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Burqa

Author chronicling Islam in Canada says Que. becoming uncomfortable for Muslims

by Asad on May 3, 2010 Burqa, Canada, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, North America, Women Comments Closed • Burqa, Canada, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women

The niqab flickered briefly for Sheema Khan as the logical next step in her effort to rediscover Islam.

The Muslim face covering, which reveals only the eyes, appealed to the then Harvard grad student as a symbol of piety and fidelity to the religion increasingly asserting itself in her life.

But Khan’s experiment with the niqab lasted only a few hours and she settled instead on the hijab.

“I tried it and I hated it,” says the author of “Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.”

“I couldn’t breathe.”

Yet her own unwillingness to don the niqab hasn’t stopped her from offering a biting critique of the Quebec government’s proposed law that would prevent women wearing the covering from receiving government services.

“It’s abominable,” Khan says. “I can’t believe this is Canada.” (more…)

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Behind the burka

by Abdullah on Jan 22, 2010 Burqa, Islam, Muslims, Women Comments Closed • Burqa, Europe, Islam, Muslims, Women

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Chrystelle Khedrouche is 36 and lives in a suburb just outside Paris. She has been wearing a burka in public for around 12 years. She is French-born, has five children, and is married to an Algerian. She is a convert to Islam.

These are her views about the proposed ban on wearing the burka and niqab in public places:

“I’m really very sad about this, but I’m not so surprised because it is part of the French mentality, but it makes me sad and it’s hard that this is the stage we have got to. It’s been several years that we live like this and we have been perfectly fine, but then I’m not so surprised because the French like the idea of everyone being of the same mould and that mould must be ideal. Everything that is not part of their ideal model doesn’t suit them.”

Polls suggest that a sizeable majority of French people support a ban.

“This is a political strategy. It is always easier to knock the Muslims because all French people are in agreement about it.” (more…)

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Burqas, hijabs, niqabs, oh my!

by ali on Apr 1, 2010 Burqa, Canada, Niqab Ban, Quebec Comments Closed • Burqa, Canada, Niqab Ban, Quebec

Law 94 is veiled identity politics

By Sana Saeed
Published: 6:00 am

CORRECTION APPENDED

I suppose it’s time to address the rather large and noisy elephant floating between the margins of Aristotle’s lackey.

Law 94.

Just last week, the National Assembly passed a law banning the niqab from such critical public spaces as universities, government offices, daycares, and hospitals receiving government funding. The support for the ban has been strong throughout Canada, with an 80% approval rating according to a survey conducted by Angus Reid. Criticisms have been sparse, coming primarily from an unsure Muslim community, various lawyers, scattered academics, and select university papers.

But the general discussion on this matter has just been a mess, with a near complete avoidance in English-speaking Canada of the question of the role of identity. Given the provincial nature of this legislation, however, I will limit my discussion to Quebec.

As mentioned briefly in an article last month by Sheetal Pathak (“Muslim women don’t need saving from themselves,” Commentary, March 18), the Canadian Muslim community is itself divided on this issue. Unlike the hijab, there’s no real consensus on the status of the niqab. A small minority see it as an obligation – or at the very least, the superior form of the modesty principle prescribed by Islam.

While this debate is legitimate, it’s irrelevant to the issue at hand – the discussion on the matter within the Muslim community needs to move beyond the question of necessity. If there are women who believe it is their religious obligation to wear the niqab while living in North America, then that choice must be respected. (more…)

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French anti-burqa law to jail offenders

by Abdurrahman on Apr 30, 2010 Burqa, France, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women Comments Closed • Burqa, law, niqab, Sarkozy

Women caught wearing the full veil can choose to attend a 'citizenship course' instead of paying the fine

France will jail and impose huge fines on anyone who forces a Muslim woman to wear a full-face veil, according to a leaked version of a proposed law revealed on Friday.

While women will face only a 150 euro penalty if they choose to don a burqa or a niqab, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to slap one-year prison terms and USD 20,000 fines on those who make others wear them.

“No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face,” says the text of a new law that is to be presented to parliament in July, according to a copy seen by the pro-government newspaper Le Figaro.

The law will create a new offence of “incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender,” the paper said, and this offence will incur a 15,000 euro fine and a year in prison.

Legislators decided to impose a much smaller fine on women caught wearing the veil in public “because these women are often victims,” one of the authors of the law told Le Figaro on condition of anonymity.

