ROTTERDAM, January 28 (IslamOnline.net) - Ruling out a ban on hijab would be enacted, a Muslim Dutch official said the dress code has proven no threat to secularism or Muslim women's integration in the European country.

Hijab is no obstacle to the integration of women in Holland, as hijab-clad Muslims have achieved a remarkable success in various fields of study and work, Rabiaa Bouhalhoul told IslamOnline.net on Tuesday, January 27.

Bouhalhoul, the head of social integration department in the local government of Rotterdam, refuted claims that the Islamic wear runs counter to the principles of secularism.

The allegations are the handiwork of European far-right extremist parties that cook them up to satisfy their voters, the Moroccan-originated author of several books on sociology said.

Stressing Muslims to determine their position on homosexuality, she said, was among the issues manipulated by the parties for increasing the support in the country's constituencies.

As of 2001, homosexuals can get married in the Netherlands while soft drugs are openly available in licensed shops and cafes. Prostitutes can become legal workers and pay taxes and euthanasia is legal. The practices are deemed prohibited by the Islamic law.

The one million Muslims are growing in The Netherlands, and now account for 6% of the population.

Most Muslim immigrants are from Morocco and Turkey who arrived as guest workers in the sixties and seventies.

Bouhalhoul warned that France's imminent ban on hijab in state schools would have grave repercussions on Muslims in the West.

They would lose confidence in the same very western values that had secured many rights and freedoms to them, and encourage up extremist ideas among the minorities there, she said.

But the Dutch official ruled out that The Netherlands would follow in the footsteps of France, as the education system is different in both countries.

The French government is obliged to spend on public secular schools only, but Holland bears the costs of secular and religious education, she said.

The one million Muslims of Holland have established over the past 30 years hundreds of religious, social and cultural organizations, many of which receive grants from the Dutch authorities.

The Muslim official, however, conceded that many Dutch officials are greatly affected - even consciously - by media outlets.

That's why, they limit the image of Muslims to that of extremist Taliban and Al-Qaeda members as well as those adopting women repression.

She also took the blame to groups following no religion in the West for imposing their beliefs as the ideal type of secularism.

Many of the European Union countries are dominated by these groups, which try to impose their opinions on such issues that require different perspectives, Bouhalhoul said.

She warned this would destabilize the Dutch and other European societies, as the secular state mainly works to keep peaceful and tolerant atmosphere among various social components and act without bias towards one group against the other.

Bouhalhoul is working to organize a dialogue between Dutch officials and Muslim scholars in an effort to highlight the true picture of Islam.

Prominent scholars Youssef Al-Qaradawi and Mohamed Seleim Al-Awa and famous Swiss intellectual Tarek Ramadan are to show up for the gathering.

Bouhalhoul called on Dutch Muslims to organize more gatherings of this kind to better improve their image rather based on distorted information, and avoid personal differences for the sake of much common causes.

After the September 11 attacks, Muslims were narrowly cornered, giving a chance for racial rights extremists to launch their attacks on the community members, Bouhalhoul said.

So, Bouhalhoul sees the only option to defend Muslims' existence and identity is peaceful activities that could shed a light on the true facts in Islam and its unique cultural heritage.

Many of hijab-clad women were catapulted into success in many political, scientific and social fields, the most prominent of whom is Fatma Al-Ateq, former interior minister's advisor and a current member of the Dutch parliament.

In 2002, the Muslim minority celebrated their first hijab-wearing lawyer Jamila Arselan.

Seven Muslims lawmakers, including five women, also maintained their seats in the new Dutch parliament. The seven legislators belong to five of nine political parties represented in the new parliament.

But Muslims are still bracing for other challenges in Holland, especially Xenophobia.

Former Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende’s far-right coalition collapsed in 2002, with the move mainly blamed on the squabbles created by his party which is infamous for its xenophobia platform and anti-Muslim stances.

Muslim women took to the streets of Helmond city, southeast of the Netherlands, to protest a decision by the city's municipality to withhold an annual grant for a government-aided social organization, allocated for women-only swimming classes.

In May 2002, the buildings of Ibn Khaldoun Islamic school, south of Rotterdam, had come under attacks.

The attacks were largely blamed on extremist Dutch groups, particularly that several major Dutch towns, which host Muslim and foreign communities, have been theater for anti-Arab and Muslim propaganda since the 9/11 attacks.