Legalizing Discrimination in Europe
The European Court of Justice handed right-wing nationalists a victory on Tuesday that allows employers to ban Muslim women and others who wear signs of their faith. With rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe, and elections coming in several nations where the populist right is expected to do well, this decision sends exactly the wrong message.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opin ... &te=1&_r=0
Hejab
Quebec, Islam and face-covering
Quebec’s ban on face-coverings risks inflaming inter-communal tensions
Don’t hide your face with a niqab—or anything else
HOW should a liberal democracy respond when a historically Christian majority makes room for cultures and philosophical ideas that range from indifference, even hostility, to all religion to devoutly practised Islam? There are lots of places which have that dilemma, but it seems especially sharp in Quebec. Over a few decades this Canadian province has gone from being religiously homogenous and piously Catholic to being quite a secular place with a robust, growing Muslim minority.
This week Quebec’s parliament gave an answer of sorts to that question, and it will alienate as least as many people as it satisfies. The most striking feature of a law passed on October 18th after a couple of years of debate is that it bans anyone whose face is covered from delivering or receiving a public service. Philippe Couillard, the province's Liberal premier, defended the measure with a catchy little formula: "I should see your face and you should see mine. It's as simple as that." But critics say that the consequences will be far from simple.
The ban applies to all provincial and municipal services, including hospitals, libraries and public transport. Although the legislation does not specifically mention niqabs or burqas, it is widely seen as singling out the estimated 250,000 Muslims in the majority-Christian province of 8m people.
The National Council for Canadian Muslims said it ushers in “ugly identity politics” ahead of the provincial election next October. It will also lead to confusion. The ban will take effect as soon as the bill receives royal assent, usually a matter of days. But the guidelines on how to enforce it will be drawn up by a committee and will not be available until July. Without guidelines, how are municipalities expected to enforce the law, asked Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, whose city is home to a large Muslim population. The list of unanswered questions is long. Should a bus driver refuse to let a veiled woman board? Should a librarian refuse to lend a book? How should requests for concessions to religious diversity, which the bill promises, be handled in the workplace, for example?
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https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus ... lydispatch
Quebec’s ban on face-coverings risks inflaming inter-communal tensions
Don’t hide your face with a niqab—or anything else
HOW should a liberal democracy respond when a historically Christian majority makes room for cultures and philosophical ideas that range from indifference, even hostility, to all religion to devoutly practised Islam? There are lots of places which have that dilemma, but it seems especially sharp in Quebec. Over a few decades this Canadian province has gone from being religiously homogenous and piously Catholic to being quite a secular place with a robust, growing Muslim minority.
This week Quebec’s parliament gave an answer of sorts to that question, and it will alienate as least as many people as it satisfies. The most striking feature of a law passed on October 18th after a couple of years of debate is that it bans anyone whose face is covered from delivering or receiving a public service. Philippe Couillard, the province's Liberal premier, defended the measure with a catchy little formula: "I should see your face and you should see mine. It's as simple as that." But critics say that the consequences will be far from simple.
The ban applies to all provincial and municipal services, including hospitals, libraries and public transport. Although the legislation does not specifically mention niqabs or burqas, it is widely seen as singling out the estimated 250,000 Muslims in the majority-Christian province of 8m people.
The National Council for Canadian Muslims said it ushers in “ugly identity politics” ahead of the provincial election next October. It will also lead to confusion. The ban will take effect as soon as the bill receives royal assent, usually a matter of days. But the guidelines on how to enforce it will be drawn up by a committee and will not be available until July. Without guidelines, how are municipalities expected to enforce the law, asked Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, whose city is home to a large Muslim population. The list of unanswered questions is long. Should a bus driver refuse to let a veiled woman board? Should a librarian refuse to lend a book? How should requests for concessions to religious diversity, which the bill promises, be handled in the workplace, for example?
More..
https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus ... lydispatch
'I felt really scared:' Toronto girl says man tried to cut off her hijab while she walked to school
An 11-year-old Toronto girl says a man approached her while she was walking to school on Friday morning and attempted twice to cut off her hijab with scissors.
