On Wednesday, 32-year-old Egyptian national Marwa Al Sherbini was stabbed to death in Dresden, Germany, after her assailant was fined for hate speech. The incident has been nearly forgotten by mainstream Western media and has created an outcry of anger in the Middle East. Rightfully so. Sherbini was a woman who had been traveling with her husband, who had been on scholarship to study Genetics in Germany, and has been the most recent victim of Europe's growing xenophobia. After Bikya Masr detailed the murder on Friday morning – we were the first English outlet to report the killing – a number of people living in Germany began pouring comments our way. To our surprise, they questioned why the report stated Sherbini was veiled. The question then becomes, is the veil important? We believe it is vitally important in this instance. While the Associated Press report fails to mention the case, instead relying on German prosecutor's comments about how this is a one-time incident and the man “did not belong to any far right organization” we feel that it is precisely because she was wearing the veil, in Europe, that sparked the initial hate crime that eventually led to her horrific murder. Europe is in the midst of an ongoing debate over whether to ban the veil. France has been the most outspoken against this clothing choice, with President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for the complete ban of the niqab, arguing it is “backwards” and forced upon women. In Germany, this is a very prominent sentiment as well, a number of observers have told Bikya Masr. They said that German women believe the veil is a sign of male dominance and cannot see that women would choose to wear it on their own accord. So, is it the veil? Of course it is. If Sherbini had not been wearing the veil, she would have been loved by Europeans who would have seen her as an example of a Muslim woman who has “thrown off the yoke” of that “backwards” society in the Middle East. This way of thinking is abhorrent, because it fails to understand that for many Muslim women, the veil is a choice. Many put it on and many take it off, or simply don't wear it, as they choose. To argue that the veil is a means for men to dominate women may have some clout within extremely conservative families, in Saudi Arabia or Iran, but for the vast majority of women who don the veil, it is their choice. And a choice that should be respected. For those Europeans who continue to fight against the veil, they are fighting against the freedoms they so dearly hold true. For Sherbini, her decision to wear the veil ultimately cost her everything. We, as a global community must fight against people who continue to push women to wear one thing versus another. Europeans must look inward and understand that the ongoing xenophobia against Muslims in their countries is pushing hatred to the street, as evidenced by Sherbini's case. It is high time that the world start to realize that by forcing people to wear the “appropriate” attire of soceity, they are creating a society based on hatred and fear. The murder of Sherbini was horrific and the West must understand what they are doing: pushing intolerance. It won't work. And in the end, this debate will ultimately force Europe more right and alienate a group of people that have for a long time looked to the continent with hope. Why kill that hope? It was the veil, unfotuntately. European feminists should stand with Sherbini in protest of these acts of violence and force their governments to see reason instead of bigotry. BM