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Quebec bans niqab

by Asad on Mar 25, 2010 Burqa, Canada, Islam, Muslims, Quebec, Security, Terrorism, Women Comments Closed • Canada, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Women

All I have to say about this is the same thing I had to say here: This will cause an international uproar, with mountains of blather about intolerance. Few, if any, in the mainstream media will note how severely the rights of non-Muslims are restricted in Saudi Arabia and in Sharia states in general, and few, if any, will even entertain the notion that France has a right to stand up for its cultural integrity and set some standards accordingly.

“Niqab for Muslim women banned in Canadian province,” from IANS, March 25 (thanks to Block Ness):

TORONTO: After France, Muslim women have been banned from wearing niqab in Canada’s French-speaking Quebec province.A bill tabled Wednesday will not allow government services to women wearing the niqab.

The bill comes after protests triggered by an Egyptian immigrant’s refusal to remove her niqab in her French languages classes in Montreal, forcing the school and the provincial government to throw her out.

The college says the Muslim woman was given the front seat in the class so that all male students sat behind her. She was even allowed to make presentations from the rear of the classroom with her back to the class which had three male and 17 female students.

However, students and the college authorities were shocked when one day the woman asked male students to move away from her and refused to sit with them around a U-table to converse and learn French pronunciation.…

The government last week ordered that every niqab-clad woman must uncover her face to confirm her identity when applying for her medicare card. Wednesday’s bill will be the first such step in North America to curtail any religious dress.

According to the bill, women seeking medical and auto insurance services will have to remove their veil, adding that face coverings will not be tolerated in people’s dealings with government officials.

Speaking to the media, Quebec premier (equal to chief minister in India) Jean Charest said the step was needed for maintaining gender equality and secular character of public institutions.

“This (bill) is a symbol of affirmation and respect – first of all, for ourselves, and also for those to whom we open our arms. This is not about making our home less welcoming, but about stressing the values that unite us.

“An accommodation cannot be granted unless it respects the principle of equality between men and women, and the religious neutrality of the state,” the premier said….

Posted by Robert on March 25, 2010 11:04 AM

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Quebec bill would ban niqabs to all receiving government services

by ali on Mar 25, 2010 Burqa, Canada, Islam, Jobs, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Security 1 Comment • Canada, Islam, Niqab Ban, Quebac, Woman

Graeme Hamilton, National Post Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A proposed Quebec bill would deny accommodations of religious differences in cases where safety, communications or identification so require.

MONTREAL — Quebec will refuse all government services, including education and non-emergency health care, to fully veiled Muslim women under legislation tabled on Wednesday in the National Assembly.

Jean Charest, the Liberal Premier, said the bill establishing guidelines for the accommodation of religious minorities is aimed at “drawing a line” to demonstrate that gender equality is a paramount Quebec value.

“If you are someone employed by the state and you deliver a service, you will deliver it with your face uncovered,” he told reporters in Quebec City. “If you are a citizen who receives services, you will receive them with your face uncovered.”

The bill applies to not only government departments and Crown corporations but hospitals, schools, universities and daycare centres that receive funding from the province.

The proposed guidelines in Bill 94 follow an uproar this month over the expulsion of a niqab-wearing woman from French courses after she insisted that male students in her class not see her face. Quebec’s Immigration Department tracked her to a second college where she was studying French and had her expelled again because she would not remove her niqab, a veil that leaves open a slit for the eyes. (more…)

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Quebec lifts the face veil

by Abdurrahman on Mar 25, 2010 Burqa, Islam, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Women Comments Closed • Canada, Islam, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Women

Bill 94 on accommodation; Your face must be bare to work in public sector, get state services
By Kevin Dougherty, Gazette Quebec Bureau

A Muslim woman wearing a niqab. Under Bill 94, women wearing the niqab will have to reveal their faces to be served in public institutions.

QUEBEC – Quebecers were asked Wednesday to put a new face forward – an uncovered one – as the Charest government announced guidelines on reasonable accommodation that ban the niqab, the Islamic face veil, while allowing the hijab, or head scarf.

Public employees, education and health workers will be required to have their faces uncovered under Bill 94, presented in the National Assembly Wednesday.

Quebec is also lifting the veil on people seeking government services – for example, those who show up looking for student loan information, or trying to cash in a winning lottery ticket at Loto-Québec, a government agency, or challenging a bill at Hydro-Québec.

Students from daycare all the way to university, as well as hospital patients and people consulting a CLSC nurse, must also show their faces.

“Today, the government has taken a determined step to clarify the issue of reasonable accommodation and to affirm Quebec values,” said Premier Jean Charest.

The premier said the ban on face veils would apply to all employees in the public sector, even if they have no contact with the public.

Conseil du statut de la femme president Christiane Pelchat, who wants a ban on religious symbols and would like Quebec to be a secular state, supports this limited measure as a first step.

“I urge the opposition to vote quickly for this,” she told reporters.