"I felt really scared and confused," Khawlah Noman, a student at Pauline Johnson Junior Public School in Scarborough, Ont., said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Khawlah said she felt the man behind her while she was walking to school with her younger brother, Mohammad Zakariyya, and turned around and saw him holding scissors. She says she screamed and he ran away, but returned a few minutes later.
"He continued cutting my hijab again" before smiling and running away, said Khawlah.
Toronto police are now investigating.
"We don't know if this was a hate crime or not yet," said Const. David Hopkinson of the Toronto Police Service. "We don't know what motivated the attack."
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https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/crimeinc ... ailsignout
An 11-year-old Toronto girl says a man approached her while she was walking to school on Friday morning and attempted twice to cut off her hijab with scissors.
"I felt really scared and confused," Khawlah Noman, a student at Pauline Johnson Junior Public School in Scarborough, Ont., said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Khawlah said she felt the man behind her while she was walking to school with her younger brother, Mohammad Zakariyya, and turned around and saw him holding scissors. She says she screamed and he ran away, but returned a few minutes later.
"He continued cutting my hijab again" before smiling and running away, said Khawlah.
Toronto police are now investigating.
"We don't know if this was a hate crime or not yet," said Const. David Hopkinson of the Toronto Police Service. "We don't know what motivated the attack."
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/crimeinc ... ailsignout
Tired of Their Veils, Some Iranian Women Stage Rare Protests
TEHRAN — Climbing atop a five-foot-tall utility box in one of Tehran’s busiest squares on Monday, an Iranian woman removed her head scarf, tied it to a stick and waved it for all to see.
It was no small feat in Iran, where women can be arrested for publicly flouting the Islamic requirement that they cover their hair.
But there she stood, her curly hair blowing in the breeze. No one protested. In fact, she was applauded by many people. Taxi drivers and older women took her picture. The police, who maintain a booth in the square, either did not see her or decided not to intervene.
“My hands were trembling,” the 28-year-old said, asking not to be named out of fear of arrest. “I was anxious and feeling powerful at the same time. And proud, I felt proud.”
She was not alone. On Monday several other women, a total of six, according to social media accounts, made the same symbolic gesture: taking off their head scarves in public and waving them on a stick, emulating a young woman who climbed on the same sort of utility box on Dec. 27 and was subsequently arrested. Activists say she has since been released, but she still has not resurfaced in public.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/worl ... d=45305309
TEHRAN — Climbing atop a five-foot-tall utility box in one of Tehran’s busiest squares on Monday, an Iranian woman removed her head scarf, tied it to a stick and waved it for all to see.
It was no small feat in Iran, where women can be arrested for publicly flouting the Islamic requirement that they cover their hair.
But there she stood, her curly hair blowing in the breeze. No one protested. In fact, she was applauded by many people. Taxi drivers and older women took her picture. The police, who maintain a booth in the square, either did not see her or decided not to intervene.
“My hands were trembling,” the 28-year-old said, asking not to be named out of fear of arrest. “I was anxious and feeling powerful at the same time. And proud, I felt proud.”
She was not alone. On Monday several other women, a total of six, according to social media accounts, made the same symbolic gesture: taking off their head scarves in public and waving them on a stick, emulating a young woman who climbed on the same sort of utility box on Dec. 27 and was subsequently arrested. Activists say she has since been released, but she still has not resurfaced in public.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/worl ... d=45305309
The Economist explains
Why Iranian women are taking off their veils
Protests against the compulsory wearing of hijab are symbolic of a broader unease
POLICE in Tehran arrested 29 women in February for protesting against a law that makes the wearing of hijab compulsory. The arrests came as women across Iran have been posting pictures of themselves bare-headed and waving their veils aloft on sticks. Police said that the campaign had been instigated from outside Iran through illegal satellite channels. But Soheila Jolodarzadeh, a female member of the Iranian parliament, said the protests had been brewing for a while. “They’re happening because of our wrong approach,” she said. “We imposed restrictions on women and put them under unnecessary restraints.” How likely are women to win the battle of the headscarf? And what do these protests tell us about the state of Iranian politics?
More..
