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Niqab (Face Veil) My Right as a Woman
by Laura Stuart
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
The issue of face veils has been often in the news in the last few years. Jack Straw got the ball rolling in 2006 with his outspoken comments that covering the face can make community relations more difficult. At that time Jack Straw was Foreign Secretary and was leading Britain into the invasion of Iraq, an action based on lies and which lead to millions of deaths. Perhaps invading Iraq has had an even more devastating effect on community relations with Muslims both in the U.K. and the Middle East.
I find Mr Straw’s comments extremely arrogant. M.P.’s are elected by their constituents and are public servants to the community. Would he have found it appropriate to comment on the clothing (or lack of) that women of ther religious or ethnic backgrounds wear? When I was growing up my mother taught me not to stare nor comment just because some one looks “a little different” perhaps Foreign Secretaries would do better if they listened more to their mothers and less to those lobby groups who push for endless wars.
Women's Rights
Once Pandoras box was opened it gave a focus to Islamophic views. Women who wear niqab, being on the whole rather deeply religious, are not likely to be out causing trouble and breaking laws therefore they are hardly a threat to society. I am sure if any British government ever got serious about banning the face veil we would be able to request they show the need for such a law based on statistics proving the criminal activities of face-veil wearers. With the rise of the far right in France and Europe mainstream parties have been trying to take back some of the votes by pandering to the kind of people that are anti immigration and Islamophobic. Sarkozy was quick to ban the veil in France, but a report in the Toronto Star says that police are ignoring veiled women in France. “French Ban on veil Turns Out to be Toothless“. That shows that there is still some common sense, and that somewhere in the chain of police command someone has had the wit to recognise that police have better things to do with their time than taking Muslim women to the police stations to uncover their faces. The French law does not allow the police to request a woman to remove her veil in public, rather they have to take her to the police station. Any person of logic would hope that police could be put to better use catching thieves and other threats to society.
Sometimes when I walk on the street, both men and women make comments about my clothes and I wonder why they feel they have a right. Islamically, the advice is that we should say “peace” and walk on, but sometimes the ignorance displayed is such that I feel myself responding and telling them it is not their business. I feel that certain people feel that they can get away with intimidating someone who they feel is from another country and culture and may be too timid to stand up for themselves. It is bullying, pure and simple and the age old problem of Jack Straw, Sarkozy and the hooligans of the E.D.L. believing it is their right to tell women what they can and can’t wear. These are misogynists, no better than the Taliban. What is the difference between the Taliban who make it mandatory for a woman to cover, and likes of Sarkozy who make it mandatory to uncover?
In the name of women’s rights, solidarity with my sisters in France, and religious conviction, I wore my niqab as I travelled all through France to Freiburg last September and nothing happened. It is my choice to wear Niqab and although I do not believe that it is mandatory in Islam to wear the face veil, I wear it of my own free will (Islamic clothing is immensely liberating).
I would like to think that if the British government decided to pander to the far right, all who believe in women’s rights and in freedom of expression would join the niqab-wearing sisters in fighting any ban. I am sure that when orthodox Jewish women came to this country wearing scheitel, they too were subject to strange looks so I would expect Jewish women to be the first to support Muslim women’s right to wear what they feel is religiously appropriate, I really hope they will get in touch.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّـهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ﴿٥٩﴾
Posted by Laura Stuart
on April 1, 2012. Filed under Religion.
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32 Responses to Niqab (Face Veil) My Right as a Woman
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miss info
April 1, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Too right Laura – a true feminist – follow your own path and wear your own clothes!
who_me
April 2, 2012 at 7:45 am
in relation to this subject, i’ve never had a conflict with someone who insisted they should be able to wear what they wanted. the conflicts i’ve had were with the people who insisted i wear what they wanted me to wear. one has a right to their own personal space, but not that of others. personally, i think it boils down to 2 groups. the ones who want to control others, and the ones who don’t want to be controlled by others.
when kids, my sister was sent home from public school (american) because she had on a t-shirt with the word “bitch” on it. those railing against women wearing niqabs are the same anal sort at that school who sent my sister home to change her shirt. but, likewise, those who insist women must wear a niqab are the same sort. it cuts both ways.
