MECO (Muslim Educational Centre at Oxford) launches ABNI (anti-Burqa and Niqab Initiative), a “Muslim-led protest” that argues Islam “does not necessitate women to tuck away their faces in public.” MECO is the mouthpiece of ‘Imam’ Taj Hargey (PhD African history), self-proclaimed victim of Muslim McCarthyites, and a man of impeccable character. Dearest Taj is also linked to British Muslims for Secular Democracy, an organization founded by my favourite Muslim columnist, Yasmin Alibi-Brain.
Latest Updates: veil RSS
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plimfix
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johnpi
Irish Imam says Irish women should wear Muslim veil as sign of religious freedom.
A controversial Irish Islamic leader says female Muslims should wear the veil in Ireland as a sign of religious freedom.
Ali Selim, Secretary-General of the Irish Council of Imams, says Europe should respect the rights of Muslim women to wear that they want.
And he pointed to Ireland as a positive role model in the row over the niqab or face veil.
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johnpi
Italy ‘to follow France with Muslim full-face veil ban.’
Italy may soon follow France and seek to impose a ban on full-face Muslim veils.
The country’s equal opportunities minister, Mara Carfagna, said the Italian government would work more closely on four draft bills on the burqa and niqab already circulating in parliamentary committees.
This week a French parliamentary committee called for women wearing the niqab — a veil with just a gap for the eyes that is worn with a long robe — to be refused access to public transport, schools, universities, post offices and hospitals.
Ms Carfagna, a former showgirl who prime minister Silvio Berlusconi made a minister in May 2008, said: “I completely agree with the French initiative, which I think will push other European countries and hence, also Italy, to enact laws on this issue.
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johnpi
There must be over 50 stories on the wires this morning about the impending French face veil ban.
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johnpi
France moves closer to banning full Muslim veil.
The man she married is French, her four children were born in France and she speaks French with only a trace of her native Arabic tongue. Faiza Silmi contends her clothes — a head-to-toe robe and filmy tissue covering her face — are the reason France has denied her citizenship in her adopted land.
The 32-year-old Moroccan may soon be facing an even fiercer blow. A top French lawmaker submitted a draft law this week that would ban such Islamic dress anywhere in public, a measure that would set a European precedent and trap thousands of women between their religious convictions and the law of the land.
“They say I’m too attached to my religion,” Silmi told The Associated Press at an empty restaurant near her home southwest of Paris, her large eyes peering from a slit in her veil. “Lots of Christians live in Morocco and we don’t make them wear scarves.”
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johnpi
Status of face-covering veils around Europe.
– FRANCE: After passing 2004 law banning Muslim headscarves and other “ostentatious” religious symbols from classrooms, France’s government submitted a draft law this week on a ban on face-covering veils. The bill could be debated this spring.
– NETHERLANDS: The Dutch government considered but abandoned legislation in 2006 for a total ban on Muslim veils, after lawyers said it would likely be unconstitutional. Instead, it said it would seek a ban on face-covering veils in all schools and prevent government employees from wearing them. No legislation has yet been passed.
– BRITAIN: The issue of full-body veils has largely faded from the spotlight since then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair called it a “mark of separation” in 2006. The coverings are more visible on the streets of London than many other European cities.
– ITALY: Has a law requiring people to keep their faces visible in public, dating to Italy’s crackdown on domestic terrorism decades ago. Representatives of Italy’s Muslim community say it’s rarely applied in the case of women wearing veils.
– BELGIUM: The mayor of Maaseik banned face-covering veils in 2004, but there is no general ban across the country.
– GERMANY: Several states in the country, which has a large Muslim immigrant community, have banned teachers from wearing headscarves in public schools.
– SWITZERLAND: The Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said in November the government could “study a possible ban” of face-covering veils if more Muslim women begin wearing them. She said they make her feel “uncomfortable.”
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johnpi
France’s anti-burka law drafted. $1,000 fine for each time a woman is caught wearing the garment. If it can be somehow determined that a man forced a woman to wear a burka, he would face an even heavier fine.
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johnpi
CAIR threatens lawsuit over Boston pharmacy college decision to ban face veils.
The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences said it barred all face masks last fall as a security measure, meant to protect students and ensure that everyone who is on campus actually belongs there.
But the move has riled the Washington-based Council of American Islamic Relations, whose spokesman claims it is a form of religious discrimination targeted at two campus coeds.
“They said they came up with this out of the blue,” said the group’s spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. “I think they have two Muslim women wearing face veils, that made them feel uncomfortable and they had to do something about it . . . If this went to court I would feel comfortable the women would prevail because of the legal precedent that has been set.”