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... rm=2018038
Why Iranian women are taking off their veils
Protests against the compulsory wearing of hijab are symbolic of a broader unease
POLICE in Tehran arrested 29 women in February for protesting against a law that makes the wearing of hijab compulsory. The arrests came as women across Iran have been posting pictures of themselves bare-headed and waving their veils aloft on sticks. Police said that the campaign had been instigated from outside Iran through illegal satellite channels. But Soheila Jolodarzadeh, a female member of the Iranian parliament, said the protests had been brewing for a while. “They’re happening because of our wrong approach,” she said. “We imposed restrictions on women and put them under unnecessary restraints.” How likely are women to win the battle of the headscarf? And what do these protests tell us about the state of Iranian politics?
More..
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economi ... rm=2018038
She Wears a Head Scarf. Is Quebec Derailing Her Career?
MONTREAL — Maha Kassef, 35, an ambitious elementary schoolteacher, aspires to become a principal. But since she wears a Muslim head scarf, she may have to derail her dreams: A proposed bill in Quebec would bar public school principals, and other public employees, from wearing religious symbols.
“How am I supposed to teach about respect, tolerance and diversity to my students, many of whom are immigrant kids, when the government is asking me to give up who I am?” asked Ms. Kassef, the child of Kuwaiti immigrant parents who worked tirelessly to send her and her four siblings to college.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/worl ... 3053090403
MONTREAL — Maha Kassef, 35, an ambitious elementary schoolteacher, aspires to become a principal. But since she wears a Muslim head scarf, she may have to derail her dreams: A proposed bill in Quebec would bar public school principals, and other public employees, from wearing religious symbols.
“How am I supposed to teach about respect, tolerance and diversity to my students, many of whom are immigrant kids, when the government is asking me to give up who I am?” asked Ms. Kassef, the child of Kuwaiti immigrant parents who worked tirelessly to send her and her four siblings to college.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/worl ... 3053090403
In France, Debates About the Veil Hide a Long History
An exhibition steps back from the country’s obsession with Muslim women’s dress to consider the many uses of head coverings throughout history.
BOURG-EN-BRESSE, France — Almost 500 years ago, in 1518 or 1519, the Flemish artist Bernard van Orley sat down to paint a portrait of Margaret of Austria, one of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe. At age 3, she was queen of France. At 27, she became regent of the Netherlands, and Van Orley painted Margaret as a sturdy, composed politician in a portrait that would be copied across Europe.
Her lips are pursed. Her hands are poised, a rosary between two fingers. She squints, as if analyzing something. On her head, framing a face as burnished as porcelain, is a supple white wimple. It arches from the crown of her head and encloses her ears and neck; it expresses her fidelity to her late husband and, what’s more, her claim to his political authority. All the validity of her rule lies in that veil. It is piety, and it is power.
Margaret is buried in the Monastère de Brou, a palatial mausoleum she ordered built here in Bourg-en-Bresse, about 280 miles southeast of Paris. And her example serves as the trigger for a sparky and rangy exhibition there that takes a very wide-angle view on one of the most enduring and dispiriting controversies in contemporary French society.
The show, “Veiled and Unveiled,” steps back from France’s contemporary obsession with Muslim women’s dress to consider the many uses of head coverings in public and private life. With more than 100 works of art, from classical antiquity to the present, it reveals how the veil can serve contrasting and sometimes contradictory purposes, whether to mourn or to seduce, to protect one’s body or to signify one’s allegiances.
The veil can be religious or secular, a marker of patriarchal dominance or individual distinction. Above all, the show insists that the veil is not at all a “foreign” incursion into Europe, a mistake made by both serious writers like Michel Houellebecq and by a motley collection of populists, extremists and out-and-out racists. It’s omnipresent in the art and literature of Europe and the Mediterranean — and rediscovering its place in antiquity and in all three major Western religions might take a bit of the sulfur out of this country’s fixation on head scarves.
Images and more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/arts ... 3053090629
An exhibition steps back from the country’s obsession with Muslim women’s dress to consider the many uses of head coverings throughout history.