both need a really good public kicking in the arse.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 8:02 am
Miss info – people perceive Muslim women as weak but it is not the case they are amazingly strong they just don’t go onto the street shouting about it much. There were a couple of unpleasant arrests in France but the sisters continue wearing it.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 8:14 am
who-me, when I was a child older generations had dress codes some of which I have forgotten, but as an example a man would not go shirtless into a shop or restaurant and dinner required a jacket. All of these standards have fallen now and I am not sure it is a good thing. Some t-shirt messages are designed to offend, I am not saying the one you mention was, but just how far does our tolerance go? I wouldn’t like to sit in the same room as someone wearing the “2 shots 1 kill” I.D.F. shirt for example. I suppose you have to consider the motivation for wearing an item of clothing. If it is for religious conviction, modesty or if it is to shock and cause offense.
who_me
April 2, 2012 at 8:57 am
Laura Stuart
“All of these standards have fallen now and I am not sure it is a good thing.”
i am.
years ago i went to this restaurant as part of a group and it turned out they had one of those dinner jacket dress codes. which i wasn’t wearing. i had an old windbreaker in the trunk of my car. that worked. for the restaurant. it wasn’t very comfortable sitting there in a ratty old windbreaker on a hot summer eve and it was quite absurd since the shirt i was wearing was much classier.
i never returned to that restaurant, but oddly enough, a lady friend and i were returning from a day at the beach a few years later and stopped in to classy restaurant that was a neighbour of the above one. that time i was in ragged jean shorts and a t-shirt (we both were, in fact). the people at the restaurant were friendly and treated us no differently than any one else there.
do you see where i am coming from?
“I wouldn’t like to sit in the same room as someone wearing the “2 shots 1 kill” I.D.F. shirt for example.”
i wouldn’t eitherenjoy such a “persons” presence. but that message is no less offensive than many others on t-shirts i see people wearing. if i demand my right to wear what i want, i cant at the same time demand others not wear something i find offensive. at least i cant do it and not be seen as a hypocrite. there is another way to look at this. the messages people send by what they wear are facets of their personality. in that way, it’s useful in situations you describe. you wont have to 2nd guess what sort of person the idf shirt wearer is, it’s obvious they are a subhuman pos and that saves wasted time interacting with then as if they still were human.
we make our choices how we want to present ourselves to others in order they think of us as we want them to think of us. it’s our decision. it’s also our decision to reject those who present themselves in a way we find offensive. but final score is it should be our decision to make these personal judgments in a free and tolerant society, not somebody elses.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 10:03 am
I understand what you mean aobut allowing people the freedom to wear what they want it has to be universal, but are you sure dropping all standards is good? Would you like to sit and eat your meal opposite a bare chested man with a big fat hairy belly ? I suppose we all have different ideas about what is offensive. Again the intention behind the clothes is something that has to be taken into consideration. Maybe a restaurant which has nice linen and table ware wants to encourage a standard of dress appropriate to the effort they make to make the surroundings and dinner enjoyable. You might not like the restaurant to use tatty tables clothes and broken plates.
The person who would wear the 1 shot 2 kills tshirt is giving a strong message to people which has the intention to shock or offend or perhaps make him a hero in certain circles so I guess the trick is knowing what is appropriate and where.
As an aside, I live in a very Jewish area and never ever get any strange looks or hassle from Jews. In fact I have spent much of my life living in Jewish areas having life in the 2nd Bezirk in Vienna also, no problems at all, orthodox Jews make quiet neighbours (even if they wouldn’t let you over their doorsteps), it is the uneducated whites who feel it necessary to comment.
who_me
April 2, 2012 at 7:50 pm
“but are you sure dropping all standards is good?”
just the ones that have no real use other than to herd people.
“Would you like to sit and eat your meal opposite a bare chested man with a big fat hairy belly ?”
why would i sit in front of a mirror to eat?
though seriously, it’s not the appearance, but other things i would object to. such as someone who smells filthy or who has obnoxious manners. such as this charming bloke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkOv0-u6A0
i find it more disturbing to be around someone with a severe and obvious disability than someone who just looks fat or “ugly”. but that is for different reasons. i feel sorry for the disabled person which makes for the discomfort of being around them. obviously, my discomfort shouldn’t be allowed to oppress a disabled person. if i was around the disabled more, i probably wouldn’t feel so sad being around them and as uncomfortable. familiarity eases discomfort. that big fat, hairy, bare, chested man wouldn’t seem so objectionable if we saw them like that all the time.
what i’m getting at it is our own inability to face our own prejudices that things like this are about. we think of our comfort 1st, that of others 2nd, if at all.