But school spokesman Michael Ratty said before the ban went into effect the school discussed it with members of the local Muslim community, as well as the two female Islamic students who were affected. Ratty said everyone is on board.
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed there are a lot of Muslims in this career field in the Boston area. I would be surprised if there weren’t Muslims on the board of the college.
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johnpi
A French parliamentarian has started writing the actual legislation to ban the veil in France so that it will be waiting in the wings when a nonbinding report is released in January that is expected to condemn the veil as ‘an affront to French values.’
The pol has said he not only wants a ban in public buildings but also in the streets of France. Opponents have said the effort to write the bill is premature.
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johnpi
Egypt university to appeal niqab ruling.
A leading Cairo university will appeal a court decision allowing female students to don the full face veil on campus dormitories, a university official said on Monday.
“Cairo’s Ain Shams University will immediately appeal the decision issued by the Supreme Administrative Court on Sunday,” the official said.
The court had said that donning the niqab– a veil covering the entire face– “is one example of freedom that no administrative body or any other body can ban.”
The court is also expected to rule on December 27 on the case of female university students who have been told they will not be allowed to sit exams if they insist on wearing the full face veil.
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johnpi
Ayman al-Zawahiri’s wife – Omayma Hassan Ahmed Mohammed Hassan – is advocating for hijab, and has told women to support men in jihad. It was the first-ever official release by Al-Qaeda of a message in her name, according to the article. And I think it might be the first-ever message from a woman.
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johnpi
The Christian Science Monitor has a four-article feature package on the hijab in the paper today. The main story is Behind the veil: Why Islam’s most visible symbol is spreading. The others are: The Muslim veil: modesty has its own style, Wearing the Muslim veil in America: What it’s like, written by a Muslimah intern on the Monitor’s staff, and an unsigned editorial by the Monitor’s editorial board stating their position on the hijab and drawing attention to the rise of Islamic feminism.
The Christian Science Monitor is a secular publication.
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johnpi
More reports about vitamin D deficiency.
Back in December, a report in the Times said that the ‘burqa is bad for your health.’
MUSLIM women who wear the burqa in Ireland are at increased risk of pelvic fractures during childbirth because of vitamin D deficiency due to a lack of sunlight, a consultant warns.
There have actually been a whole slew of these reports that have prompted ire in response from some Muslims, such as this Muslimah Media Watch blog post from February:
OH NOES! Hijab will make you sick!
The results of a new study on Arab women in Dearborn, Mich., have been released. The study revealed that women who wear “traditional clothing” (code word for hijab) are prone to lower levels of vitamin D because of less exposure to sunlight. Two articles on the study read like, “Oh noes! Those poor hijabis who get no sunlight will get so sick!” This recent study is just the latest in a line of studies on hijabis in various parts of the world which all have the same result: hijabis don’t get enough sunlight and hence don’t get enough vitamin D. We’re told of all the risks of not getting enough vitamin D: increased risk of cancer, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and infections.
A new study released today shows that those with low levels of Vitamin D are 78 percent more likely to suffer strokes too.
It’s a miracle covered Muslim women don’t just fall to pieces walking down the street…
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johnpi
Hijabis banned from Egyptian state TV: “It is part of our society’s culture to show hair.”
Female presenters will no longer appear on Egypt’s state television channel wearing the Muslim veil, according to the head of the public station, al-Masriya. Osama al-Sheikh said: “You will not see any veiled female TV presenters on air on the screens of Egypt’s state TV any more.”
The channel’s director made the remarks during a seminar at the faculty of science and communications at Cairo University, according to a report in Egyptian magazine al-Youm al-Saba.
“It is part of our society’s culture to show hair. Now I am not saying it is a bad thing to wear the veil, but because this is state TV, everything that is seen must be official,” he said.
“The TV presenters who are veiled will be able to continue to work in private satellite TV stations,” he said.
His remarks provoked uproar in the Egyptian parliament by members who are close to the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement.
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johnpi
The woman’s name is Latifa Aimaq, the store is The Cooper Street Farmers Market, and the store owner is Chris Perez.
Each accuses the other of over-reacting. “I said, ‘We’re Muslim; this is the way we dress,’” Aimaq recalls having told Perez. “He did not care.”
Aimaq said Perez made it clear why he wanted her out. “He said, ‘I don’t want the Muslims to shop here.’”
Perez disputed that account. “Muslims are probably 40 to 50 percent of my business,” he said. “I’m not turning them away.”
Terence Ali, a frequent customer at Cooper Street Farmers Market, overheard the explanation from Perez and joined in.
