European backlash against Muslim Women....

[Valenteenah.]

Lately the issue of Hijab is being debated fiercely in the mainstream media as both France and parts of Germany prepare new legislation to ban the Muslim headscarf from schools and other public institutions.

 

One of the main reason's being cited by European MPs in forbidding Muslim women to cover their hair (other than protecting their secular or Christian values) is that the hijab is seen as "a symbol of women's oppression" in the past. The argument is that historically Muslim women have been forced to wear the hijab in Islamic countries, therefore, Europe, in all her humanity, can't bear to see these women mistreated and oppressed. So what was the solution? Forbidding the wearing of the Hijab, of course.

 

It doesn't matter that forbidding Muslim females the right to follow their religion by wearing the hijab is itself a form of oppression. It doesn't matter that Muslim females would rather be home-schooled, or leave their jobs in the public sector than contemplate removing their headscarves. It doesn't matter that such laws will undoubtedly lead to the marginalisation and isolation of this vulnerable group of society. It also doesn't matter that such legislation will add to cases of Islamphobia and intolerance.

 

These actions appear to directly contradict the notions of cultural and religious 'integration' that so many European politicians endorse and actively promote in their countries.

 

What concern's me the most and what makes these actions somewhat transparent is the double standards so evident. For a continent so obssessed with human rights, the question "What happened to religious and personal freedom?" begs to be asked. Isn't it part of an individual's human right to choose what to wear? Or do human right's in the West only apply to non-Muslims?

 

Further evidence of the blatant racist and discriminatory nature of these new laws is provided by the following quote from an article by the Guardian: the German state of Baden-Württemberg this week approved laws to ban the wearing of headscarves in schools, branding it "a symbol of cultural differentiation as part of the history of repression of women". Surprisingly, although Islamic garments are a symbol of 'cultural differentiation', orthodox Christian and Jewish garments aren't. Why? Because Christianity and other Western religions are at the heart of and form the values of German society.

 

They can't say "WE WANT U OUT" any more clearly than that, can they?

 

 

Newspaper sources follow.

[Valenteenah.]

MPs urge French ban on religious symbols

 

Move to reaffirm secular nature of state institutions fuels row

 

Jon Henley in Paris

Friday November 14, 2003

The Guardian

 

France edged a step closer yesterday to outlawing Muslim veils in schools after a cross-party commission of MPs backed legislation to ban all visible symbols of religious conviction from state-run institutions.

The decision by the 31-member commission is sure to inflame an already heated debate that cuts to the core of one of France's most pressing problems: how far the secular republic can accommodate the demands of Islam. Or, put more bluntly, is being Muslim compatible with being French?

 

The question is a vital one. With more than 5 million followers in France, an increasingly outspoken Islam - now tainted, rightly or wrongly, in the public mind by notions of fundamentalism and terrorism - has become the country's second-largest religion.

 

Opponents of a law on veils in schools, the decade-old dispute that has become the white-hot focus for the whole secular state debate, say it could further marginalise France's already disadvantaged Muslim immigrants, pushing them into the arms of the fundamentalists.

 

"In the current climate, where passions are running high, such a law will be felt by the Muslim community as a suspicion," said Dalil Boubakeur, the moderate iman of the Paris mosque and president of the French Muslim Council.

 

"It would be turning our back on the wise solution."

 

Mr Boubakeur is, unusually, backed by France's archbishops, who fear that new legislation would threaten the delicate century-old balance achieved in France between the primary Catholic faith and an overtly secular state.

 

"A law would reawaken old conflicts, confrontation and exclusions," Claude Dagens, the bishop of Angouleme, said last week.

 

The bishop of Evry, Michel Dubost, added: "Legislation would target the surface of things. The root problem is far bigger than that of headscarves in schools - it is the whole huge question of how to successfully integrate third-generation Muslim immigrants in France."

 

But teachers and a clear majority of politicians are adamant that such legislation is the only solution.

