Abdullah Milson, French Muslim activist

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS , September 9 (IslamOnline.net) – The French province of Alsace is a bastion of French Muslims. At schools there, some 200 students returned to school with hijab over their heads. Almost half that number managed to keep it on a week into the academic year.

France 's controversial law banning hijab in state schools came into force Thursday, September 2.

The number of Muslim students who still keep their obligatory head cover in the Alsace province, to the far north of France , represents almost half of Muslim students wearing hijab in all French public schools.

According to the French education ministry estimates, 240 Muslim students wearing hijab returned to schools in other parts of France , compared to 1200 hijab-clad students last year.

Reasons

The high rate of Muslim students sticking to hijab is mainly attributed to the heavy Muslim presence in the Alsace .

Abdullah Milson, a Muslim activist in Strasbourg said the large Muslim community in Alsace , hailing from Turkish and Arab origins, refuse to allow Muslim girls to take off their hijab.

He also cited the insistence of Muslim students to wear hijab in public schools, in response to the strict stance of the Alsace school headmasters on hijab, as another reason for the phenomenon.

Milson added that the religious commitment of minorities in Alsace was among the reasons behind the high rate of Muslim students wearing hijab in the area.

"Religion in Alsace is evident in the daily practices of the minorities in the area. We here live a more open secularism."

Wrong Reports

On reports of expelling Muslim girls who refuse to take off hijab from schools, Milson, who is a member of the 15 March Committee for Freedoms, denied such reports.

"No Muslim girl was expelled from school over sticking to hijab. Dialogues are held with those who refuse to take off hijab in the school classes."

Milson said the 15 March committee for Freedoms had issued a statement in which it urged not to give too much statements on the hijab-banning law to set a better stage for the release of the two French reporters taken hostage in Iraq .

An armed group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq kidnapped two French journalists, Chesnot of Radio France and Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper August 20, demanding the French government to revoke its law banning hijab in public schools.

For his part, Amaar Lasfar, a mosque imam in Lil, told IslamOnline.net that many Muslim families in the area prefer not to raise the issue of hijab banning at this time for helping secure the release of the two French reporters taken hostage in Iraq .

The Strasbourg Academy , the Alsace highest administrative body, had earlier said the number of Muslim students who still refuse to abide by the hijab-banning law has dropped by half since the school year began a week ago.

The academy stressed that talks are under way with those who still refuse to obey the law for convincing them to take off the hijab.

France is home to a five-million strong Muslim community.