the Bedfordshire force to an employment tribunal claiming he is the victim of racial and religious discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Link - via reddit

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It is true that firemen and some emergency service workers can not have their beards due to the actions of some gases that may be traped in the beard, and the difficulty of obtaining an adaquite seal against the face with a gas mask. However, those who make fun of vegatarianism and beards need to read their bibiles. They also need to resurch the history of Judaism and Chrisianity. Roman Catholism seems to be the odd man out on the subject, and that only for the last thousand years. World war two also had a profound effect on the normal appearance of western men. Ignorance is ever the font of predjudice.
Vegatarianism is part of the personal piety of many christians, Christian monks are in part Vegatarian or varrities thereof, the book of Levitcus forbids the eating of blood recomending scaled fish, beards are actualy part of holy tradition up held by the bible and numerous laws and comments by the church fathers. A beard is the normal part of a man, just as the finger nails are. As a Paramedic I purposely do not train for areas where work in gas enviroments are neccary. St. James wrote in James 4:17;
"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not,to him it is sin". In the book of Leviticus it says "You will not round the edges of your beard".
Respectfuly, Gregory

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I read a lot of ignorant bable from a lot of people that have no courage themselves. I am not a Muslim or member of any religion. However, I am a man, and men grow beards, simple. Now, if having one interferes with your job performance, it would be wise to shave.
If it does not, you should be able to have one. For those of you who criticize this dude for his beard; well, I feel bad for you. Why? Because you have been hoodwinked by all of the fashion magazines, tv shows and so on to accept a force fed image of what a man should look like to be acceptable in the eyes of fools.
If you choose to shave on your own accord, because of preference, great...all power to you; it's manly to have your convictions. For those of you who look down upon facial hair, you might as well chop your penis off when mainstream thought tells you that that is what men do in the real world.

Beards are a symbol of manhood, maturity, ferility, and social courage.

Men grow beards you lady men.

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Yes Frau, that could be very well possible but I still prefer watches that tell time instead of mental gymnastics to impress drunker people at the bar. Besides, the crop below the chin is too high up on the lip. Man creatures abhorr it that close and it catches all weird sort of food debris..not really impressing the date that much...