BOURG-EN-BRESSE, France — Almost 500 years ago, in 1518 or 1519, the Flemish artist Bernard van Orley sat down to paint a portrait of Margaret of Austria, one of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe. At age 3, she was queen of France. At 27, she became regent of the Netherlands, and Van Orley painted Margaret as a sturdy, composed politician in a portrait that would be copied across Europe.
Her lips are pursed. Her hands are poised, a rosary between two fingers. She squints, as if analyzing something. On her head, framing a face as burnished as porcelain, is a supple white wimple. It arches from the crown of her head and encloses her ears and neck; it expresses her fidelity to her late husband and, what’s more, her claim to his political authority. All the validity of her rule lies in that veil. It is piety, and it is power.
Margaret is buried in the Monastère de Brou, a palatial mausoleum she ordered built here in Bourg-en-Bresse, about 280 miles southeast of Paris. And her example serves as the trigger for a sparky and rangy exhibition there that takes a very wide-angle view on one of the most enduring and dispiriting controversies in contemporary French society.
The show, “Veiled and Unveiled,” steps back from France’s contemporary obsession with Muslim women’s dress to consider the many uses of head coverings in public and private life. With more than 100 works of art, from classical antiquity to the present, it reveals how the veil can serve contrasting and sometimes contradictory purposes, whether to mourn or to seduce, to protect one’s body or to signify one’s allegiances.
The veil can be religious or secular, a marker of patriarchal dominance or individual distinction. Above all, the show insists that the veil is not at all a “foreign” incursion into Europe, a mistake made by both serious writers like Michel Houellebecq and by a motley collection of populists, extremists and out-and-out racists. It’s omnipresent in the art and literature of Europe and the Mediterranean — and rediscovering its place in antiquity and in all three major Western religions might take a bit of the sulfur out of this country’s fixation on head scarves.
Images and more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/arts ... 3053090629
Quebec education minister says Malala can teach here if she removes headscarf
Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said in a tweet Friday that if Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai wanted to teach in Quebec, it would be an honour, but like in other “open and tolerant countries, teachers can’t wear religious symbols while they exercise their functions.”
Roberge noted that’s the case in France, where the two were photographed together. They were taking part in planning meetings to discuss education during the G7 in France this coming August.
Roberge’s tweet was in response to a question by reporter Salim Nadim Valji over Twitter who asked, “Mr. Roberge, how would you respond if Mme Yousafzai wanted to become a teacher in Quebec?” The question came after Roberge posted a photo with Yousafzai to Twitter; in the caption, he said it was nice to meet her to discuss access to education.
Photo and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics ... ailsignout
Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said in a tweet Friday that if Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai wanted to teach in Quebec, it would be an honour, but like in other “open and tolerant countries, teachers can’t wear religious symbols while they exercise their functions.”
Roberge noted that’s the case in France, where the two were photographed together. They were taking part in planning meetings to discuss education during the G7 in France this coming August.
Roberge’s tweet was in response to a question by reporter Salim Nadim Valji over Twitter who asked, “Mr. Roberge, how would you respond if Mme Yousafzai wanted to become a teacher in Quebec?” The question came after Roberge posted a photo with Yousafzai to Twitter; in the caption, he said it was nice to meet her to discuss access to education.
Photo and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics ... ailsignout
Western governments are telling Muslim women not to cover up
State secularism and personal freedom clash over the hijab and the burkini
IN THE diverse democracies of the early 21st century, there are certain political and cultural issues that never go away. A political or judicial decision may settle things for a while, but so strong are the conflicting emotions that the flames can quickly flare up. One such issue is the attire of Muslim women, and how and if it should be limited by the state.
Take France, which regulates religious apparel, and religion generally, in a stricter way than any other democracy. The summer of 2016 was a torrid one for that country’s beaches, as many local authorities decreed bans on the burkini, a full-body swimsuit favoured by some Muslim women. After weeks of nasty seaside scenes, the country’s highest administrative court ruled that the bans were an unacceptable curb on liberty.