 

Under a 1989 court ruling, it is not illegal to wear religious symbols in state schools, considered by most French to be the near-sacred cornerstone of the republic and therefore the ideal place to transmit its core lay values. But the law does forbid "ostentatious" religious signs that "constitute an act of pressure, provocation, proselytism or propaganda".

 

Headteachers and teaching staffs of individual schools periodically invoke this to justify the suspension or expulsion of Muslim girls who insist on wearing hijabs at school - sometimes even to PE classes.

 

The most recent high-profile case involved two teenagers, Alma and Lila Levy, from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, who refused to remove their full headscarves before entering the classroom. Both girls, who were portrayed in the French press as having "fallen prey" to fundamentalists, were expelled earlier this month.

 

"Schools are not just public spaces, they must be autonomous places protected from aggressive proselytism, intolerance and polemic," said a Paris secondary school teacher Hervè Ricard.

 

"Every religion must be treated the same, none must be singled out for favouritism or punishment. That is the intransigent condition of true neutrality; that is genuine secularity."

 

The ruling UMP party's general secretary, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said yesterday that a law that banned every visible sign of religions conviction - cross, skull-cap or headscarf - would "help all those millions of Muslims in France who are genuine republicans, who believe in an Islam in Franc, rather than an Islamic France".

 

Otherwise, he said, "10 or 20 years down the line we could have some very serious republican problems indeed".

 

The French president, Jacques Chirac, and the prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, have both spoken out vociferously against the wearing of "ostentatious" symbols of faith in schools, the civil service, and in state institutions.

 

Mr Raffarin, as well as several other cabinet ministers, however, are hesitant about a new law, arguing that it is always better to "convince than to constrain", and that legislation "should always be the last possible solution".

 

Mr Chirac has said he will await the verdict, due at the end of this year, of a special commission on protecting and enforcing France's secular principles.

 

However, comments by the commission's members so far leave little doubt that it will back legislation, leaving the government with little choice.

 

The problem is not confined to France: the German state of Baden-Württemberg this week approved laws to ban the wearing of headscarves in schools, branding it "a symbol of cultural differentiation as part of the history of repression of women".

 

The debate is far from conclusive. "It is a big problem," admitted Mr Ricard, the Paris teacher . "Many French people consider the headscarf a political, not a religious, symbol: in some countries girls who refuse to wear it are stoned. And many Muslims, even moderate ones, consider any attempt to ban it as more or less racist. In today's climate there's no way of knowing where that could lead."

 

In a veiled criticism of France's secular view, 22 prominent Europeans, including former presidents, prime ministers and Nobel laureates urged the EU not to ignore the continent's Christian roots in its draft constitution.

 

The signatories of the statement, published in Le Monde, did not directly demand a reference to religion in the document, but said that Christianity was at the core of Europe's common identity.

 

France has staunchly opposed any reference to religion in the new constitution, but the Pope and half a dozen EU countries, including Spain, Poland and Ireland, want one.

 

 

German state plans headscarf ban

Tuesday, 11 November, 2003, 15:40 GMT

BBC online

 

Teacher Fereshta Ludin's court victory looks set to be short lived

A German state has begun moves to ban Muslims from wearing headscarves in schools.

The bill was proposed by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg following a supreme court ruling in September that allowed a Muslim teacher to wear a headscarf.

 

The legislation is expected to gain approval from the state parliament early next year.

 

Civil rights groups say a ban would hamper religious freedom but six other states are planning similar laws.

 

"The aim of the law is to forbid state teachers from wearing symbols which could be regarded as political," said Erwin Teufel, state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

 

The region's Education Minister Annette Schavan said the headscarf was "seen as a symbol of cultural division and part of a history of repression of women".

 

In September's ruling, the federal constitutional court ruled the state could not ban a female Muslim teacher from wearing a headscarf because there was no law against it.

 

But the court also said German states could ban headscarves in schools if they passed new laws.

