The story of Sura Al-Shawk is very much that of Asmahan Mansour. Al-Shawk, a 19- year-old Swiss citizen of Iraqi origin, and Mansour, a Canadian girl, 11, of Egyptian origin, both want to play the sport they love, basketball for Al-Shawk and soccer for Mansour. But they can t, at least not professionally. The problem is that both wear the hijab, and they both play in countries where you apparently can t don a headscarf and play sports at the same time. Mansour s problem started two years ago. She was ordered off the field by the referee during an indoor soccer tournament in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, after refusing to remove her hijab. More recently, last month, the Swiss basketball association told Al-Shawk that she can t wear a headscarf during league games. The problem appears the same, but the reasons given to the girls for not being able to wear their hijab are different. The Swiss basketball association, ProBasket, said it follows the rules of FIBA, the world governing body in basketball, which says the sport has to be neutral, forbidding religious symbols. In Mansour s case, the referee ruled her hijab a safety concern, citing Law 4 which states players must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewelry). There does not seem to be malicious play at work in Quebec. There really is a Law 4 and the jewelry part of the rule is understandable. Rings, earrings, chains and bracelets should be definitely out. And the referee feared Mansour could be choked if the scarf was tugged on, and that indeed could happen. And it s not just Islam involved -- Mansour s was not the first incident involving soccer players ejected from a game for wearing religious headgear in Canada. In 2005 a Sikh player was told to remove his patka head covering at a soccer tournament in Langley, British Columbia, prompting the cancellation of several games. We do not want to believe the banning in Canada was racially motivated, as the Egyptian government described the act at the time, nor is it a sign of intolerance in Canada (the chief protagonist, the referee who ousted Mansour, was after all, himself Muslim). But at the same time it s doubtful that wearing a scarf poses a danger to the player or somebody else unless the rule is referring to safety pins to keep the headscarf intact. (Even then, it is possible to fix a hijab securely on the head without a safety pin, depending on its material). Al-Shawk, though, could have been religiously discriminated against. If basketball is priority No 1, international rules have to be respected, ProBasket told the Swiss newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung. If religion is priority No 1, then you cannot play basketball. So it s ProBasket, not Al-Shawk, which turned her hijab into a religious issue. It s almost sure that if Al-Shawk sported her headscarf around her neck, around her waist, around a bicep, thigh or ankle, above or below the knee, or wrapped it around her forehead like a bandana - anywhere except on her head -- Swiss basketball authorities would not have cared the least. It s only when that innocuous piece of cloth levitates up to the hair of a female scalp does the West stand on its head. In this case, ProBasket announcing that Al-Shawk s STV Luzern club will lose its games by default if she, considered the No 1 player on her team and the best basketball talent in Switzerland in the 2008-2009 season, plays with her headscarf. Mixed messages confuse. British Columbia and Ontario both allow religious headgear. Even Mansour apparently played in other games during the same tournament without complaint from officials. Ignorance is rife. Brian Barwick, the chief executive of the English FA and member of the International Football Association Board, admits the the hijab "is not an issue we have much knowledge or experience of. That settles it. The IFAB admits it doesn't know much about the hijab or why they are worn and why they aren't. FIFA itself doesn t really understand where it stands. The web site of the world s governing body in football shows pictures of women players wearing a hijab. In the midst of the confusion, Al-Shawk looks like she will not play without the hijab; Mansour is adamant about keeping hers on. Now, if they could only play.
