In Search of the Burqa

Thursday, 09 July 2009 15:46 Umm Harith

Nicolas Sarkozy and Muslims would agree on one thing when it comes to his comments to Parliament about the burqa, and that is he didn't make the remarks that he did in order to start a debate or discussion, he did it with the clearest of intentions, to insult, hinder and ultimately frighten those who are so obviously regaining, without compromise, their Islamic identity.

It is a sign of subjection and is a symbol of "women's enslavement". If one had heard that in isolation one may be forgiven for thinking of the endless enslavement of women whose bodies are used and abused in order to sell the health and beauty products. You may even think of the women who suffer from abduction from their home countries only to be brought over into countries such as France to be prostitutes; women who suffer violence, 400 a year die at the very hands of their spouse, women such as Sarkozy wife, who is an acclaimed former nude model. But he was speaking of a piece of cloth.

The banning of pieces of cloth is not something that Mr. Sarkozy is strange to. Indeed he was the very man as Interior minister who spearheaded the ban of the hijab in 2004 in schools. Has that meant their liberation, have women forsaken their scarf's and thanked Mr. Sarkozy for his championing of Muslim women's rights.

My recent trip to Paris tells a very different story. France does see the subjection of Muslim women and their enslavement, but not for the reasons that the French President has us believe. They are subjected as a consequence of the very laws that seek to "liberate them". I heard of women denied medical help for refusing to take off her hijab at her doctor's surgery, a women refused vaccination for her child for her refusal to remove her "symbol of enslavement"; scores of women bullied and demoted at work for daring to adhere to the Islamic dress and one woman was actually denied entry to a police station to complain of an assault. In essence the French secular state should not preach what it most certainly does not practise.

Mr. Sarkozy would do well to learn from Muslim women about rights. Women had the right to vote, to trade, to education, to be employers and employees well before the so called enlightenment. Was it not Roseau who said that women will always remain intellectually inferior to men?

The reality is Mr Sarkozy - that 20% of your French born citizens are reverting to Islam. Muslims living in France are proud of their pieces of cloth and are increasing by significant numbers every day. My return to Paris having lived there for some years prior was truly eye opening. Despite the attack on the Islamic dress, women donning it were apparent everywhere.

Whilst Mr. Sarkozy is trying to spread fear, perhaps it is he who is fearful of the resurgence of Islam in the hearts and minds of Muslims. His attempt to create a "French Islam" has failed miserably, and his attempt to step up the attack is weak and transparent. What does it say about the strength of your secular values if you feel threatened by a mere piece of cloth?