“You might not like the restaurant to use tatty tables clothes and broken plates.”
as long as they’re clean, i don’t mind. it’s the food and friendly atmosphere i’m there for. i’m past the age where i think it useful to try and impress people by taking them to a snobby restaurant.
fool me once...
April 3, 2012 at 3:03 pm
I’m not offended by what someone wears or if they’re straight, gay, fat, thin, disabled, able, black, white etc. Oppression and injustice cause me offense. Is it not shallow and petty to get upset by a persons external appearance? To do so is to hand over control of your mind. I’ve got to say I found some of the thoughts expressed on this thread pretty immature, certainly not open minded. Bigoted I think the word is.
@ who_me – Having done voluntary work with disabled people and having friends and family who are disabled, I agree it would definitely benefit you to get more involved. You’re “sad” feelings for the “disabled” would change as you’d begin to see beyond the disability. Don’t think they can’t pick up on “your discomfort”. Here’s a video, that challenges the word “disabled”;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5QZiaXdAYY
Gilad’s late frontman rip;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSo9OErEmM4
Lasse Wilhelmson
April 2, 2012 at 11:52 am
When those who call themselves nationals (some call all of them nazi) demonstrate in Sweden to defend Swedish culture and against massimigration and islam, they r allways attaced by young people that call themselves anti-racists, feminists, multi-culturists and the like (some call all of them leftish). Among them the most agressive hide in black clothes and cover their faces, while using knives and more. After the fight thoose who cover ther faces often get away with it an thoose who donot go proud in prison, most often the nationals because they never hide their faces.
When I was a woodwork instructor in a shool with allmost only new imigrants oputside Stockholm, I was personally responible for the security of the children in my classes. So I decided how the boys and girls be dressed in my classroom, to be able to work in a secure an pedagogic way. When the pupils claimed religious rights for unsutible clothings I discussed it with their parents or the director, but in the end I decided.
When my doughters traveled to other parts of the world, I allways told them to take care and not dress in a way that they r used to in Sweden, but to adjust somewhat to the traditions in the country they visit, because it is a way to show that u respect theese people and their culture. Needless to say, not so few young swedish woman get raped abroad, and almost all gangrapes in Sweden r made by new imigrants on swedish girls.
Not long ago the farmers in Sweden even in summer wore hats or covered their hair, today u find almost naked youngsters in the streets of Stockholm in hot summerdays.
I guess we have several “problems” here. Historical, cultural, ethical, political and religious. And to be honest, I donot have the answeres to all of them, and they often seem to be interwoven.
But I know that I am proud to be a Swede, I love my country, the nature and most of our culture, and I do not want it all to be destroied. Not by anyone, may it be politicans, religious or political groups, new immigrants, feminists, homosexuals, or other minority groups when they do not respect it. Of course this is to a great extent what Jewish ideology and Zionism is all about, and that is why I wrote the article about Paideia …
ariadna
April 2, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Doing away with all rules, codes and etiquettes would remove the pleasure of occasionally breaking them. Like a boring anarchy in which there is no possibility of dissent and no revolutionary spirit, only perhaps coup d’etats.
There have to be some rules. How many and how complicated is another thing.
I once went to buy a kimono in a specialized shop in Tokyo and when I selected one I liked I was told by the salesclerk that the respective kimono in that pattern and color combination could only be worn at a wedding by the mother of the bride…
When I travel in the US (especially Texas) I fantasize about being a tyrant and decreeing that shorts and bare midriffs in public places are forbidden to any person over a certain weight-to height ratio and that suspects are to be dragged by the VOP (Visual Offense Police) to the scales installed at every street corner, and if found guilty, made to buy a cover-up from the nearby automatic jalabah (sp?) dispenser.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Lasse fashion has changed so much, my grandmother rarely went out without a hat. Also being suntanned was considered rather low class, ladies covered from the sun and brown skin might mean you worked in the fields, now suntan is desirable and skin cancer is a problem. Definitely covering up in Muslim countries is a good idea, Muslim men in some places consider western women fair game which is very very wrong and a big sin for those men who pester or rape women.
