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The
proposed bandana for Muslim girls in France
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By
Hadi Yahmed, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
October 14 (IslamOnline.net) - In what could represent breakthrough in
the controversial issue of hijab in France, Interior Minister Nicolas
Sarkozy suggested replacing the Muslim headscarf with a bandana.
Appearing
in a meeting of the French Muslim Council
(FMC), Sarkozy said that this bandana could serve as “a middle
ground” for the thorny issue, refusing, in the meanwhile, to issue a
law banning hijab in schools.
Sarkozy’s
statements came after a French high school decided Friday, October 10,
to expel two Muslim sisters for refusing to take off their hijab.
The
council’s deputy head and chairman of the Union of Islamic
Organizations in France (UIOF), Althuhami Ibriz told IslamOnline.net
that the council’s meeting went for Sarkozy’s suggestion.
“We
have been always supporting halfway solutions,” Ibriz said.
He
said that the meeting’s communiqué asserted that hijab was
something personal, citing a resolution issued in 1989 by the French
state council, which tops France’s judicial hierarchy, stating that
hijab did not run counter to secularism unless it was dressed to
deliberately offend the other.
“The
communiqué asserted the importance of dialogue to break the current
deadlock and the pivotal role that should be played by Muslim
organizations in France to stave off any repercussions,” Ibriz said.
“Muslims
in France feel that injustice is done to them and that they are caught
up in nothing but a political controversy,” he added.
The
Muslim activist further said there are many parties who want to spoil
the earnest efforts made by Sarkozy, especially after the FMC has come
into being.
“They
want to embarrass Sarkozy, who had previously promised not to issue a
law banning hijab in schools,” he added.
Last
month, French Social Affairs Minister Francois Fillon has voiced
support for a bill forbidding "the ostentatious wearing of any religious
signs in schools."
Prime
Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin further did not rule out passing
a law to ban hijab in schools.
No
Answer
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“We
have been always supporting halfway solutions,” Ibriz
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It
appears that the solution to wearing hijab in European countries has
become an unenviable task shouldered by Muslim leaders in the West.
Asked
whether there was a panacea for the issue, Abdul Majid An-Naggar, the
director of the studies and research department at the European
Institute for Humanities, stopped short of giving a to-the-point
answer.
He
said that that the European Council for Fatwa and Research was the one
and only body entitled to give a clear-cut answer for the question.
“Issuing
personal fatwas is not an easy task and one must follow and respect
the rules,” he told IOL.
The
council’s secretary general, Hassan Halawa, said its is not the
first time to tackle the issue.
Last
year, he said, the council urged the French government to respect the
right of Muslim girls to freedom of religion, which is not only a
religious right but falls with public freedoms enshrined in the
principles of the French revolution and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
Muslims
in France, whose number is estimated at around 5.8 million, hail from
several African and Asian countries, with the majority from Algeria,
Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.