 

The ban will not apply in religious education classes, and Christian and Jewish symbols will not be banned.

 

Three states - Berlin, Hesse and Saarland - want headscarves banned in all public services.

 

 

 

 

Headscarves: contentious cloths

 

By Clare Murphy

BBC News Online

 

 

Few pieces of headwear prompt such controversy.

 

A number of European countries are currently struggling with the dilemmas posed by the Muslim headscarf, which throws up a variety of difficult issues relating to tolerance and equality.

 

 

Ms Ludin does not fit into the victim category

On Wednesday, the highest court in Germany ruled that a school in the southern state of Baden Wuerttemberg was wrong under current legislation to exclude a female teacher for insisting on wearing a headscarf to work.

 

The school had argued that it violated the state's neutrality in religion. The teacher, 31-year-old Fereshta Ludin, declared the school was violating her freedom of religion.

 

The ruling does not, however, permanently settle the issue, leaving it open for individual states to establish a firm legal basis for barring the scarf from schools if they so wish.

 

Nonetheless, it has outraged prominent German feminists, who see the head covering as a symbol of women's oppression which has no place in a democratic society - and certainly not in a school.

 

Conflicting concerns

 

Germany is not alone in its dilemma.

 

Since the beginning of this year, debate about the rights and wrongs of headscarves has been raging in France as well as in Turkey, where the majority practise the Muslim faith but where scarves are banned in public buildings.

 

For all three countries, efforts to prevent the headscarf appearing in civic spaces have raised serious questions about religious tolerance, and, in France and Germany, fuelled the ongoing row about the relative benefits of assimilation as opposed to multi-culturalism in an age of immigration.

 

I felt discriminated against for many years and this decision is a big relief for me

 

Fereshta Ludin

 

 

Why I wear the veil

Those hostile to the headscarf on the grounds of their objection to the nature of the Muslim faith - which is viewed by some as profoundly intolerant - find themselves in the awkward position of seeking themselves to stamp out the expression of a religion in the name of tolerance.

 

The issue of women's rights and the headscarf is also problematic for many feminists.

 

"If we allow women to wear headscarves in state schools, then the republic and French democracy have made clear their religious tolerance but they have given up on any equality of the sexes in our country," says French philosopher Elisabeth Badinter

 

We must defend secularism - the next step may be separate train compartments for men and women, beaches reserved for one sex

 

Alain Juppe

Former French PM

But these concerns about female oppression within the Islamic faith also have to be squared with the fact that a number of Muslim women are clearly keen to wear the scarf.

 

In France, campaigns to stop the state cracking down on the wearing of the headscarf are often run by young Muslim women confident of their right to fulfil their potential and their right to express their religion.

 

Neither does Ms Ludin fit into the category of victim. An educated young woman of middle-class parents, she has no qualms about her right to pursue a career or to wear a headscarf.

 

"I see my religion as a fundamental part of my identity," she has declared.

 

Secularity and freedom

 

But while many women clearly do see the wearing of the scarf as a personal identity issue, their insistence upon it is raising issues about the political identity and the authority of the state.

 

In France, secularity has been enshrined in the constitution since 1905.

 

But the country has not always been so keen to assert a ban on headscarves in schools. In 1989, the then left-wing government declared that the wearing of scarves was not necessarily incompatible with France being a secular state as long as they were not ostentatious.

 

The decision on whether to allow pupils to wear them or not has been left up to the discretion of headteachers.

 

The new centre-right government however has said it is prepared to pass a law banning all religious effects from the classroom.

 

This stance has been applauded by a number of women's rights activists, but has also left the government open to allegations of racism, and to the charge that it is seeking to woo the large numbers of voters who opted for the far-right, anti-immigrant leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in last year's presidential election.

 

Other critics worry that such a law would simply push Muslim girls out of the state system, jeopardising integration. This term the country's first private Muslim school opened in the northern city of Lille.

