French Muslims say the ban is a violation of their civil liberty

Additional Reporting By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, December 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A French bank admitted Friday, December 26, preventing a woman wearing hijab from getting in, amid calls from Muslim groups and scholars to boycott French goods in protest against violation of Muslims’ civil rights in France.

Société Générale said one of its security guards had turned away from a branch in Paris a woman on Monday, December 22, after she refused to take off her hijab, French press reports said.

The incident is apparently the first incident after President French President Jacques Chirac reiterated Wednesday, December 17, his support for a legislation banning hijab  in public schools and institutions.

Chirac’s decision was met with ecumenical rejection from Muslims in the rigidly-secular country and abroad, as Muslim scholars stressed hijab is obligatory under the Islamic law and is by no means a religious symbol as claimed.

They stressed that the "undemocratic" ban marks a stark violation of the 5-million Muslim population civil rights and would prove counterproductive, leaving Muslims isolated in society.

The bank claimed that the Muslim woman did not abide by a sign that required customers to take off "scarves, caps, helmets and all other head coverings and sunglasses".

The measure is deemed offensive, as it was taken by the bank against robbers trying to disguise themselves.

The bank, which claimed the measure was taken against robbers trying to disguise themselves, declined to apologize.

It only said the security guard was "over-zealous" in applying the rules.

In another related development, a number of British Muslim groups launched a campaign to boycott French products in order to send Chirac a clear message that hijab is a red line that must not be crossed.

The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and Muslim Woman Society urged other Muslims groups and institutions to respond to the boycott calls.

The campaign is to begin on January 17, with peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins outside French embassies in the world to protest the proposed ban, the groups said in a joint statement sent to IslamOnline.net.

They also formed a world alliance against hijab ban - in response to an appeal by prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi.

Qaradawi had underlined that wearing hijab is "not for expressing religious affiliations, but rather for complying with a religious obligation ".

An international conference would be held to probe future steps against the hijab ban legislation and a protest letter will be sent to Chirac.

The MAB will be also launching an initiative which establishes a platform including Islamic organizations from across Europe that will coordinate with Christian, Jewish, Sikh and other religious organizations.

They will lobby officials and governments, bringing to light the extreme dangers and profound breaches of human rights such policies constitute, it said on its website.

The MAB asserted that any law banning hijab breaches Article 9 of the European Human Rights Act which states that : "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. "

"Silence would encourage other countries, such as Germany, to follow suit," said Sadr

A leading Iraqi Shiite scholar has also called for a boycott of French products in protest at the ban move.

"I suggest that a fatwa be issued by (Shiite religious scholars in the Iraqi holy city of) An-Najaf, (the Iranian Shiite religious center of) Qom and Al-Azhar (the Sunni Muslims' highest religious authority) ordering a boycott of French products," said Moqtada al-Sadr.

"Silence would encourage other countries, such as Germany, to follow suit," Sadr was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as telling worshippers in Kufa near An-Najaf.

"We condemn the French government's decision prohibiting hijab and we demand the liberty that France says it embodies," another Shiite scholar, Sayyed Amer Al-Husseini, told some 10,000 worshippers in the Sadr City, Baghdad.

In the Sunni northern city of Mosul, hundreds of women marched Friday to demonstrate against the French move.

"Mosul's women denounce the French decision to ban hijab. This decision violates freedom," read some of the banners raised by the protesters.