In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.
Muslims in France should try their best to pressure public opinion to change the prospective law that will ban hijab in schools. They should consider that banning of hijab is a challenge to their identity in that country. Whatever steps they take, they should apply wisdom in their approach, that is, they should follow the legal channels to get their right back, as resorting to stern measures is not a viable solution.
Responding to the question, Dr. Salah Sultan, Assistant Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence, Cairo University, states the following:
"I wish that the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar would support the sisters in their plight by issuing a fatwa stating that no obedience is due to a creature if it involves disobeying the Creator. Almighty Allah stipulated in Surat An-Nisaa’ that obedience to their rulers is due on subjects if such obedience is not tantamount to disobeying the Almighty and His Messenger.
With France being a secularist country, it is not strange that it issues a law banning hijab. What is odd in the whole issue is that, by issuing such a law, France is violating its own constitution and the principles of the French Revolution which accept pluralism and liberal secularism, not biased or barbaric secularism. President Chirac has been calling all the time for pluralism inside the French society.
I wish that Sheikh Tantawi would have asked the French Interior Minister to avoid issuing such an unfair law, which will inevitably affect the feelings of French Muslims. It will surely lead to frustration and an atmosphere of painful suppression.
The unexpected actions that may happen in such an atmosphere may be used in distorting the image of Muslims in the West.
Hence, I call upon all our fellow Muslim sisters to hold fast to their hijab and stick to the Command of Allah, which is proven by the clear decisive texts of the Qur’an and unanimously agreed upon by all Muslim scholars.
Muslims should seek every possible and peaceful way to resist such a law. If such a law is enacted, they should file suits against its unfairness and incoherence with the constitution. France has already signed a treaty on respecting the rights of religious minorities. Muslims can even go to the UN International Court of Justice.
We should take a lesson of the situation in Egypt when the Minister of Education issued a decree banning the hijab in schools except after [the girl] got the permission of her father. We resisted such a decree till it was abolished by Egyptian courts."
Moreover, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, adds:
"I don't know the precise details about the fatwa of Sheikh Tantawi of Al-Azhar; I cannot, therefore, comment on it without knowing the specifics. If, however, he has been reported correctly, then I beg to disagree with it.
Muslims in the West and North America may perhaps be better equipped to formulate opinions about issues facing them as a community than scholars from overseas.
There are a number of points which I think must be clear for anyone dealing with this issue:
First, hijab is a Qur'anic imperative. As such, it is part of the religious requirements in Islam; Muslims cannot compromise on that.
Second, the proposed hijab ban should not be isolated from the wider issue it is part of, namely, the issue of freedom for Muslims to practice their religion in France. To give in to the pressure and accept the status quo is therefore akin to surrendering our rights to practice our religion. French Muslims are citizens of France like anyone else; since everyone has freedom to practice his or her religion, Muslims also must have such freedoms.
Third, no one can decide the content of Islamic faith; no secular power therefore should appropriate this right to itself. To do so is interfering with the very essence of Islam.
Fourth, we must never lose sight of the maxim that freedom of any kind rightfully belongs only to those who are willing to stand up and fight for it.
I therefore strongly urge Muslim women and men to defend their freedom to practice their religion. By doing so we are at once true to the spirit of Islam besides being true to the spirit of the constitution and laws of France, which essentially uphold freedom and dignity for every human being. Muslims who do so will, Allah willing, be hailed as true upholders of democracy and freedom and dignity, the fundamental ideals of France, rather than the existing administration, which in its policies is being carried away by ideas contrary to the very spirit of their laws.
Finally, let us bear in mind that the final outcome is good only for those who cherish true faith and remain steadfast to it."
You can also read:
France: Hijab under Attack
Hijab in France: Muslims' Role
Should French Muslims Emigrate due to Ban on Hijab?
Lesser Hijab for French Muslim Women: Acceptable?
Do keep in touch. May Allah guide us all to the straight path!
