Women Who Reject the Hijab Are ‘Stupid, Naïve and Ignorant’ Says Top Islamic Scholar

EGYPTIAN STREETS: The debate around Islamic headscarves (Hijab) and an Islamic dress code for women is still raging in Egypt. Sheikh Ali Gomaa, an internationally known Islamist jurist and Egypt’s ex-Grand Mufti (top interpreter of religious edicts issued by Muslim clerics), recently joined the debate with some very surprising and alarming comments.

On live television, Sheikh Gomaa not only reaffirmed that headscarves (Hijab) are mandatory in Islam; he labeled any woman who disputes this interpretation as an infidel. Moreover, he said women who reject the Hijab are “stupid, naive and ignorant.”

His comments have raised fears among non-Islamist Egyptians that supposedly moderate mainstream scholars are now giving their blessing to new institutionalized Islamism.

In Egypt, the dress code for women has been controversial for nearly 100 years. The controversy started in 1919, when many women took off their veils as a gesture of support for Egypt’s freedom from British occupation. Political Islamist groups, however, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, have always campaigned for a strict Islamic dress code that includes covering the head as a minimum requirement for Muslim women. The group’s supporters resorted to social coercion to spread their message, using fear tactics (such as threats of punishment in the afterlife) to ensure adherence to the dress code. Salafists have opted for an even blunter approach, with a sharper dose of social coercion against women in their social circles. » | Nervana Mahmoud | Doctor, Commentator and Writer on Middle East Issues | Wednesday, May 13, 2015

What's It Like Being a Muslim Woman in Scotland Today?

HERALD SCOTLAND: 'A THREAT", "a foreigner" and "oppressed".

Those are the three phrases Scotland's young people think of when it comes to Muslim women, according to a study of people aged 11 to 24 by the Amina Muslim Women's Resource Centre in Glasgow.

Staff from Amina, who visit schools and youth groups to educate young non-Muslims about racial stereotyping, found the results shocking considering young people are considered more open-minded and tolerant than their parents and grandparents.

While many Muslim women say such stereotypes do not shape their daily lives, others claim there is a growing hostility towards them.

In the coming weeks, three major events will address the question of what it means to be a Muslim woman in Scotland. One will address how the debate surrounding the Islamic veil is affecting Scottish communities, while the others will look at the experiences of Muslim women and Islamophobia in Scotland.

One young Muslim woman summed up her experiences of being seen as a threat, a foreigner or an oppressed victim, saying the sense of distrust was "subtle" and "something you can feel", adding: "You go in an environment where you are the only person with brown skin: people will be polite to you but you can feel there is a distance, something not spoken ... This is how we feel."

This, as well as the more outrageous incidences of racist abuse, is what these events hope to address. » | Special report by Matty Sutton and Imran Azam | Sunday, November 24, 2013

Burkas Cast a Veil over Us All – So Ban Them

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cultural values that oppress and diminish women have no place in our society

Am I a racist? That’s what I was called on Twitter this week. It happens every time I express my loathing for the burka and the niqab, both hideous shrouds that hide a woman’s face from the world and prevent her – and, therefore, her children – from playing a full part in society.

My accuser on Twitter, one Imran Bhaloo, said it was offensive and racist of me to call a burka a shroud. “You have no right to evaluate culture,” he said. “A burka is not better or worse than a short dress, especially when you’re wearing it to impress someone. At that point, it ceases to be a choice. So how free are you?”

Actually, Mr Bhaloo, I do have a right to “evaluate culture”, as you call it. Mercifully, this is a country in which critical thinking is permitted: if we believe a practice stinks, then we say so. For example, if the Daughter comes downstairs wearing a skirt shorter than a text message, I culturally evaluate it and tell her to get changed pronto.

You ask me how free am I? Well, I’m a lot freer than those poor girls, as young as 11, who attend the Madani Girls’ School in east London. The school, it was revealed yesterday, requires all pupils to wear a burka, or a full-face veil and a long black coat, outside the premises. According to the school’s website, the uniform rule “conforms to the Islamic Code of dressing and must be adhered to at all times”.

