Canadian Muslim group rejects the niqab
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) has asked women to reject the niqab as it is not an Islamic requirement and its use will only result in the further economic disempowerment of women.
In a statement on the issue that has triggered a controversy in Europe and across some Muslim countries, the Canadian group which is headed by Farzana Hasan, a Pakistani-Canadian, said the debate on the wearing of the face veil and the status of women in Muslim society is being waged primarily within Muslim society and is part of the battle for the heart and soul of Muslim communities worldwide. It quoted sociologist Mohammad A Qadeer as saying, "Concealment of the face is neither religiously necessary nor socially desirable." He asked Muslim communities to "reappraise this custom, before a scare about terrorists or a bank hold-up raises a public uproar against the niqab." Also quoted was Dr Yousuf al-Qaradawi of Qatar who said, "It is not obligatory for Muslim women to wear the niqab. The majority of Muslim scholars and I do not support the niqab in which women cover their faces."
While acknowledging that women have the right to dress as they please, the MCC pointed out that the rights of the individual have to be balanced with the rights of society. It argued that wearing veils, whether as an expression of religious identity, or as a means of political defiance, is not in the best interest of Canada's Muslim communities. Nor is it a requirement of the Islamic faith. The statement said, "Tying religiosity and piety to face coverings is a twentieth-century phenomenon created by the Wahabbis in Saudi Arabia. Today, due to Saudi Arabia's oil wealth, and their funding of Islamic schools around the world - including Canada - they're managing to impose their irrational cult on Muslims in the western world. The Wahabbis are operating in defiance of what Muslims have known, taught and believed for hundreds of years. They're ignoring our Muslim heritage. They're targeting young Muslim women. The Wahabbis want everyone to believe that women should accept a second-class status. And they want women to believe that this segregationist ideology is something they've chosen for themselves."
The group said it would be inconceivable for a man or a woman in a face mask to be employed in Canada as a police officer, a physician, a nurse, a school teacher, an airline pilot, a submarine commander, a judge, a lawyer, a bank clerk, as an office receptionist or even a store clerk. The face veil would create another obstacle to the economic empowerment of the Muslim community, which already faces discrimination based on the skin colour and accents. The Islamists are not fighting discrimination or solving problems. They're making it more difficult for us to progress. The statement said, "We urge our Muslim sisters not to wear the niqab in public. It is not a religious obligation. It does not help us improve our marginalised status in Canadian society. In fact, the niqab makes the position of Muslim women worse. A bright and prosperous future for Muslims in Canada can best be ensured when we are seen as fully integrated into the fabric of Canadian society. We're not called on to give up any part of our faith, which is constitutionally guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. No face covering - whether veil, burqa or niqab - has any legitimacy as a religious practice for Muslims. Any attempt to conceal one's identity by invoking one's faith is unfair, and a disingenuous abuse of religion. Demanding the right to see everyone, while concealing one's own identity behind a mask, is unethical at best. And at worst, it's an arrogant attempt to demonstrate one's superiority. Islam must not be used as a tool to score political points for the Islamist agenda."
(Published in Daily Times, Lahore, Pakistan, on Friday 10th November, 2006)
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