But Louise Beaudoin of the Parti Québécois was quick to reply that Bill 94 was “completely empty,” saying it relies on Quebec’s existing Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Beaudoin said the PQ would propose amendments to the charter so it takes into account “the fundamental values of the Quebec nation, notably the equality of women and men, the primacy of French and the separation of the state and religion.” (more…)

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Student files rights case over Quebec niqab ban

by sufisahab on Mar 25, 2010 Burqa, Canada, Islam, Muslims, Quebec, Security, Terrorism, Women 1 Comment • Canada, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Student

After demands escalate, woman gets ultimatum: Drop class or headwear

Jonathan Montpetit The Canadian Press

MONTREAL–After months of balancing a woman’s religious beliefs with her desire to learn French, the Quebec government stepped into her classroom to offer an ultimatum: take off the niqab or drop the course.

The woman opted to keep her Islamic face-covering and has filed a human rights complaint against the government.

In a province where the government frequently faces accusations of doing too much to accommodate minorities, these actions have prompted a fair bit of praise.

The woman began taking a French course designed for immigrants at a Montreal college in February 2009 but she refused to remove her niqab while men were present.

The college was initially willing to accommodate her, but eventually balked as her demands escalated.

According to a report in Montreal’s La Presse newspaper, she was allowed to give a presentation with her back to the class and asked men to move so they wouldn’t face each other.

The breaking point occurred when the woman again refused to take off the niqab, though teachers had stressed it was essential they see her face to correct her enunciation and facial expressions.

In what appears to be a highly unusual move, provincial Immigration Minister Yolande James intervened. Officials from her department, acting with the minister’s knowledge, met with the woman to discuss her options. (more…)

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The Purpose of Life

by salman on Feb 15, 2011 Allah, Better life values, Burqa Comments Closed • Islam, Muslims, world

The Purpose of Life:

Unfortunately, when you ask most people the question: “What is the purpose of life?” (Such a fundamental and important question), they will not tell you what they have concluded through observation or analytical reasoning. Rather, in most cases, they will simply tell you what someone else said, or they will tell you what is “commonly presumed” by others, i.e., What my father said purpose of life is, what the minister of my church said the purpose of life is, what my teacher in school said, what my friend said, etc. If I ask anyone about the purpose of eating or why do we eat, everyone will say [in one word or another] that it is for nutritional purposes, because nutrition sustains life. If I ask anyone why they work, they will say because it’s a necessity in order to support themselves and to provide for the needs of their families. If I ask anyone why they sleep, why they wash, why they dress, etc., they will answer with appropriate answers, for these are common necessities for all human beings. We can follow this line of questioning with a hundred questions and receive the same or similar answers from anyone in any language from any place in the world. (more…)

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This surreal legislation will just divide the people further

by ali on Apr 30, 2010 Burqa, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women Comments Closed • Burqa, Europe, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women, world

Belgium is known as the home of surrealism and it is certainly living up to its reputation.

The proposal to ban the wearing of any kind of “full veil” in public approved by the House of Representatives should now in theory go to the Senate. But Belgium does not have a government at the moment so the procedure will begin again after elections next month.

So why did the vote take place at all? Because enough politicians wanted to be seen to approve this largely symbolic measure because of the impact they hope it will have on public opinion, especially a few weeks before elections.

The proposal was initiated by the Liberals (centre right) and received backing from every political party, because it gave the kind of signal that they believe Belgian people expect. The general population is becoming increasingly anxious – if not downright hostile – to an expanding Muslim community and the supposed growth of fundamentalism. These fears are fed by headlines predicting that Brussels will be a “Muslim city” by 2030 or alleging that state schools are being corrupted by Islamic fundamentalism.

This surge in hostility is in turn driving Belgium’s Muslims towards introverted ways of asserting their identity, and to a religious revival that can be observed by the numbers of females wearing head scarves. The hijab is a common sight on Belgian streets, but burkas and niqabs are seldom observed, another sign of the pointlessness of the ban. Belgian politicians have been arguing among themselves for a long time about banning Islamic headscarves from schools and other public buildings.

Progressive forces are themselves sharply divided among those who favour the French model (banning all public expressions of religion and safeguarding the neutrality of public offices and servants) and those who prefer the Anglo-Saxon model of religious tolerance and would like to see a reasonable accommodation, of the kind we see in Canada.

A real debate about the kind of model that multicultural Belgium should promote has yet to take place. Unfortunately, populist moves such as this week’s vote do nothing to build the atmosphere of trust among our different communities in which such a debate could take place.

By Caroline Sagesser:The writer is a social policy expert at the Université Libre de Bruxelles