Niqab Ban | UstaadKhan Articles

Niqab Ban

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…)

0 Views : 79

Barcelona plans Islamic veil ban

by Abdullah on Jun 14, 2010 Europe, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women Comments Closed • Europe, Islam, Niqab Ban, Women

Lawmakers in Belgium recently approved a draft law to ban the wearing of the Muslim full-face veil in public places

Barcelona plans to be the first large city in Spain to ban the use of the full-face Islamic veil in public buildings, its mayor announced Monday.

Jordi Hereu said he will sign a decree which will apply in all public spaces such as the city hall and municipal covered markets and creches.

“It should not be possible that someone enters into a place without being identified,” the Socialist mayor said.

He said the measure is not aimed at “any particular religious group” and would also apply to people wearing crash helmets and balaclavas.

Two other towns in the northeastern region of Catalonia, Lerida and El Venrell, have recently imposed bans on the use of the Islamic veil in public buildings.

Two more, Tarragona and Gerona, are considering similar measures, as is Coin in the southern region of Andalucia.

Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party has said it plans to present a proposal in Catalonia’s regional parliament to ban the full-face veil in public places throughout the region.

Authorities in 11 mosques in Catalonia have vowed to challenge the bans in Spain’s Constitutional Court.

Immigration from Muslim countries has grown dramatically in Spain since the 1990s, with Catalonia in particular being home to a large community of Pakistani origin.

There are now about one million Muslims among Spain’s population of 47 million.

Last month, lawmakers in Belgium approved a draft law to ban the wearing of the Muslim full-face veil in public places, including streets — creating a controversial first for Europe, although it is still subject to a senate vote.

Debate is raging in France as well, where the cabinet has approved a draft law to ban the Muslim full-face veil from public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July.

0 Views : 46

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…)

0 Views : 56

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.

0 Views : 44

French police fine Muslim driver for wearing veil

by Abdullah on Apr 24, 2010 France, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Protest, Security, Women Comments Closed • France, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women

The woman, who has not been named, has spoken to French media

A French Muslim woman has been fined for wearing a full-face veil while driving a car.

Police in the western city of Nantes said the veil – which showed only her eyes – restricted her vision and could have caused an accident.

The woman’s lawyer says they will appeal against the decision, which he described as a breach of human rights.

The incident follows months of intense debate in France about whether the veils should be banned.

Earlier this week, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered parliament to debate a law banning women from wearing full-face Islamic veils in public.

‘Safety risk’

After stopping the 31-year-old woman – who has not been named – police asked her to raise her veil to confirm her identity, which she did.

They then fined her 22 euros ($29; £19), saying her clothing posed a “safety risk”.

“This fine is not justified on road safety grounds and constitutes a breach of human and women’s rights,” her lawyer, Jean-Michel Pollono, told AFP news agency. (more…)

0 Views : 42

In the name of human rights, France should not ban the veil

by Abdullah on Jun 3, 2010 France, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women Comments Closed • Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Protest, Women

There’s a misguided race to ban the face-veil in Europe, and France is taking the lead.

On May 19, the French cabinet approved legislation to ban women in France from wearing full Islamic face-coverings, the burqa, and niqab, in public areas. France, which contains Europe’s largest Muslim population, has been headed in this direction for a while.

In 2004, the government banned students and staff from wearing veils in schools. At that time, the rationale was French secularism. This time, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy says, the rationale for the ban is that it saves women from “subservience and debasement.”

But banning women from wearing a veil trespasses on their rights as much as the repressive restrictions that force them to wear a veil.

Historical precedents show that many Muslim women who veil choose to do so. In 2003 when some German states began banning head scarves in the classrooms, the teachers opted to retire instead, stating that wearing a head covering was their personal preference.

Turkey had a series of formal and informal bans, which culminated in the 1990s. But by 2008, thanks to backlash, the government was forced to introduce a constitutional right to wear the veil. (more…)

0 Views : 43

Proposed ban on Muslim veil stirs controversy in Quebec

by Abdullah on Jun 12, 2010 Canada, Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Women Comments Closed • Islam, Muslims, Niqab Ban, Quebec, Women

A proposed ban in Quebec's public service against the niqab, a veil worn by some Muslim women, stirred up fierce debate

A proposed ban in Quebec’s public service against the niqab, a veil worn by some Muslim women, stirred up a fierce debate this week in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province.

Widely supported in Canada, Bill 94 would require Quebec public servants and anyone accessing a provincial government service to show their face.

But Indian-Canadian Tasneen Mughal, who wears the veil, says it is “an attack on Muslims.”

She told AFP she would rather leave Quebec with her husband and their two children and move to neighboring Ontario province than give up her niqab.

The 27-year-old woman, born in Montreal, is among 100 or so women in Quebec who have garnered much attention for wearing a niqab as committee hearings are held in Quebec City on the bill that is expected to become law.

“People should be seen… in order to identify a person, for security reasons,” Quebec Justice Minister Kathleen Weil said of her brainchild.

Louise Beaudoin, spokeswoman for the opposition Parti Quebecois, would like the law to go even further.

“For the rest of Canada, multiculturalism is a virtue,” she said. “For us, it’s different. We try to find a way to all live with one another, without a return to segregated communities (or ethnic ghettos).” (more…)

0 Views : 35

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…)

0 Views : 100

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…)

0 Views : 68

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