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Muslims in France and burqa dilemma. |
As a reaction to the recent French row over the burka, French Muslims called for abstention from getting involved in the newly born campaign launched by some French parliamentary bodies for investigating the donning of burka and niqab in France. Mohammed Mousawi, head of the French Council of the Muslim Cult (FCMC), the official representative of the Muslims in France, told IslamOnline.net (IOL), "We will not get engaged in these endeavors intended to pinpoint some strict Muslims in France so as to turn us away from our real problems."
On the other hand, Nora Gaballah, head of the European Forum for Muslim Women called upon "Muslims in France to foil the attempts of those who want to misuse the burka and niqab to distort Muslim women's image through triggering a debate within the Muslim community itself to find a solution without being distracted from our major issues."
A Commission for Inquiry
Earlier, a parliamentary commission of 58 MPs in the French National Assembly (parliament) had submitted a draft law of one article asking for "the formation of a parliamentary commission for inquiry."
The aim of which commission, as literally stated in the proposed five-page draft, is to assess the situation of donning burka and niqab by some Muslim women to better understand such phenomenon and to propose recommendations aiming at opposing such issues that represent a threat to individual freedom on the national territory."
November, 30, 2009 is the deadline for the parliamentary commission for inquiry report to be submitted.
Muslims’ Different Reactions
As a reaction against the formation of that commission, Mohamed Mousawi called for "abstention from getting engaged in such a fuss raised for certain insinuations and with predetermined intentions against the Muslim community in France."
"These are very radical phenomena in France and we should not go along with those who wish to instigate them, since our problems and concerns as French Muslims are more important and deeper and will not be covered neither by the niqab nor by the burka," he added.
A Fabricated Issue
Similarly, Mohammad Hanish, the Secretary-General of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) in 93 Saint Denis area, north of Paris, where a bigger number of Muslims exist in France --about one million Muslims, said, "this is a fabricated problem intended to distract not only Muslims away from their actual concerns, but also to distract the ordinary French people who are overburdened, day after day, by the economic crisis and the hard living conditions."
| Endeavors intended to pinpoint some strict Muslims in France so as to turn us away from our real problems. |
"We expect more focus on this fabricated issue both in media and in politics," Hanish continued.
"Burka and niqab have existed in Saint Denis’ area with a very inconsiderable rate for 10 years. Yet the number of women donning any of them has not increased."
He then wonders, "Why this issue was raised right now?" Then he confidently answers, "no doubt that distracting the French public from their real problems and life difficulties is one of the objectives of this made-up campaign."
Political Games
Mr. Hanish also highlighted that the aforementioned proposal for an inquiry commission was submitted by MPs belonging to different political parties; from the right-wing ruling party “Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)”; from the opposing left party “Socialist Party”; and from the French Communist Party.
Upon the assumption that wearing niqab and burka is widely spreading in many French cities was the chasm upon which the French members of parliament built their draft law. They stated in the proposed bill, “Today, we have all over our cities some Muslim women wearing burka, covering the whole body and the head, which is considered a complete prison; and those who wear the niqab which reveals nothing but the eyes."
MPs Justifications
That parliamentary commission for inquiry, explain the MPs, comes in conformity with the Bernard Stasi’s Commission which had recommended, in 2003, banning any religious symbol in public schools. They also say that this call is to "protect the French secularism" based upon the first article of the French constitution which emphasizes "the state's secularity."
Their argument continues an assumption that “donning niqab and burka does not merely symbolize religious beliefs, against the common secular spectrum, but it also impinges on the dignity of women and their right to demonstrate their femininity."
An Internal Solution
Commenting on these allegations, Nora Gaballah, told IOL, "Muslim women living in France problems’ are neither the niqab nor the burka. Consequently, why we are meddled in that issue?" Gaballah added, "of course we do not consider it necessary from the legitimate and legal perspectives to introduce the niqab and burka in the French or the European domain. However, we are looking with suspicions to this commission which we believe that its purpose is to confine the normal veiled Muslim woman more."
Gaballah asked all Muslims of France themselves "to discuss the issue of niqab and burka internally and to find a solution so that the issue would not be exploited and used for the distortion of the Muslim women’s image."
A Restricted Nationality
In their proposal, the MPs based their claim on the State Council's resolution on June 27, 2008, rejecting a demand by a woman wearing the niqab to be granted the French nationality. They considered the resolution grounded on the fact that that woman is "radically applying religion “Islam” which represents a discordant aspect with the fundamental values of the French community, especially with the principle of gender equality."
Using Words Politically
| Burka dilemma is used to distract all French citizens from the economic crisis and the hard living conditions. |
The draft law authors also used terms such as "anti-west" and "segregation against white race" (European) and "anti-France" in their attempts to prove the ideology that led to the expulsion of the Algerian Imam Abdelkader Bouziane from France in April, 2004, because of his justification for wife-beating.
One of the most prominent members of the parliamentary commission for inquiry who is the campaign initiator is the Communist parliamentarian André Gerin, known for his Islamophobic tendencies. Gerin is also very well known for accusing his political opponents of being supporters of the "religious extremists." Another MP is Pierre Lellouche who always adopts the speech mode of the New Conservatives in France. Mr. Lellouche is an ongoing supporter of Israel and the right-wing MP Thierry Mariani who submitted in September, 2007, the controversial draft law of anti-illegal immigration proviso concerning getting genetic samples (DNA) of migrants prior to their arrival to France.
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