Women who wear the niquab (veil covering the face but not the eyes) and burka (which covers the whole face and body) in the West tend to do so out of choice. Perhaps that choice is the result of the culture they grew up in, perhaps it is a genuine religious belief. I don't feel I've got a right to tell them what to wear. Especially I don't feel I have a right to tell them they can't wear something they believe they should. I'm more inclined to defend their right to wear what they like. Why should covering their face offend someone?
I understand the argument that wearing the veil limits and oppresses women. But many, or most, women choose to wear it, not forced. And even if some women are forced, how does banning them from facilities where they can get help help them? Is it fair that these people are to be unable to claim benefits or get healthcare- doesn't that make them oppressed by the state? If they feel they can't go outside because they can't cover up, I imagine some women will feel trapped in their homes. How does that help them?
The French recommendations seem to fail to recognise that wearing the veil is for some women (I don't say all) a genuine religious choice, something which they feel they should do. Perhaps it's partly fear of something different, something the older French generation don't understand. Another commentator suggests they are lashing out against Muslims- and more generally, immigrants- in fear of terrorism. If so, they're probably going to find it only makes things worse.
I would like to suggest that you have no knowledge of the role of women in both the Quran and the Hadiths because of your lst comment. I think it is a genuine attempt to stop repression but crucially a mistaken attempt. It is like plastering over a much deeper wound.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not that older French do not understand. It is perhaps a greater understanding of the texts of Islam that leads to a desire to act to protect women but it is the method that is mistaken.
Many older people were threatened by, for example, punk culture, but there is no attempt to ban the dress. But punk music does not have within its founding texts (songs) the idea that hell is mostly full of women, the idea the women have "deficiant" minds, the idea that women's testimony is only half as worthy as a man's testimony, that if a man sins sexualy it is because the woman has tempted him and that women can be beaten by their husbands.
Forgot to add to my last note.. that Women are also doctrinally possesions, and while men are only allowed to won 4 wives they are allowed more slave girls and conncubines (Mohammed of course had more than this and his favourite sexual partner was a 9 year old girl).
ReplyDeleteNon of this I have typed is insulting as it is simple description of scripture.. My point is, I think it is for these reasons the French are banning the clothing and not for the reasons you suggested. I however believe this desire of the French government reveals more understanding of Islam than you perhaps have yourself. Have you read the Hathiths and Quran? It is however their methods which are wrong and counter to liberty and freedom