How free is an 11-year-old who only sees her city through a letterbox slit, and who is obliged to dress in a way that intimidates people, prevents any connection being made, and ends up stoking even more racist feeling? How free are the children at the Ayesha Siddiqa Girls’ School in west London, which, like other private Islamic schools, requires pupils to wear a burka or jilbab (headscarf)? The Ayesha Siddiqa school had an emergency Ofsted inspection earlier this year that raised concerns about the 120 girls’ “welfare, health and safety”. » | Allison Pearson | Wednesday, September 18, 2013

My comment:

Finally, Brits are coming to the conclusion that the Islamic veil / burqah / niqab / hijab should be banned. It's taken a long time. Many of us have been saying this for years; but we were shouted down by the thought police (and the MSM) for being too intolerant and un-pc. Interestingly, Brits had a go at the French too, for being intolerant of diversity when they banned the burqah. But now, it seems, they have been proved right. They were, of course, right all along.

The burqah has no place in a progressive society. Ban it! – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

Islamic Schools Making Girls Wear Veils and Burkas

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Young girls are being forced to wear burkas or full-face veils by Islamic schools in Britain.

A number of the religious schools enforce uniform policies where such clothing is mandatory, even for girls as young as 11.

Under the dress code stipulated by the Madani Girls’ School in Tower Hamlets, East London, all pupils must wear a black burka and long black coat when outside.

The girls must also wear headscarves in the classroom and the school says on its website that its uniform rule "conforms to the Islamic Code of dressing and must be adhered to at all times".

The Ayesha Siddiqa Girls School, in Southall, West London, insists its pupils wear a navy blue burka or Jilbab, a long, loose-fitting garment that does not cover the face, when walking between lessons, The Times reported.

According to the school’s website, it is "not willing to compromise on any issues regarding uniform". » | Rosa Silverman | Wednesday, September 2013

My comment:

There was a time in which I was truly proud to be British. Those days are long gone. How can I be proud of being British anymore when the establishment is too weak to stand up for the British way of life, too weak to stand up for what we believe in?

Do the politicians and so-called leaders not realise that to force girls as young as eleven to cover themselves up in this way is a form of child abuse? These children are being deprived of normal contact with other children, they are being deprived of their childhood, and they are being deprived of sunlight, which could lead to rickets. It will certainly not be good for their young skin; it will make many of those young girls spotty.

This practice should be stopped forthwith. The wearing of full veil coverings is not a requirement of Islam anyway. Islam demands of its female adherents modesty, not the full covering of all body parts. The wearing of the burqah and other complete coverings stems from Middle Eastern culture; it has little or nothing to do with Islam. (Not that I am making excuses for that backward religion.)

It is interesting to note that pre-pubescent girls are not forced to cover up even in Saudi Arabia. Even in Saudi Arabia, little girls are allowed to be little girls, and they can play with their contemporaries freely. So if little girls are allowed not to cover themselves before puberty in Saudi Arabia, why should we allow them to be covered up in these ridiculous garments here in the United Kingdom? These garments are unhealthy in more ways than one. They should be banned forthwith. – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

Asking Women to Remove Veil Is Not Racist, Says Former Extremist

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Asking Muslim women to remove their veils is not racist or Islamaphobic, a former extremist who is now a Parliamentary candidate has said.

Maajid Nawaz, a British-born Muslim who has since renounced his views and is standing as a Liberal Democrat, said girls and women should remove their veils in classrooms, courts, and banks. His intervention came amid a growing political row over the issue.

Theresa May, the Conservative Home Secretary, said “women should be free to decide” for themselves whether to wear a veil. She said it was not for the state to “tell people what they should be wearing”, but added that at schools and courts removing veils may be a “practical necessity”.

Earlier this week, Jeremy Browne, the Lib Dem Home Office minister, told The Telegraph that there should be a “national debate” about whether veils should be banned in public.