Ariadna didn’t some mayor in Italy decree that fat women could not go on the beach in bikinis? More misogynistic clothes fascism! But you might be right about the women over exposing their cellulite, it is getting a common sight in the U.K. too. I suppose it is a back lash against skinny models and anorexia now women have a right to be proud of their bodies however grotesque they might be to everyone else. Whoever invented lycra should have been more specific about who can get away with wearing it.
Yep, some things are definitely better left to the imagination.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 5:16 pm
just spotted this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113644/Let-pray-nude-wear-hooded-robes-cells-demand-pagan-prisoners.html
What do you people think? Should he be allowed his rights ?
ariadna
April 2, 2012 at 5:23 pm
“didn’t some mayor in Italy decree that fat women could not go on the beach in bikinis? More misogynistic clothes fascism!”
I did not know that. Ah, nobody has a sensitivity to beauty like the Italians… I applaud him so then I am misogynistic too.
“I suppose it is a back lash against skinny models and anorexia now women have a right to be proud of their bodies however grotesque they might be to everyone else.”
Both are wrong and neither is an excuse for the other to be “proud.”
In the US “fat” has become a politically incorrect word. An obese woman is a “big girl” and of course she is neither. Clothes sizes are categorized as “Miss” (normal sizes) and “Women” (obese) as if women are expected to be obese.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Adriana it was this http://www.carlos.or.tv/essay-e/bikini_war_italy_en.html
searching
April 2, 2012 at 6:02 pm
If I were a fat woman I wouldn’t go in a bikini to the beach, unless I would like to make a free show out of myself.
What about being self-conscious of one’s own look. I am not in favor of any government telling people what they should ,or not, wear to the beach, but personally, I wouldn’t like to sit next to an obese (fat women) in a tiny biking, and look at her extra pounds spreading out of tiny, bikini coverings. I do not think sitting next to an anorexic woman in a bikini is more apetizing as well.
Both are very serious problems of our societies. Young girls are fed on ultra skinny models as a beauty icons, while junk ,cheap, very unhealthy food is pouring from all over. Easy to grab, easy to gain weight.
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Isn’t there just too much focus on women’s bodies all together? Men don’t seem to feel the same need to impress and they are certainly not daft enough to wear uncomfortable high heels and other supposedly beautifying treatments which are painful? Men seem to dress up by wearing a shirt with jeans instead of a tshirt and that is quite sensible. No short skirts and high heels when it is freezing outside. That is why Islamic clothing is so liberating it takes the focus off how we look, we hope we can be appreciated for what we do and say.
I notice that most men and especially Jewish men stay well clear of commenting on this thread, I think they may have been victims of Jewish Marxist Feminism in the past!
ariadna
April 2, 2012 at 10:54 pm
“Islamic clothing is so liberating it takes the focus off how we look, we hope we can be appreciated for what we do and say”
That would be fine and dandy if the clothing would not go hand in hand with restrictions on what you say and do and where you do that, accompanied by a male relative or not, which is the case in so many countries.
Also can you be a physician in a hospital and do your work unencumbered by the clothing along male physicians or do you have to work in sex-segregated places only?
Laura Stuart
April 2, 2012 at 11:20 pm
New MRSA guidelines in hospitals here in the UK abolished the wearing of long sleeves and white coats. Some of the young religious Muslim girls I know decided to leave their goal of becoming doctors and become dentists instead which is sad because Muslim women want to be seen by female doctors.
In what sense does wearing Islamic clothing restrict what you say and do ?
ariadna
April 3, 2012 at 12:35 am
Clothes only restrict what you can do in the sense that you cannot be a doctor in a hospital unless it is staffed by women only and then you can only have women patients. I imagine that dentistry must be tough to practice thusly garbed as well.
Clothes do not restrict what you say but societies associated with (which is what I meant by “goes hand in hand with”) this vsartorial obligation for women also pose loads of other restrictions upon them.
Jonathon Blakeley
April 2, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Free will – Free fashion
Laura Stuart
April 3, 2012 at 7:42 am
Fashion is not free it costs money. Having to keep your look up to the minute costs a lot of money. Women are victims of having to be seen wearing something which is not last years look, it also promotes the idea of being skinny with impossibly big boobs as a norm a la Victoria Beckam.
