By Salama A Salama Each time the hijab or niqab is debated, Muslims lose credibility around the world, for the debate inevitably deteriorates from being one about a dress code to one about Islam as a religion. The tenets of this lofty religion are all too often reduced to this insignificant detail, as if Islam were a number of ossified principles that clash with other cultures. As a result, Muslims face mounting isolation and prejudice. And the things that matter, the basic issues of freedom, democracy, human rights, the status of women and civic responsibility are often forgotten. The biggest losers are the Islamists themselves. Those hardliners who see head cover as a yardstick of the faith are doing Islam more harm than good. By turning the dress code into a bone of contention, the hardliners are diverting attention from the things that truly matter. Instead of discussing truthfulness and honesty, tolerance and the quest for knowledge -- the things that truly define a human being -- the hardliners take the debate into a dead end. It was the demise of common human values that brought about a collapse of morality and conduct on our streets. It was hypocrisy and double standards that propelled our young men down the road to sexual harassment and wanton aggression. To waste valuable time in discussing the hijab and niqab is to admit that Muslim society is inane and emotionally disturbed. The more we discuss such matters, the less time we will have for the issues that we need to ponder. Would it not be better for the controversy between the Muslim Brotherhood and Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to have been about the things that matter? How about the education of our young people? How about building a modern culture that is compatible with our times? How about initiating progress in a manner that maintains decent traditions? Look around you. Look at Japan, China, India and other nations that are surging ahead in terms of science and modernity without sacrificing their traditional traits and their spiritual teachings. Let's not waste our energy on dress codes. Let women wear what they want, without fear of intimidation or threats of excommunication. In Europe, the issue of the hijab and niqab has become a pretext for the exclusion and subjugation of Muslims. Europe is closing the door in the face of Muslims. They will have diminished access to government, administration and economy in Europe because of minor issues such as the current uproar over dress codes. Europe is trying to protect its culture from Muslim contamination, and I leave it to you to decide whose loss this is. Muslims stand accused of creating a climate of conflict. As a result, the forces of the extreme right are on the rise across Europe. A country such as the Netherlands, known for its liberal traditions and support for cultural plurality, fought its most recent elections over the issue of the hijab and niqab. And its right-of-centre government was quick to introduce a law banning the use of face covering in public places. Now whose loss is this? Islam's image has suffered because of a phenomenon that is hardly central to its spiritual teachings. Islam has spread because it rejects religious authority, bans control on beliefs and conscience and shuns coercion. What has become of this spiritual tradition? Finally, allow me to remain neutral in this debate. Allow me to say that the wearing of the hijab is not a sign of backwardness, nor is its absence a sign of progress. But to discuss the hijab to the exclusion of all else, that is the very definition of benightedness.
