THE controversial issue of veiling the face has risen to the surface again as more European countries are banning the Muslim garb. Fuelling the dispute are some violent incidents involve forcing Muslim omen in these communities to take off the veil, the niqab or burqa. The British newspaper The Times published a story this month about the first case of French ‘burka rage' as a shopping dispute became violent. The newspaper reported that a Muslim woman, named only as Elodie, had been subjected to assaults by another French woman, who took off her face veil and tore it apart before telling her: "Go back to your own country." “The incident reflects the emotional mood in France since full Muslim veils became the centre of a national debate and the [French President] Sarkozy government moved to ban them. The law is expected to come into force by the autumn. Some religious leaders have accused the French government of inciting anti-Muslim sentiment with their campaign,” The Times commented. The niqab fury also affected some other European countries, such as Belgium, whose parliament became the first in Europe to endorse a ban on the head-to-toe burqa and the niqab face veil this month. The law is expected to go in force this summer, after being endorsed by the Senate (the upper house of the parliament). Western public opinion seems divided over this ban. Some people believe that this burqa is a political not religious symbol, which is alleged to be increasingly used to demonstrate the dominance that Islam seeks over Western culture. Whether agreeing or disagreeing with this opinion, we have to admit that the popularity of the niqab could be attributed to a strong desire of some Muslims to prove and enhance their Muslim identity whether in non-Muslim societies or secular Muslim states. The aim in the first case is not to dominate the Western and its culture, but to confront the growing affronts and accusations against Islam as a religion since the September 11 assaults in New York. For many decades, Muslims, who migrated from different parts of the world to Europe, were accustomed to living in the Western communities without being too eager to demonstrate their Islamic identity . They were busy with education and work. However, the increasing offences against Islam drove many Muslims to proclaim and not conceal their identity as if they wanted to say: “I'm Muslim and I'm proud to be so. And if you are really modern societies believing in freedom of expression, you have to accept me as I am and continue believing in the diversity of cultures inside your countries.” In the meantime, veiled women have also prompted debate inside Muslim countries, including Egypt, and even inside its prestigious Sunni Muslim institution, Al-Azhar. The point is that, although Egypt's Constitution includes an article affirming that Shari'a (Islamic law) is the main source of legislation and Islam is the official religion of the State, the State seems to have been inclining towards secularism during the last few decades, an orientation that has triggered opposition from different quarters in the predominantly Muslim country. This secular trend has also been accompanied by the emergence of a very rich class of people in Egypt whose young people have adopted a Western lifestyle, pertaining to education, culture, the places they live in and go to, and the way they dress. Therefore, the majority of Egyptians, who are known as being religious conservative people, woke up one day to find housing compounds and tourist resorts for this elite people who have adopted a Western lifestyle similar to that prevailing in society during years of the French and British occupations. Accordingly, resistance appeared, manifested in showing more commitment to Islamic dress even with some exaggeration. It is true that some Muslims wrongly believe that the niqab is the right Muslim dress for women. They incorrectly interpret the divine order for women who believe to wear the hijab as covering their body from ead to toe and not as the majority of past and present Muslim scholars have interpreted it to reveal the face and hands. However, some Muslims encourage their daughters and wives to wear he niqab as a way of being more religious and more obedient to Allah and His instructions. Some Muslims pray more than the obligatory five-time-a-day prayers by adding a night prayer, while some Christians go to church on many days other than Sundays. Similarly, those Muslim women choose to conceal all the body as a kind of self respect and obedience to Islam's principles that a woman's body should not be revealed to strangers. So, how can the world confront this growing phenomenon? Both Muslim and non-Muslim communities should resort to means ther than issuing laws to ban wearing the niqab or burqa in public places, chools and governmental places. Instead, a dialogue should be initiated etween the two sides on the impossible acceptance of this kind of dress in cities of population being counted in millions. How could women request the authorities to provide them with ecurity in the street while they insist on walking around with their identity ithheld? The authorities along with the religious scholars should continue to ropagate that the veil is being combated on the basis of security and not o resist the Islamic faith or the present growth of Muslim converts in the world. At the same time, Muslim and European countries should top combating traditional Muslim dress and the other religious rights Muslims should enjoy wherever they live as long as they cause no offence to others. On the one hand, the Muslim countries should remove all kinds of bans on veiled women so that they can take any job, for example on TV and in he diplomatic corps. On the other hand, Westerners, who have long lived with Muslim communities without any threat, should not come today and claim that the Muslim hijab (the head cover) forms a kind of cultural threat and so should be banned in schools, as France did some years ago. Nor should they ban the building of minarets on mosques, as Switzerland has decided recently. The general rule of human rights emphasises that one's right ends with that of society. In other words, you are free to do what you want, eat and wear what you like, as long as you cause no harm to society. In addition, freedom of worship also forms a main pillar of human rights. Therefore, we cannot ask Muslims in Europe to cancel one of the main principles of Islam, that is to pray in jamaa (congregational prayer) or to cancel the Friday prayer, in order to prove their assimilation in society. Most importantly, the European society should move on from the 9/11 mania and stop considering any Muslim citizen as a time bomb to explode at any moment in their face. Generations of those Muslims used to live in peace in thosesocieties for many decades without a problem. So why should we assume that they are terrorists or they are working on dominating Western culture? These extreme rules, being forced on Muslims in Europe, would outcast them from these societies and might even end in producing a generation of extremists. Of the many opinions that have criticised this anti-Muslim campaign in the West, the reputable Canadian newspaper The Montreal Gazette carried on May 21 an editorial defending Muslim women's right to wear what they like. In its editorial entitled “Is government coming to its senses on niqabs?” The Montreal Gazette wrote: “In this country we are free to choose what we wear. ‘Fashion crime' is a joke, not a real offence. Can't the government see the absurdity of refusing equality to some women on the basis of what they wear?” the newspaper asked. It continued: “Obviously there is, however, something significant behind all this angst about a bit of cloth. The niqab is merely a lightning rod for simmering public concern about Muslim and other immigrant communities.” The newspaper has also referred to an important point over the niqab or the hijab that some people believe is being forced on the Muslim women by their spouse, fathers or even religious men. This is an important point that requires further debate and so will be reviewed in this corner next week. Dear readers are invited to contribute their comments, views and questions via 111- 115 Ramsis St., Cairo or e-mail: ([email protected])