MPs and senior judges subsequently called for national guidance to clarify the issue. Mrs May told Sky News that she did “not think the Government should tell women what they should be wearing”. » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Russian School Bans 5 Muslim Girls from Classes for Wearing Hijab
RT.COM: A head teacher of a school in Russia’s North Caucasus region banned five Muslim girls from attending classes while wearing a hijab. Indignant parents filed suits at a local prosecutor’s office over the issue.

The scandal erupted a week ago at a school in the village of Kara-Tyube in Russia’s Stavropol region. Several Muslim girls of different ages were told they would not be allowed to enter the school unless they took off their hijabs.

“But that is unacceptable in our religion,” Ravil Kaibaliyev, the father of one of the children told Izvestia daily newspaper.

The children’s parents filed complaints at the district prosecutor’s office, claiming that the school had violated their constitutional rights to education and freedom of religion. » | Monday, October 15, 2012

Mona Eltahawy on France's Banning of Face Veils

POLICYMIC: French Rapper Diam [sic] Converts to Islam and Wears Hijab in Defiance of Her Country Law » | Jessica Schreindl | Sunday, October 07, 2012

Egypt’s Maria TV Pitches Strict Vision of Islam

THE WASHINGTON POST: CAIRO — Maria TV, a new Egyptian channel that solely features veiled women, might be the first in the industry without a makeup room.

The satellite television project debuted this summer, and the women who work for it say they hope their images on TV will empower like-minded women across the region who adhere to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam known as Salafism.

But there is also a big role for men at the channel. Maria TV’s owner, Ahmed Abdallah, is a prominent Salafi preacher, well known in Egypt for his anti-Christian rhetoric. Abdallah and his son Islam, the channel’s chief executive, were arrested last month for burning a Bible during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11.

And while the women who work for Maria TV said they want to promote their belief that all Egyptian women should be covered, the channel also serves as a vehicle for what the CEO said was an effort to dim the influence of Christianity in the Muslim-majority region.

Those views would have met strong resistance during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who kept a tight lid on fundamentalist ideologies until his ouster in February 2011. But Islamists have perhaps reaped the most benefit from the country’s revolution, and with a new Islamist president, varying segments of society, including Salafis like Abdallah, are competing to define the role of religion in Egypt.

In September, a woman wearing a cream-colored head scarf read the midday news on state television, as officials here lifted a decades-old ban on veiled female presenters on state TV. » | Henry Shull | Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Iran Imposes Travel Ban on Star Actresses

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran has imposed travel bans on star actresses who appear at international award ceremonies without Islamic covering, the country's chief prosecutor has said.

The announcement from Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the attorney general, represents a stern warning to the small but growing band of Iranian female film stars that their careers can be derailed for violating the Islamic regime's strict dress code when abroad.

While Mr Mohseni-Ejei, a former intelligence minister, did not mention specific actresses, his comments came in answer to journalists' questions apparently referring to Leila Hatami, star of "A Separation", which has won multiple awards this year, including an Oscar for best foreign film.

Asked at a press conference why police were "confronting" actresses who appeared at ceremonies while wearing hijab (Islamic covering), Mr Mohseni-Ejei replied: "Which person who has appeared overseas with hijab is confronted?

"Regarding this issue, a few people are banned from leaving the country. These people have been invited abroad to take part in a ceremony and under the pretext of receiving an award. Then they have been ensnared in certain people's traps.

"Those people, after taking pictures of their baits, forced them to undertake activities and based on the photographs, they have blackmailed their victims and taken them to a place where they shouldn't. Of course, some of these people, after returning to Iran, are banned from leaving the country." » | Robert Tait | Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Haven't these ayatollahs and their henchmen got anything better to do than impose travel bans on successful, attractive actresses? Their non-existent god will not thank them for it. – © Mark

FIFA Unpins Hijab Ban
Football's international rule makers have agreed to overturn the controversial ban on the wearing of hijabs in matches. The issue had reached the level of the United Nations, who wrote to FIFA to ask for the law to be scrapped Al Jazeera's Lee Wellings reports from Surrey, England.

Related »

FIFA to Vote on Lifting Hijab Ban, Prince Ali Says Scarf Poses No Danger

TORONTO STAR: Sprained ankles. Pulled hamstrings. Bloodied knees.

