Sarkozy and the France Issue

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

Assalaam alaikum

Aaaaaaaaarrrrghhh!!!!!!!!

As some or most of you may know, I spent my grade 11/junior year in France, right outside of Paris. I loved it. It was a fantastic time. Sure I got a bit homesick towards the end, but for the most part it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and it was where I met my husband.

I love France very much. I met people there for whom I care dearly. I would love nothing more than to move back to Paris and teach at my lycée with my husband (and eat halal kebabs every day). Oh. But wait. I can't. And this is a source of GREAT frustration for me.

Why? Because I am a devout Muslim woman who covers her head as God commanded and as the wives of the Prophet (SAW) all did (the Bible also tells women to cover their heads, by the way).

But why should this stand in my way? Surely French law allows women to cover their head as dictated by their religion. Actually, no.

In 2005, I believe, the French government imposed a ban on all blatant religious symbols in schools. This includes the hijab or khimar for Muslim women, the turban for Sikh men, the yarmulke for Jewish men, the cross for Christians.

Now, if it is my greatest desire to teach in France will I not simply take the scarf off in school? After all, I can still dress modestly--wear long sleeves, not show my neck, long skirts/slacks, etc.

No, no, no and no. The Qur'an tells me to cover my head and so I shall. I will not make a tiny sacrifice against God's Will to fulfill my earthly desire. Instead, I will be forced to sacrifice my dream.

I am not trying to play the martyr. I am only trying to illustrate a point. This is probably a problem for French Muslimahs, including (former) teachers and students. When I was doing a research project on this topic for my French class this past spring, I read about several female Muslim students who were forced to complete their studies via correspondence because they would not remove their hijab at school, alhamdulillah.

Often, people try to make a point that this affects Christians as well: after all, they are not allowed to wear corss necklaces and such things. This is a valid point--I absolutely believe that Christian students should be allowed to express their religion as well. However, wearing a cross or a crucifix is not required in Christianity, while the head covering is generally considered to be a REQUIRED garment for Muslim women.

France claims to do this because they are a secular society: children at school are students, not little Jews, little Christians and little Muslims.

This is my biggest issue: that France (ie: the government) claims to be doing this in the name of a secular society. Rah rah!!

Please. Spare me the pseudo-"Enlightenment" crap. What the French are imposing is an atheist society, which would not bother me if only they would admit it! A truly secular, ie: non-religious, society would impose no rules regarding religion. The only religion apparent in France anymore is atheism, along with agnosicism.

Turkey has such a ban as well, as well as the same ban in government buildings. Someone once told me that "many people consider Turkey to be a model Muslim nation." What is "model" about a place that disallows the practice of the country's own majority religion? Ahh! Pathetic!

As if this weren't bad enough, the esteemed president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to ban the wearing of the burqa in all public places.

Firstly, I have to wonder: does he even know what he is talking about? Does he know what a burqa (left) is? Or does he mean niqab (right and down)?

The reason I have to wonder this is that recently on BBC, a reporter went to Paris to interview a woman wearing a burqa and she couldn't even find any.

As you can see, a burqa is an all-encompassing garment that givers everything, everything, everything, including the eyes. A niqab is simply a face cover, that sometimes only has a small slit for the eyes and sometimes shows most of the upper half of the face.

I for one, never saw a woman in France wearing a niqab, much less an actual burqa!

Anyhow, Sarkozy seems to think that the burqa is a symbol of oppression for women, so he feigns being a great feminist by "liberating" these poor women from the "oppresive" burqa.

Now, for the tiny number of Muslim women in France who wear a burqa--if there are even any--they more than likely feel more comfortable in a burqa. It is a very modest piece of clothing, which--believe me--is a liberating rather than oppressing thing in Paris! In France, I was treated as a sexual object on a daily basis! There are certain areas of Paris that, were I to return, I myself would definitely wear niqab, simply for my own comfort!

As my husband pointed out, even if some woman somewhere in France were actually forced by her husband, for example, to wear a burqa, the ban would not help--it would do bad! If Sarkozy actually cares about women (which I doubt), he would be building women's help centres. If this hypothetical woman were not allowed to wear a burqa by the government, her oppressive husband would prbably not let her leave the house, whereas if she were allowed to wear burqa she could at least go out and get to the women's help centre.

No doubt, for some Muslim women the burqa is a symbol of oppression. After all, in Afghanistan under the "Taliban" (meaning "students"), women were forced to wear the burqa. But today, after the Taliban, many women in Afghanistan continue to wear the burqa, and if you read Three Cups of Tea like I did, you will know that there are indeed women who do this (gasp!) of their own free will!

But like I said: in Europe, the likelihood that a woman is wearing a burqa in the first place, much less forced to wear one, is teeny, tiny.

Please make du'a for our sisters in France that their struggle may not get any harder than it is already.

May Allah make the path easy for them and may He give them the strength to continue to be pious even in an oppressive atmosphere as France is becoming. Aameen.