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Cennet wears hijab everywhere in France except school
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By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent
PARIS,
October 12 (IslamOnline.net) – Insisting she will keep going to
school skin-headed till the end of this academic year, the French Muslim
student that protested the hijab ban in a new way, saw no difference
between Afghanistan’s Taliban and French government and hailed the
wonderful support she gets from her schoolmates and family members.
“Taliban
forced (Afghan) women to wear hijab and France forced women to remove
it, what is the difference as far as the issue of human rights is
concerned,” Cennet Doganay, the French Muslim student that shaved
her head early October, told IslamOnline.net Monday, October 11.
“Muslim
women in Arab and Muslim states are criticized for staying at home.
The French ban is designed to force French Muslim women at home.”
On
October 1, Cennet
Doganay, 15, of Turkish descent, took off her hijab as
she was entering the Louis Pasteur Lycee high school in Strasbourg,
eastern France, only to reveal a bald head.
Cennet
further said she was determined to continue her study bare-headed,
adding her decision to shave was much more dignified than taking off
her hijab.
She
said she would not back down on her decision to go to school without
her hair.
“I
would go to school bare-headed till the end of this year.”
“For
the coming year, I'm not sure of my final decision as I could join a
private school or go to study in nearby Belgium.”
Cennet
said she was convinced she made the right choice.
“My
decision to shave my head is dignified than committing sins by taking
off my hijab.”
“Now
I feel different, however, I don't feel insulted but those who banned
me from choosing my own clothes should feel so.”
Studying
economics and sociology at the first secondary grade, Cennet said
school officials had barred her from joining her classmates.
“They
left me no choice as they isolated me in a private place since I wore
the Bandana and never allowed me to join my classmates.”
“When
I argued with the school headmaster that some other girls are wearing
bandanas, he answered there was a difference between wearing it for
fashion and for religious motives.”
France
has triggered a controversy by adopting
a bill banning hijab and religious insignia in public
schools.
The
US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French move as "discriminatory".
Former
French Interior and incumbent Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has
long opposed the law, warning it would provoke a backlash among
Muslims, who would view it as an “insult
and punishment”.
No
Pressures
Cennet
further denied she was pressured to take such a decision.
“This
was my own decision. The idea struck my mind in early September.”
“As
school approached and while watching my hair in the mirror, thinking
what I would do, the idea of a skin-head struck my mind. I asked my
mom to help.”
In
September, two Muslim sisters were
expelled from Henri Wallon Lycee school in the
Paris northern suburb of Aubervilliers for wearing hijab.
According
to a Reuters count, about 120 schoolgirls across France insisted on
keeping their headscarves when school resumed on September 2, the date
when the anti-hijab law came into effect.
School
officials said only 19 girls were still insisting on wearing their
headscarves in the Strasbourg.
Wonderful
Support
The
Muslim girl expressed gratitude at the wonderful support her
classmates are surrounding her with.
Cennet's
family also expressed support for their child's decision.
“I
support my daughter in taking any decision even if it was to take off
hijab,” Cennet's father said.
“It
is much better to commit a sin for once than committing daily sins.”
“What
Cennet did was her personal decision and we did not force her as we
follow Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who allowed his family members to do
what they want as long as it does not run counter to the Islamic
tenets.”
Cennet's
mother agrees.
“I
did not prevent Cennet when she asked me to shave her head but later
my heart broke when I remembered how the Nazis treated the bare-headed
women, Jewish women and others during the World War II.”
A
self-styled Iraqi militant group calling itself the Islamic Army abducted
on August 20 French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges
Malbrunot, demanding the French government to rescind the anti-hijab
law.
Chairman
of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) Dalil Boubakeur
had said the estimated five million Muslims rejected the "odious
blackmail" of the captors.
A
CFCF delegation had visited Baghdad to help secure the release of the
two reporters, an initiative was hailed by the French government.
A
French mediator in Iraq said Wednesday, September 29, he was just
waiting for a
US authorization to extract the two French journalists
by air.