The 350 girls in the Islamic Soccer League are not afraid of a little rough stuff on Toronto’s east-end pitches, logging trophy wounds and earning bragging rights playing the game they love.

But not one girl has been on the DL because of hijab injury – despite insistence by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, that headscarves are a danger to Islamic women who want to bend it like Beckham.

“We’ve never had an incident where hijab was an issue,” says Majied Ali, president of the 1,600-member ISL, whose female players – aged 5 to 18 –play with or without hijab. He estimates about 75 per cent of the girls wear it.

“Most of our girls tie hijab round their heads, not around their necks, somewhat similar to how a bandana is tied. Some other girls have invested in the Velcro-type of (tear-away) hijab.” » | Mary Ormsby | Feature Writer | Saturday, March 03, 2012

Head Scarf Ban More Than Safety Issue?
September 01, 2011: Muslim group cries foul

Two Views on France’s Burqa Ban

CNN: France's Islamic veil ban spurs passionate reaction worldwide » | Michael Saba, CNN | Monday, April 25, 2011

Cornered – Princess Hijab, Paris's Elusive Graffiti Artist
THE GUARDIAN: Princess Hijab daubs Muslim veils on half-naked fashion ads on the metro. Why does she do it? Is she a religious fundamentalist? And is she really a woman? Angelique Chrisafis meets the elusive street artist

Princess Hijab . . . 'I use veiled women as a challenge. The veil can be as profane as it is sacred'. Photograph: The Guardian
Just after dawn at Havre- Caumartin metro station, Paris's first commuters are stepping on and off half-empty trains. Then, at the end of the platform, a figure in black appears, head bowed and feet tapping with nerves.

Princess Hijab is Paris's most elusive street artist. Striking at night with dripping black paint she slaps black Muslim veils on the half-naked airbrushed women – and men – of the metro's fashion adverts. She calls it "hijabisation". Her guerrilla niqab art has been exhibited from New York to Vienna, sparking debates about feminism and fundamentalism – yet her identity remains a mystery.

In secular republican France, there can hardly be a more potent visual gag than scrawling graffitied veils on fashion ads. Six years after a law banned headscarves and all conspicuous religious symbols from state schools, Nicolas Sarkozy's government has banned the niqab from public spaces amid a fierce row over women's rights, islamophobia and civil liberties. The "burqa ban", approved last month, means that from next year it will be illegal for a woman to wear full-face Muslim veils in public, not just in government offices or on public transport, but in the streets, supermarkets and private businesses. The government says it is a way of protecting women's rights and stopping them being forced by men to cover their faces. >>> Angelique Chrisafis | Thursday, November 11, 2010

GUARDIAN PHOTO GALLERY: Princess Hijab: underground resistance – The Paris metro system is under attack - by graffiti artist extraordinaire Princess Hijab, who provocatively adds veils to billboard advertising. Here are some of her best works >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Muslim Women Who Wear the Hijab and Niqab
CNN: Nadia and Aliya, two Muslim American women who cover themselves in adherence to their faith's promotion of modesty, explain their choice.

Beautiful and Islamic: The New Look on the Catwalk
THE INDEPENDENT: Jerome Taylor witnesses a fusion of fashion with traditional Muslim dress

Hana Tajima, founder of Maysaa, on a shoot in north London for her new collection. Photograph: The Independent
Perched on a stool in a cavernous warehouse in north London, a model with bright blue eye make-up carefully adjusts her top as a photographer works the light around her. She is dressed in a beautiful, sleek, black satin shirt, topped off with a simple, unadorned hood.

As the photographer lifts up his camera, the model brings the hood up to cover the back half of her head. “That’s it,” he says, as the flash fires. “Beautiful.”

Welcome to the world inhabited by the “Hijabistas”, a trendy set of up and coming Muslim fashion designers who are doing their bit to forge an indigenous British Islamic identity. Until relatively recently, young Muslim women who wanted to dress according to Islamic rules of modesty (hijab) had pretty limited options. They could either adopt the type of immigrant clothing worn by their parents, or try to cobble something together from high street chains, where modesty isn’t exactly seen as a best seller, especially in the summer.