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https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/ ... a/269526/n
State secularism and personal freedom clash over the hijab and the burkini
IN THE diverse democracies of the early 21st century, there are certain political and cultural issues that never go away. A political or judicial decision may settle things for a while, but so strong are the conflicting emotions that the flames can quickly flare up. One such issue is the attire of Muslim women, and how and if it should be limited by the state.
Take France, which regulates religious apparel, and religion generally, in a stricter way than any other democracy. The summer of 2016 was a torrid one for that country’s beaches, as many local authorities decreed bans on the burkini, a full-body swimsuit favoured by some Muslim women. After weeks of nasty seaside scenes, the country’s highest administrative court ruled that the bans were an unacceptable curb on liberty.
More...
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/ ... a/269526/n
Meghan Markle Wears a Headscarf for Poignant Visit to Mosque in South Africa with Prince Harry
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are learning how South Africa’s legislative capital is bringing people together.
After a busy Tuesday morning that saw the couple visit a mental wellness group at Monwabisi Beach and Harry take a solo trip to Seal Island to learn about combating the poaching of abalone, Meghan and Harry visited the Auwal Mosque. It is the oldest mosque in South Africa, built in 1794 during British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope.
Meghan changed from a casual outfit (including a denim jacket) into an olive green maxi dress, which she wore with a cream-colored headscarf for the mosque visit.
During the outing, the royal couple viewed the first known manuscript of the Qu’ran in South Africa, drafted by Tuan Guru (first Imam) from memory while he was imprisoned on Robben Island. They then met members of different faith groups to learn about the work the mosque does to promote interfaith dialogue in Cape Town. The Auwul Mosque welcomes visitors of all denominations and hosts inter-faith dialogues to develop inter-communal and inter-faith understanding between South Africa’s varied communities.
Islam was first introduced in South Africa by exiled Muslim leaders and Cape Malay slaves in the late 1600-1700s. Prior to British occupation, slaves were not allowed to worship Islam. Today, for the Muslim community, the mosque symbolizes the freedom of former slaves to worship.
Photos, video and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/roy ... AHM1N6_1|1
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are learning how South Africa’s legislative capital is bringing people together.
After a busy Tuesday morning that saw the couple visit a mental wellness group at Monwabisi Beach and Harry take a solo trip to Seal Island to learn about combating the poaching of abalone, Meghan and Harry visited the Auwal Mosque. It is the oldest mosque in South Africa, built in 1794 during British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope.
Meghan changed from a casual outfit (including a denim jacket) into an olive green maxi dress, which she wore with a cream-colored headscarf for the mosque visit.
During the outing, the royal couple viewed the first known manuscript of the Qu’ran in South Africa, drafted by Tuan Guru (first Imam) from memory while he was imprisoned on Robben Island. They then met members of different faith groups to learn about the work the mosque does to promote interfaith dialogue in Cape Town. The Auwul Mosque welcomes visitors of all denominations and hosts inter-faith dialogues to develop inter-communal and inter-faith understanding between South Africa’s varied communities.
Islam was first introduced in South Africa by exiled Muslim leaders and Cape Malay slaves in the late 1600-1700s. Prior to British occupation, slaves were not allowed to worship Islam. Today, for the Muslim community, the mosque symbolizes the freedom of former slaves to worship.
Photos, video and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/roy ... AHM1N6_1|1
Muslim teen ‘humiliated’ after being disqualified from Ohio race for wearing hijab
Noor Alexandria Abukaram was elated when she ran a personal best time during a 5K in eastern Ohio last weekend.
When she made it to the finish line in 22 minutes and 22 seconds, she found out that she'd been disqualified.
Abukaram told the Huffington Post that officials said her hijab violated the uniform policy and her run wouldn't count.
"At first it was just so humiliating and then was huge disbelief," she said. "This has never happened to me."
The 16-year-old Sylvania Northview High School athlete told the publication that she'd competed in previous cross-country meets without any issue.
Now, she was being told she needed a signed waiver to approve religious headwear, something she'd never been asked for in all her years competing.
Photo and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/mu ... ailsignout
Noor Alexandria Abukaram was elated when she ran a personal best time during a 5K in eastern Ohio last weekend.