 

The row in Turkey, meanwhile, over women's right to wear headscarves has taken on particular resonance in the last year since the Islamic-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power.

 

The headscarf, worn by more than half of Turkey's women, is seen as a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism by the defenders of Turkey's ardently secularist state and is banned in government institutions and schools.

 

The wife of the Turkish prime minister Mr Erdogan wears such a covering, but he himself has declared that resolving the headscarf issue is not among his government's priorities.

 

Nonetheless the country's influential generals remain highly suspicious.

 

 

More articles to follow....

[Valenteenah.]

just one more thing.....

 

What do you guys think of the assertion that the hijab is more a 'political symbol' than a religious one?

[Baashi]

Bee,

I agree the assertion of Hijab being a 'political symbol'. The reason being Islam does not differentiate politics and religion as West do in the form of separation of Church and State.

 

As unfortunate as this development might be, the good thing about this is the West is losing faith in its own principles and values that they loudly want to propagate around the world namely: rights of the minority as opposed to the tyranny of the majority (adopted as a key solution to democracy), tolerance, and religious freedom.

 

On the other hand Muslims are beginning to understand, slowly but surely, the cold reality of the life in the West. As the saying goes "it is not the lofty sails but the unseen winds that moves the ship". France's atheist secular system and Germany, to some extent, are now being threatened by sizable but growin Muslim minority all the while their population are aging and shrinking. I don't blame them.

 

Thanks Bee for this very relevant article.

[Thinkerman]

The ruling UMP party's general secretary, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said yesterday that a law that banned every visible sign of religions conviction - cross, skull-cap or headscarf - would "help all those millions of Muslims in France who are genuine republicans, who believe in an Islam in Franc, rather than an Islamic France".

 

Very doddgy indeed.

 

You riasy a very good point Baashi

 

Man am at the point where am trying to see where i can migrate to to avoid all this Nonsense. Lets be honest who wants to intergrate?? well not me. I dont want to continue to work along side, Homo's, and these Kafirs. I dont want to pay all these taxes and still live as a second class citizen. Truth be that all of these European and Western Countries are stauncly against Any form of Islam. So our always gonna be in the target range.

 

By where do we go from here....... whats the exit plan am all ears.

[Liqaye]

Sister Bee thanx for the intreasting topic.

 

I used to wonder why these people are so offended and terified by a muslim woman wearing A hijab, i mean to some extent i still dont comprehend it.

I mean why do you feel a persons item of clothing is such a threat!

Things start slowly as is wittnesed by the quran, slowly, slowly every once and a while something spectacular comes up due to a mistep by a western goverment, like the issue of the hijab that momentarily electifies the muslim community.

But in the end they wont be satisfied till we are in mannerism and ethos exactly like them.

 

The present excuse is the separation of religion and state.

whislt to the mind of a muslim even if there is a clear diffrence in the two entities, perforce religion is paramount of any other considerations.

 

Can that be reconciled with western political thought.

 

No

 

Dar-ul-islam

vs

Dar-al-harb

 

Does anybody think that one could be a practising muslimah in the west let us say 100 yrs from now.

Let us say 10 yrs fom now.

 

This is just the opening shot.

[Blessed]

One of the main reason's being cited by European MPs in forbidding Muslim women to cover their hair (other than protecting their secular or Christian values) is that the hijab is seen as "a symbol of women's oppression" in the past. The argument is that historically Muslim women have been forced to wear the hijab in Islamic countries, therefore, Europe, in all her humanity, can't bear to see these women mistreated and oppressed. So what was the solution? Forbidding the wearing of the Hijab, of course.

There is only one word to describe this Hypocrisy !!

 

What is it to them what the Muslim woman wears, after all if this is a democracy as we are told – shouldn’t the individual have the right to choose how they dress – regardless of the political connotations and the history of hijaab?