Frustrated by this lack of variety, a small number of devout young Muslims are making their own way into the fashion industry to try and provide a middle road – sleek, elegant clothing that is both beautiful and Islamic.

The seeds of this particular sartorial movement have only just begun to be sown and the number of Hijabistas in Britain can probably be counted on one hand. But their arrival heralds a shift reflected in the wider Muslim demographic of a community making their way towards the mainstream and forging their own indigenous identity. >>> Jerome Taylor | Friday, July 02, 2010

Clashes in Enghelab Square Over Improper Hijab
PERSIAN2ENGLISH: According to reports by Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, clashes occurred today at 2:20pm on Enghelab Square between young Iranian citizens and police forces who tried to arrest young women for “improper hijab”.

As one young woman resisted, fellow citizens came to her aid and drivers honked in protest. Police called in for backup. Police on motorcycles arrived on the scene and arrested at least four young citizens.

Witnesses described the behaviour of the police as brutal and stated they beat anyone standing around.

Reports also indicate that the police asked for money from young women accused of improper hijab. The hijab crackdown by police is believed to be a tactic to instill fear in citizens to prevent protests on June 12, 2010. [Source: Persian2English] | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Übersetzung: Unzureichende Verschleierung: Zusammenstöße am Enghelab-Platz >>> Von Julia | Donnerstag, 10. Juli 2010

Julias Blog >>>

Hijab in the UK: What a Bloody Nonsense!
For British women to take to the veil, hijab, niqab, or burqah is a total bloody nonsense!

Women have to wear such ridiculous garb in countries where men are unable to keep their dicks in their pants, robes, thobes, dishdashas. This is NOT the case in Great Britain. British men have a long history of restraint. A good pedigree, in fact. And that’s more than can be said about men in many Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam.

In Muslim countries, taking to the veil might well be necessary; here in the United Kingdom, it is a nonsense, and an absolute bloody nonsense at that! – © Mark Alexander

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Anti-dhimmitude! Burqa, niqab, hidjab, quelles différences?
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVES: DÉFINITIONS | La réflexion est lancée en Suisse: faut-il interdire la burqa? Quelques définitions utiles.

Le parlement argovien a adopté hier mardi une motion demandant une interdiction de la burqa dans l'espace public en Suisse. Le débat qui est né en France il y a neuf mois s'est rapidement étendu au reste de l'Europe. Les députés belges ont ainsi approuvé la semaine dernière à une très large majorité le principe de l'interdiction de cette tenue.

Le voile, dont de nombreuses musulmanes à travers le monde se couvrent la tête, comporte de nombreuses versions et se retrouve dans de nombreuses traditions. Avant d'entamer la réflexion sur le sujet, voici des éléments de définitions utiles. >>> AEC | Mercredi 05 Mai 2010

Canton d'Argovie / Kanton Aargau / Canton Aargau >>>

Nein zur Burka, Ja zur Frau – Gegen Vermummung im öffentlichen Raum: Die heutige Debatte des Grossen Rates begann sehr emotional.
Das Thema Burkaverbot stand auf der Traktandenliste. Das aargauische Parlament will, dass eine Standesinitiative zu Handen des Bundes ausgearbeitet wird mit dem Ziel, gesamtschweizerisch ein Verbot der Burka im öffentlichen Raum zu erreichen. >>>

Girl, 16, Banned from School for Wearing Hijab in Spain
THE TELEGRAPH: A 16-year-old schoolgirl has been banned from classes in Spain after refusing to remove her Islamic headscarf, re-igniting the national debate over the hijab.

Najwa Malha, who was born is Spain to Moroccan immigrants, has been excluded from classes at the state-run Camilo Jose Cela School in the Madrid suburb of Pozuelo after being told that her hijab was in violation of school dress code.

The decision has sparked debate in Spain where there are no clear guidelines over the wearing of Islamic headdress in state schools. >>> Fiona Govan in Madrid | Friday, April 16, 2010