“If you’re shopping in a store, obviously they’re going to want to see your face, or want to be able to see your face to protect other customers,” Ali said. “I don’t think it’s wrong for a business owner to say that.”
Ali — who is a Muslim — said he has shopped here every week for years, and shopkeepers know he is a Muslim. “There’s never been a problem,” he said.
But Latifa Aimaq said she has never had a problem like this before — not at the airport, at the bank or even when getting her driver’s license photo.
She is urging Muslims and others to boycott the store.
“I began to cover fully three years ago,” she said. “It’s not mandatory to cover your face, but it’s highly recommended.”
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johnpi
Muslim student barred from UK college for refusing to remove burka.
Miss Bilqes, 18, was forced to abandon plans to study at Burnley College after being told she could not enrol unless she removed the head-to-toe garment.
Miss Bilqes response:
Miss Bilqes, of Stoneyholme, Burnley, said: “It is my choice to wear the veil. I live around the corner from the college in an area where there are so many practising Muslims.
“I tried to compromise but they wouldn’t. The college sent me a latter to say I could continue with my course if I stopped wearing the veil.
“We are in the 21st Century and we get people from all walks of life. I’m in the police cadets as well and yet it’s not a problem wearing the veil there.”
The college’s explanation:
“We are determined to maintain the highest standards of teaching and learning in Burnley College. To do this effectively requires unimpeded communication from the teacher to all students, from the students to the teacher and between student and student.
“It is not possible to maintain this essential full communication of the face of any student is not fully visible.
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johnpi
A group of 10 alleged Iranian drug smugglers, including eight veiled women, were caught with $12.5 million worth of methamphetamines at Indonesia’s main airport, the customs chief said Wednesday.
….Indonesian authorities have never seen veiled women used as drug runners, he said. The drugs, wrapped in plastic food containers and cleaning fluid bottles, were packed into hand luggage. But the oddly-shaped packages were picked out by officers operating scanners.
“We believe they are part of an international syndicate,” he said. By wearing conservative Islamic clothing the women tried to “fool officers in a country like Indonesia, where women in black veils are generally considered to be good women.”
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johnpi
French Muslim leader says full-body veil is a door to radical Islam but any ban carries risks.
The head of France’s Muslim council said Wednesday that the full-body veil worn by a minority of Muslims in France is an “entry way” to radical Islam, but that a national debate over whether to ban the garment in public is stigmatizing the entire Muslim community.
Mohammed Moussaoui told a panel of lawmakers that any decision to outlaw the veils that cover the body and face risks feeding a sense of discrimination.
The debate “has taken on unexpected proportions” and “Muslims are increasingly finding themselves confronted with stereotypes whose consequence is the stigmatization of an entire religion,” Moussaoui said, referring to what many Muslims say is a tendency to group them into a single unit be they moderate or radical.
….The Muslim grouping said it preferred to try to dissuade women from wearing the veil through dialogue, saying any law could prove counterproductive, raising sympathy for those who wear the garment and feeding radical agendas.
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johnpi
Egypt Islamists sue top Sheikh over burka ban.
A group of MPs and an Islamist lawyer waged an unprecedented legal battle against one of Egypt’s top Imams on Saturday after he issued a ban on women wearing the burka, or face veil, at any schools affiliated to al-Azhar, the world’s top Sunni Islam institution.
A Muslim brotherhood lawyer, representatives of Egypt’s lower house of parliament and the Sawaseya Center for Human Rights joined forces to file a lawsuit against Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar over what they called his “unconstitutional” ban that violates personal freedom and contradicts the principle of equality for all citizens.
The group also sought action against the country’s minister of higher education and the president of Cairo University for their role in the recent decision to ban female students from wearing the burka in al-Azhar affiliated schools and in Cairo University dorms.
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johnpi
Over at MMW, Alicia (Cycads) wants to interrogate Western interrogators who doubt the headscarf.
I’m fed up by the fact that positive views women make about the headscarf fall systematically on many deaf ears. It’s time that the tables are turned on the curious people who more often than not have misconceptions and pre-conceived views about Muslim women and what we wear, in which we study their motives and question their curiosity about our lives. Enough about us, we should be asking, “Why do you want to know?”
I’m converted but my daughter is not. If she takes the Shahadah, will she be ostracized in the community if she doesn’t cover? Will other women refuse to return her salaams?
Is the social space where a woman can make a pressure-free choice to cover purely hypothetical in many communities?
Aside from covering, on the over-arching issue of convert pressure, I think Willow had the best advice:
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johnpi
Aceh ulama outraged over hijab-less Aceh woman winning ‘Miss Indonesia’ title: ‘Hair is beauty, and I am proud of beauty.’