There is too much pressure on women to look a certain way and cosmetic surgery clinics are booming (haram in Islam)
Jonathon Blakeley
April 3, 2012 at 9:08 am
Ok that is not what I meant anyway.
But answer me this is the Niqab fashion or uniform. You say its optional but deny it is fashion.? Are you a fashion denier?®
Laura Stuart
April 3, 2012 at 10:21 am
Jonathon “black is – well it’s the new black”.
Optional as in not compulsory like the rest of the clothes I wear.
Yes, I am going to “come out” here on deLiberation as a fashion rejector!
Gilad Atzmon
April 2, 2012 at 10:15 pm
It is a very interesting post Laura. You are correct, it would make sense to expect orthodox Jews to support Muslims at a certain stage. I also believe that considering the mass return to Judaism within Israeli society, it is just a question of time before some Rabbis realise that they share much more common values with Pls Imams rather than with their Jewish secular Askenazi elite.
The question we have to ask ourselves is why are we afraid of believers. People who genuinely believe in something that we don’t understand. What is the meaning of British or Western tolerance really?
I guess that enlightenment, Marxism, dialectic materialism robed us of the ability to operate and think spiritually. We can go as far as slogans and badges. Yet, the fact that some around us manage to find truth in faith destabilizes the liberal mind. It obviously encounters the lack.
Hamassacre
April 3, 2012 at 10:39 am
Laura, you constantly delight in telling people you have no free will – your mythical flying spaghetti monster – sorry, I mean “Allah” – decides everything for you (like how you must hate Jews, hate homosexuals, etc). So don’t pretend you have any choice in anything. It’s all “Allah”‘s fault, isn’t it…?
who_me
April 3, 2012 at 11:08 am
so you are gay afterall.
ariadna
April 3, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Ah, “free will”… who has it?
Do you think the poor jews welcome the huge burden of responsibility of their chosenness? It was foisted upon them by the Boss. Sorry, I meant “b-s.”
And the “nations,” seeing them thus encumbered and busy, take advantage of them. They have their own “b-s”–theirs are imaginary.
A mess.
Jonathon Blakeley
April 3, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Sometimes I think it is random mix of fate and free will, you just gotta work out when you can act and when you can not and must accept your lot.
Freedom to me is more important than anything.
For me I have chosen to accept Fashion rather than reject it, hence I dont think I will be wearing a Niqab just yet.
Fashion to me is a good thing, yes it been horribly exploited like everything else. It’s not all bad… you should lighten up.
Laura Stuart
April 3, 2012 at 7:03 pm
“lighten up” – I am still traumatised from watching Wan Gok years ago. This to me is everything that is wrong with fashion and celebrity
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-look-good-naked/4od#3029296
I don’t watch t.v. and haven’t for years, even before I became a Muslim but have occasionally had the misfortune to see it in one of the kids rooms. That prog was so horrendous I couldn’t stop watching. The idea of a husband applauding his wife walking naked in front of an audience is alien to me Muslim or pre Islam.
Suzy
April 3, 2012 at 10:04 pm
So refreshing to find that you wear Niqab but have an open mind there. With some women I came across over the years they said ‘haram if you don’t wear it’. Nonsense for sure.
Laura Stuart
April 4, 2012 at 6:45 am
Suzy I think there is a very small minority who believe that niqab is mandatory. One lady in my own community wore it since 16 but took it off recently when she became sure that it was not mandatory.
I actually don’t know any woman who was forced to wear it, I know one who was under heavy pressure from her husband to wear it, I also know quite a few who want to wear it and their husbands won’t let them, mostly because they feel it might increase the risk of abuse outside.
Suzy
April 4, 2012 at 9:36 am
Laura, I agree with what you say, although I have come across some that say their husbands like them to wear it. But over 33 years that’s not many. I think we really must know what’s our own rights and duties are and that comes from knowledge of Islam. When I become Muslim in the 80′s things were more simple then, now everyone is a Sheikh with little knowledge and deep study (not forgetting the internet Sheihks on youtube. I think Muslims are wising up to the situation now. Getting a good grounding on history is valuable to understand different countries and how things came about ( for example Salafi, Wahabi and many more. Thankyou for your very informative articles.