 

 

And to answer your question… it is a bit of both. Islam is a complete believe system, it guides us on religious matters and political matters. So when a Muslimah wears her hijaab it is an indication of her wish to live the Islamic way of life .. therefore shunning the democratic system. See we can choose to be democratic thinkers, we can choose to leave our hijaab and change the rules of Islam because that what the people of the free world do. But, we choose to cover up out of fear of Allah – we choose to submit ourselves to Allah and follow his commands completely and that pisses them off!

 

And when we remove our hijabs its an indication of us being uncomfortable with the commands of Allah – how can we claim to have submitted to his will, if we are unwilling to follow his commands?

 

The wearing / not wearing of the hijaab is a direct manifestation of your state as a Muslim – whether you like it or not people will judge you accordingly. Because your dress code is a window to the inner you – it’s a reflection of your thoughts and beliefs – people will prejudge even if you don’t necessarily intend to give out those signals.

 

I was reading a book called the Return of Hijaab – which is based on the feminist movement of Egypt and how it was colonialised - what the Europeans did was, to use Egyptian students in France to go back to Egypt and unleash a campaign against the hijaab – it was really interesting how Muslims reinterpreted the Quranic teachings to suite the feminist sentiments of that time. I can’t go too much into the book but it’s really powerful.

 

 

Do excuse me - i tend to go into this topic

[Valenteenah.]

Ameenah, I haven't read that particular book, but I have read a little about the Egyptian feminist mass movement....Fascinating.

 

Tweety, Baashe, Shuj and Liqaye...

 

Thanx for your responses.

 

I do agree that theoretically there's no seperation between politics and religion in Islam. Islam is a complete system, however, through the centuries, there has emerged a very distinct form of separation which we see today in almost every Muslim country, where religion has been seperated from the mechanisms of political decision-making/governance and confined only to Mosques and other religious institutions.

 

It is in this context that I approach the issue of hijab. What interests me the most is why the hijab has gained such importance as a political tool. Everywhere you go, the state is either forcing Muslim women to wear it, or to stop wearing it.

 

When did the hijab go from being a simple religious garment to becoming the 'ouward manifestation' of a political ideology? Perhaps when Iranian women activists took it on as a symbol of political opposition to Western Values during the Islamic Revolution? Or when educated, previously bare-headed, middle-class Egyptian women chose to put it back on in the last few decades of the 20th century? Or has it always been percieved and used in this manner?

 

Since the West is so hostile to the headscarf, have Muslims identified the Hijab as the last weapon to fight Western values with??

[Business_Man]

Bee, You are one wise sister!. I am fascinated by this post. It is good that you have raised this view about the harrassment of muslim women in europe. I know that the hijab is a beautiful symbol of obedience to allah almighty so I really appreciate sisters who wear hijab.

 

I dont think westerners know the meaning of wearing a hijab but I think the expelling of the two french girls in france raised issues that sisters shouldnt wear their religious head-dress but be western like them,How absurd.

 

Muslim Women shouldnt be forced to deviate away from their religious duties and no matter what the europeans do, allah knows best and will reward those who stand up to the kaafir institutions of europe and its ally >>>>>>the ugly duckling USA!. :mad:

[hukri]

I want to be treated as a human being!!

 

"As soon as a step inside the tram everybody start staring at me as if I've commited a crime. I start reading my newspaper and catch a post sent in by a person who feels muslim women are opressed.

I walk into the classroom, I say hi but I get no response from my teacher nor my classmates. I take a seat next to the window, look out and think for myself; not another bad day.

 

Finally the day is over and I get home. I tell my mother how aweful it feels living here. I scream as loud as possible that she should've left me in motherland and should've let me die in the war instead of going through these insults everyday.

 

I go through this every day because I wear my headscarf. What have I done to deserve this? I hope people can start seeing muslim women in a different light and respect them as human beings."

 

This was sent in by a young student and muslimah.