Clerics in Indonesia’s conservative Muslim province of Aceh say they are outraged that an Acehnese woman has won the title of Miss Indonesia.
Qori Sandioriva, 18, won the Miss Indonesia title on Friday, beating 37 other contestants for the crown.
The clerics say that by failing to wear a veil during the competition she has betrayed her Acehnese roots and brought shame to the province.
….When asked about not wearing a veil during the competition, Ms Sandiorova said she believed hair is beauty, and that she is proud of beauty.
The controversy is likely to return next year when she goes on to compete in the Miss Universe contest where she will have to don a swimsuit as part of the pageant.
The BBC article uses the word “veil,” but the Indonesian article uses the words “jilbab” and “hijab.”
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johnpi
Press release:
Statement by Canadian Islamic Scholars and Mainstream Muslim Organizations Reaffirms Freedom of Religious Expression
(OTTAWA – October 9, 2009) In response to recent calls to ban the niqab (face veil) in Canada, a wide coalition of mainstream Canadian Muslim organizations in conjunction with Canadian Islamic scholars issued a statement today reaffirming the freedom of religion and conscience in Canada.
The statement read as follows:
“The recent calls to ban the niqab (face veil) in Canada are misplaced and contravene the fundamental principles of our free and democratic society. All Canadians, whether Muslim or not, are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms the freedom of religion and conscience. The state has no business in the wardrobes of the nation.
“Therefore, if a segment of Canadian Muslim women believe that wearing the niqab is part of their religious practice, then they must be allowed to freely do so. The principle must be extended to all religious practices, provided the practice does not infringe upon the fundamental rights of others.
“The marginalization of Muslim women must be countered with public education and anti-discrimination efforts, not with the state’s dictation on how one may dress, which only serves to further marginalization instead.”
STATEMENT SIGNATORIES:
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johnpi
Italy cites Tantawi in considering burqa ban too.
Italy today became the latest European government to announce it was considering introducing a law which would make wearing a burqa illegal.
….MP Barbara Saltamartini, of the People of Freedom, said:’Banning the burqa can not be considered anti-Muslim because wearing it is not obligatory in Islam.
‘The Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, has just stated unequivocally that Muslim women have the right to their own identity and that the burqa is not part of Muslim tradition.
‘This position is of extreme importance not only because it dismantles false myths perpetrated by a patriarchal fundamentalism, but also because it shows how the dignity of a women is compatible with the symbols and values of Islam.
‘It would be absurd now if countries like Egypt ban this instrument of submission and we continue to avoid dealing with the question.’
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johnpi
Canadian Muslim group calls for burka ban.
A Canadian Muslim organization is urging the Canadian government to ban traditional Muslim garments designed to cover a woman’s face, saying they are medieval and misogynist symbols of extremism with no basis in Islam.
The Muslim Canadian Congress has called on the federal government to prohibit the burka and the niqab because it says that practice of covering one’s face has no place in a society that supports gender equality.
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buzz
More fun with veils.
Abu Noor covered this story 1st and I unintentionally repeated it. I disagree with his openning op/ed so I will leave this up as an alternate take.
CAIRO — A Islamist lawmaker called on Wednesday for the head of the most prestigious centre of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world to resign after he told a schoolgirl to remove the veil covering her face.
The demand to step down came as about two dozen students, wearing the face veil, known as a niqab, protested outside the state-run Cairo University, which has banned the veils from its residence hall.
Mohammed Tantawi, head of Al-Azhar University, told a schoolgirl to remove her niqab when he spotted her during a tour of an Al-Azhar affiliated school, the independent Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper reported this week.
He also said he intended to ban the niqab at Al-Azhar and made an unflattering remark about the girl’s appearance when she took off the veil, the newspaper said.
“And you look like this; what would you do if you were a bit pretty,” he reportedly asked, adding “I know more about religion than your parents.”
Al-Azhar spokesman Ahmed Tawfiq confirmed Tantawi had asked the girl to remove the niqab, but said he spoke to her in a kindly way.
He said Tantawi, who insists the niqab is not an Islamic practice, wanted to ban the niqab from Al-Azhar classrooms on religious grounds.
“The imam always bases his decision on religious grounds,” said Tawfiq.
Hamdi Hassan, an MP with the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, said “Tantawi cannot stay in his post; he hurt’s Al-Azhar every time he says something.
“I believe the niqab is not an obligation, but it is a benefit,” he added. “Why ban it from Al-Azhar? It’s a religious institution, not a belly dancing academy.”
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johnpi
Egypt female students slam niqab ban on campus.
