Dr. Qaradawi, center, during the opening session of the ECFR

By Masoud Sabri, IOL Staff

DUBLIN, January 5 (IslamOnline.net) – The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) said Sunday, January 4, that forcing a Muslim woman to remove her hijab in France is one of the most discriminatory measures that runs in sharp contrast to true French values.

Concluding a session on the controversial issue of hijab, the Council said France's anti-hijab drive extremely infringes upon the rights of Muslim women and down-tread their dignity.

"The planned French law to ban hijab and religious symbols in state-run schools is totally against the principles of the French Revolution, which came to entrench freedom and human rights, which distinguished France as the mother of liberties," it said.

"Although it apparently targets all religious symbols, it actually targets hijab, which is a blatant discrimination against Muslims."

Muslim scholars who gathered in the Council's 12th session in this Irish city also urged French officials to reconsider the planned law that was publicly supported by President Jacques Chirac.

"This law should be given a second reading for the sake of national unity, social security and cohesion between society's cross-sections," the Council said.

And French Muslims "have the right to defend their legitimate rights by opposing such an unfair law, but in a peaceful and civilized manner".

ECFR President Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi had sent a letter to Chirac, asking him to reverse his position on hijab.

Integration

The ECFR, however, called for a great Muslim integration into European countries, urging Muslims not to lose their Islamic identity and help develop their societies.

But co-existence, it warned, cannot be achieved unless the country respects personal freedoms and protect human rights.

Although it showed understanding for France's fears over its secular identity and nature, it said Muslim women cannot make a trade-off between their hijabs and civil rights like education.

"Liberal secularism is not an excuse to pass stringent laws that strip people of their enshrined human rights, basically the freedom of religion.

"Hijab is an obligation for Muslim women and not just a mere religious or political symbol, but rater a part and parcel in the life of a Muslim woman," it said.

The Council also said that the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, should have asked France to respect human rights, human rights conventions and the U.N. Charter when touching on the issue.

Tantawi came under fire for saying after talks with French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy that France had the right to ban hijab on its soil because it was not a Muslim country.

The Council has set up an ad hoc committee to address the issue with the bodies concerned in France.

The committee includes prominent Muslim scholars from all over the world, notably the former Mauritanian justice minister Sheikh Abdullah Ould Beih, the head of the Islamic Organizations in Europe, Dr. Ahmad Al-Rawi, the and Dr. Mohammad Al-Hawarri, a top advisor to Germany's Islamic Council.