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“Hijab does not come in the teeth of liberal secular beliefs,” Qaradawi
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CAIRO,
December 25 (IslamOnline.net) - A prominent Muslim scholar appealed in
a letter to French President Jacques Chirac to go back on his decision
backing a ban on Hijab in public schools.
Sheikh
Youssef Al-Qaradawi, the head of the European Council for Fatwa and
Research (ECFR) said in the letter handed over to the French Consul in
Doha that the decision stems from a “biased perception” of the
Islamic wear and a “misleading interpretation” of secularism.
“Hijab
does not come in the teeth of liberal secular beliefs, which take a
neutral no-support-no-refuse stand on all religions,” Qaradawi said
in his letter.
In
a televised
speech a few days ago, Chirac came out in favor
of the ban, which he wants written into law by the start of the next
academic year, saying that “long-established” secularism in the
country should be reaffirmed.
The
Islamic scholar considers the justification illogical, saying western
secularism does rather guarantee free expression of religion - unlike
Marxist secularism which he called hostile to religions.
"This
trend rather launches an unrelenting attack on the percepts of Islam
by France, a country supposed to show respect to of liberty and
tolerance,” read the letter.
“Mr.
President, we have felt resentful over your considering Hijab is
aggression on others. It is just worn out of commitment to religious
principles, no more, no less,” read the letter, in reference to
Chirac’s earlier describing hijab as "a
sort of aggression".
Qaradawi
was keen in his letter to highlight the fact that Hijab is not a
religious symbol unlike crosses or Kippa are in Christianity or
Judaism which were also recommended to be taken off in the
President’s speech.
Hijab
is not an “outer expression of identity (as you say), but it is
imposed by Islam with a function to protect” a woman by covering her
hair, neck and the upper part of her chest,” he further said in the
letter to Chirac.
Qaradawi
echoed the edict of Egypt's Mufti Ali Goma saying that hijab is an
obligation on all Muslim consenting female adults, as firmly
established in the Holy Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad’s hadiths as
well as unanimously agreed upon by Muslim scholars.
Gomaa
cited the noble Qur'anic verse, which reads: "O Prophet! Tell thy
wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast
their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most
convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And
Allah is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful”.
‘Father
OF House’
Qaradawi
ended his letter with a call on Chirac as “a father of the (French)
house” to rule his subjects with equality.
“The
merciful father does not feel satisfied that some of his children are
living in continued panic and disturbance,” he said.
The
prominent scholar had earlier asserted that the French ban on hijab
testifies to the spread
of "extremist" secularism that “we
had seen in Marxism with their such slogans as ‘Religion is the
Opium of the People’".
French
Education Minister Luc Ferry said a bill introducing the ban would be
put before the National Assembly in February and should come into
effect by September, 2004.
As
both Chirac's governing conservative party, the UMP, and the
opposition Socialists are in favor of a law, reports said it is
unlikely to fail.
But
the planned legislation continues to send shockwaves among Muslims in
Europe and abroad.
Syria's
mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro wrote to Chirac Wednesday expressing his
"surprise at the ban”.
“The
Muslim nation sees the veil as one of the foundations of its
religion,” Kaftaro wrote, asking the French President to reverse his
support for the ban in order to be in harmony with the glorious
history of France”.
Lawmakers
in Iran have also sent a letter to their French counterparts, asking
them not to pass the bill.
In
Tel Aviv, meanwhile, a group of Arab Israelis staged a protest outside
the French embassy against French President Chirac's approval of the
proposed law,
Dozens
of female Lebanese Muslim students gathered outside the French embassy
on Saturday to protest against French President Jacques Chirac's
"discriminatory" decision to back a ban on Islamic
headscarves.
The
Union of Islamic Organizations in Europe denounced the French decision
as a blatant infringement on their right to freedom of religion.
The
Union's chairman, Ahmad al-Rawi, said Saturday the French move was
evidence that France had
misinterpreted secularism and tailored it for its
own requirements in a sharp contrast to the situation in other secular
European countries, notably Britain.