A group of Egyptian female students threatened to sue the Minister of Higher Education and the President of Cairo University over a ban on wearing the face veil on campus, local press reported Tuesday.
Students wearing the niqab, an Arabic term for “face veil,” have been trying to meet Cairo University President Dr. Hossam Kamel for the past two days in order to protest the ban. After failing to do so, they threatened to sue him and the Minister of Higher Education Dr. Hani Helal, the Egyptian daily independent al-Masry al-Youm reported Tuesday.
And it is not just Tantawi who is supporting the ban:
“The face veil is a tradition and not an obligation,” said Abdel-Moati Bayoumi, member of the al-Azhar Center for Islamic Research. “It is not even a Sunnah (prophet’s teaching).”
Bayoumi explained that Islamic dressing entails covering the entire body with the exception of the face, the feet, and the hands.
Bayoumi added that the stance taken by Tantawi is representative of that of al-Azhar scholars who agree that niqab is not ordained in Islam.
“I and other scholars support banning the face veil in al-Azhar affiliated schools.”
Dr. Amena Nasseer, professor of theology at al-Azhar University, said she supports the ban.
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johnpi
Egyptian newspaper: Egypt will purge niqab from schools and colleges.
Following the imam’s [Tantawi] lead, Egypt’s minister of higher education is to ban female undergraduates from wearing the niqab from the country’s public universities, Cairo’s Al-Masri Al-Yom newspaper reported.
The Egyptian government has become increasingly uneasy about the growing popularity of the niqab, seeing it as another manifestation of the religious puritanism it has long sought to suppress.
Although the Koran does not require women to cover their faces, Sheikh Tantawi’s edict is likely to prove unpopular among fundamentalist Muslims. One popular Saudi cleric has already argued that the niqab is not conservative enough and has called on devout women to ensure they only reveal one eye in public.
While undoubtedly influential, Sheikh Tantawi has plenty of detractors who deplore his moderation in many fields.
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thabet
Egyptian authority will issue an edict banning ‘full veils’:
Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.
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johnpi
Muslim woman lifts veil to testify in Spanish court.
A Muslim woman testified in court in Madrid Monday with her veil raised and her head turned away from the public, in a deal reached with the judge last week after she had refused to show her face.
Arriving in court covered from head to foot in a black burka, Fatima Hssisni said she was surprised by the controversy surrounding the case.
“The enemy of human beings is ignorance,” she told journalists, adding that in other European countries wearing a burka is seen as normal.
….On Monday she testified minus the part of her burka which normally covers the face “between the chin and the eyebrows” and with her back turned to the public, an AFP journalist present in the courtroom said.
Spain’s conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy last week criticised the woman’s attitude.
“The freedom to observe customs in private seems fine to me, but in public you have to respect the law,” he said.
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fathima
This conference offers a forum to problematize the prevailing discourses surrounding the veil while exploring the veil’s subversive potential. The extent to which the veil can erode, or even invert power and oppression is, with the exception of various Islam-inspired positions, an overlooked and under-explored area of academic theorizing. We ask what new insights may be unearthed in moving beyond the impetus to repudiate, fear, or adore the veil. This conference is a unique opportunity to discuss those contested voices situated within the interstices of the liberal, conservative and Islamic constellations, and, in the process, to re-evaluate the veil in an entirely new light by intersecting multiple disciplinary perspectives. Perhaps as importantly, we see the appraisal of critical theory in moving theory beyond
the mainstream discursive impasse as central to epistemological responsibility and accountability. This event will highlight highly innovative and thought-provoking approaches to not only the Islamic veil, but the veil as such. We envision the rich insights of critical inquiry as an under-utilized terrain that may help unpack the current intellectual discourse on the veil. Essentially, we seek a different kind of conversation and a different set of lexical and philosophical devices to navigate the many paradoxes that the veil represents.
[...]We welcome submissions of all sorts that deal with the issue, including those that take cross-cultural, historical, and/or comparative approaches. Submission formats may include academic papers from any relevant discipline and/or creative submissions such as poetry, video performances, storytelling, visual arts and other alternative formats. We promote traditional modes of presentation such as panels and roundtables, but are also open to other interesting and innovative approaches.
We encourage submissions from all disciplines that push the boundaries of creativity and intellectual discussion, and that take a critical and previously unexplored position on the veil. For example, we are very interested in exploring the interpretative possibilities that arise from psychoanalytic approaches to the veil (especially that of Lacanian theory). This being said, the veil can be investigated in relation to a whole assortment of topics, which we welcome and encourage. We will privilege those submissions that raise the level of debate to new heights of originality.
Due: Thursday, October 1st, 2009.