[N.O.R.F]

The whole idea of the west is to rid all religious ppl of their beliefs, whether they Muslims, Christians or Jews. By making it law to seperate the state and religion, this will help in the end objective. Are they going to make it illegal to have a Rasta hair style, or to wear the jewish cap, dont think so. These sick countries are aiming to rid it self of the hijaab because of the simple reason of aesthetics. Look around any major city now and there plenty of hijabified muslimahs (mashallah) resulting in the their own kids becoming more curious about the religion and hence increasing the chances of them actually reverting. So decreasing this will again aid their objective.

 

France is in the middle of developing a French islam, where the idea is to integrate the french way of living with that of islam. Also aiming to have some sort of system where they tell the imams in the mosques of what subjects to talk about during jumca prayers. Crazy init?

 

Shuji says

 

"Lets be honest who wants to intergrate?? well not me. I dont want to continue to work along side, Homo's, and these Kafirs. I dont want to pay all these taxes and still live as a second class citizen."

 

My sentiments exactly, the govnt are already in the process of decreasing our numbers. one way to do this is to make it very difficult to live here unless we greatly compromise our religion.

 

The old adage of dont be rude and tell them to get out of yr house but just show them the door comes to mind.

 

gr8 post!!!!!!

[Thinkerman]

Salam Calaykum one and all.

 

Bee i now understand why u ask the question

 

What do you guys think of the assertion that the hijab is more a 'political symbol' than a religious one?

 

Northner i think gave you roughly the same unser that i would give, i would only expand on it further by saying it seems that it each host nation see's some poltical incentive in integreting muslims fully into there respective societies via asslimilitory policies. The issue of the Hijab (Update on French Bill) could be just the first of many potential battle grounds.

 

Just might add, the backlash as much as it might be currently focused on women, in the poltical sense anyway, is a general backjlash against muslims as whole, and there failer (as they see it) to fully integrete into society as most other immigrant groups have.

 

here is another intersting piece

 

Sharon sees Europe's Muslims as a threat :

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday that the rising number of Muslims in Europe was a threat to the continent's Jewish community.

 

"Since there is an ever strengthening Muslim presence in Europe, it certainly endangers the life of Jewish people," Mr Sharon told an online publication, eupolitix.com, in an interview.

 

"Of course, the sheer fact that there are a huge amount of Muslims, approximately 70 million in the European Union, this issue has also turned into a political matter," he said.

 

The Israeli prime minister repeated allegations that Europeans were inherently anti-semitic and their leaders guilty of pushing a biased policy in the Middle East.

 

source :::: somaliuk.com

[Xafsa]

I think this back lash was expected...if it wasn't then it should have been. Allah subaxanahu watacaalaa syas in the holy qur'an: Walan tardhaa cankal yahuudu walan nasaaraa xataa tatabicu milatahum.( writing could be wrong) which roughly means:. Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion.

[La Fidele]

In reading some responses from French papers in regards to Chirac's decision to pursue legislation banning 'religious wear' from state schools, it's really interesting to note the number of papers that believe coming regional elections have more of a role in bringing this issue to the forefront than the claimed concern for 'protecting French culture and secularism'. They support this point by referring to Chirac's rejection of the same bill's proposal to officially mark Eid al-Adha and Yom Kippur in school.

 

How tragic that Chirac and his party have to adopt such xenophobic policies in order to sway votes away from their right-wing opponents.

 

But I wonder if this ruling will also apply to universities. They make the arguement that the hijab is forced upon young girls for their lack of understanding, but surely they don't believe an self-aware, veiled Muslim woman--in university no less--can be similarly oppressed? How condescending to all women, as if we need help to take our own stand at any age.

[hukri]

What can you as a young muslima living in France do? Chirac has banned religious symbols that are thought to be used as a political symbol ex. headscarves, Jewish skull-caps or large Christian crosses.

 

What can you do? Do you take your hijab off to get an education or do you stop going to school? The girls take it off when walking into school grounds and put it back on as soon as they leave school.