Prokop came under harsh criticism from different sections of society.

VIENNA, March 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – In what some fear could be a curtain raiser for a major policy shift in a country considered somehow tolerant, Austrian Interior Minister Liese Prokop has called for banning hijab-clad Muslim women from teaching at schools.

“I consider now the legality of banning hijab in schools,” Prokop told the state-run Falter Magazine Tuesday, March 8. “But, anyhow, I will throw my weight about the ban.”

She argued that wearing the hijab in schools runs counter to the values of Austrian society.

“Muslim women suffer from oppression and their rights are down-trodden,” the minister claimed, urging for stopping what she called “forcible marriage” and “honor killing” spreading among Muslims.

Islam roundly abhors the primordial honor killing practices as it holds every soul in high esteem and does not allow any transgression upon it.

Likewise, Islam granted women full rights to accept or reject whoever proposes to her. Women’s consent is vital for a valid marriage contract under Islam.

A female Muslim delegation met senior Austrian officials last year, stressing that Islam enshrined inalienable rights for women and cleared stereotypes circulated by right-wing media.

Expectedly, the minister’s statements raised the ire of the Muslim minority and Austrian politicians as well.

“It is strange that such provocative and offensive statements coincide with the International Women’s Day,” Anas Schakfeh, chairman of Islamic Religious Authority, formally protested in a letter to the People’s Party (OVP), which dominates the coalition government.

“It is unusual for the People’s Party and other parties in Austria to descend to this repugnant rhetoric,” he added, calling for an immediate action from the government.

Austrian Christians have demonstrated their solidarity with the Muslim minority and supported Muslim women’s right to take on the hijab.

“Will this minister call for banning the cross as well?” wondered Richard Schadauer, head of the Christian Socialist and Democratic Association (ACUS).

He further distanced Christianity from Prokop’s statements.

“Catholic Prokop has nothing to do with Christianity,” he said.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel said Prokop is in no position to address the hijab issue.

Weighing in, Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, said the interior minister is in no position to address such an issue, which falls under the minister of education.

An official source at the office of the minister of education tried to reassure the Muslim minority, saying that Austria has no problem with the Muslim dress code.

The spokeswoman for the Greens Party’s women’s affairs, Brigid Weinzinger, dismissed Prokop’s statements as “insulting.”

“She leaves the impression that domestic violence is only confined to Muslims as if it doesn’t exist in Austria,” she said.

Muslims make up some 8 per cent of the country’s eight million population.

Islam, which was officially acknowledged in Austria in 1908, is considered the second religion in the country after Catholic Christianity.

A law issued in 1867, which guaranteed respect for all religions, gave Muslims the right to establish mosques and practice their religion in Austria.

However, Muslim rights in the country were enhanced by the signing of the Saint-Germain agreement in 1919, in which the Austrian government pledged its protection for minorities and affirmed the right of each citizen to assume important national posts regardless of his/her religious or ethnic backgrounds.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) said in a report released Monday, March 7, that the debate surrounding the adoption in 2004 of a French law prohibiting religious attire in public schools helped encourage intolerance and discrimination against hijab-clad Muslim women across Europe.