When she made it to the finish line in 22 minutes and 22 seconds, she found out that she'd been disqualified.
Abukaram told the Huffington Post that officials said her hijab violated the uniform policy and her run wouldn't count.
"At first it was just so humiliating and then was huge disbelief," she said. "This has never happened to me."
The 16-year-old Sylvania Northview High School athlete told the publication that she'd competed in previous cross-country meets without any issue.
Now, she was being told she needed a signed waiver to approve religious headwear, something she'd never been asked for in all her years competing.
Photo and more...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/mu ... ailsignout
'We will keep on fighting': Hijabi women devastated by Appeal Court decision to uphold Bill 21
Amal Sassi was counting on Quebec's highest court to suspend the province's controversial secularism law, so she kept her head buried in her books Thursday and focused on studying for her final exams.
When she stepped out and heard the news that the Court of Appeal had upheld Bill 21, Sassi was crushed to find out the justices had voted two to one against its suspension.
All three judges had serious criticisms of Bill 21, or the Laicity Act, acknowledging it causes "irreparable harm" to those affected, but the majority ruled the law should be allowed to stand until the constitutional challenges are heard in Quebec Superior Court.
That came as a huge disappointment to those those advocating against Bill 21, who say it's already having serious repercussions on the daily lives of people it affects.
"Some of us have all our future and life at stake for this," said Sassi, 32, who is in her second year studies to become an elementary school teacher. She moved to Quebec from Tunisia in 2017 to do just that.
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https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/w ... ailsignout
Amal Sassi was counting on Quebec's highest court to suspend the province's controversial secularism law, so she kept her head buried in her books Thursday and focused on studying for her final exams.
When she stepped out and heard the news that the Court of Appeal had upheld Bill 21, Sassi was crushed to find out the justices had voted two to one against its suspension.
All three judges had serious criticisms of Bill 21, or the Laicity Act, acknowledging it causes "irreparable harm" to those affected, but the majority ruled the law should be allowed to stand until the constitutional challenges are heard in Quebec Superior Court.
That came as a huge disappointment to those those advocating against Bill 21, who say it's already having serious repercussions on the daily lives of people it affects.
"Some of us have all our future and life at stake for this," said Sassi, 32, who is in her second year studies to become an elementary school teacher. She moved to Quebec from Tunisia in 2017 to do just that.
More...
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/w ... ailsignout
A Quebec Ban on Religious Symbols Upends Lives and Careers
Four women recount how Quebec’s new secularism law has changed their lives.
MONTREAL — A Muslim lawyer who wears a head scarf has put aside her aspiration to become a public prosecutor.
A Sikh teacher with a turban moved about 2,800 miles from Quebec to Vancouver, calling herself a “refugee in her own country.”
And an Orthodox Jewish teacher who wears a head kerchief is worried that she could be blocked from a promotion.
Since the Quebec government in June banned schoolteachers, police officers, prosecutors and other public sector employees from wearing religious symbols while at work, people like these three women have been grappling with the consequences.
François Legault, the right-leaning Quebec premier, says the law — which applies to Muslim head scarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps, Catholic crosses and other religious symbols — upholds the separation between religion and state, and maintains the neutrality of public sector workers. The government has stressed that the vast majority of Quebecers support the ban.
“I would not feel comfortable being faced with a judge or lawyer in court wearing a head scarf here, because I would worry about their neutrality,” said Radhia Ben Amor, a research coordinator at the University of Montreal, who is Muslim and said she moved from Tunisia to live in a more secular country.
But the law has prompted vocal protests and legal challenges, as well as condemnation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Critics say it flouts freedom of religion, breaches constitutional protections and excludes minorities who choose to wear symbols of faith from vital professions. They also say implementing the law will be fraught because it can be hard to discern a religious symbol from a fashion accessory or nonreligious garb.
Photos and more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/worl ... 778d3e6de3
Four women recount how Quebec’s new secularism law has changed their lives.
MONTREAL — A Muslim lawyer who wears a head scarf has put aside her aspiration to become a public prosecutor.
A Sikh teacher with a turban moved about 2,800 miles from Quebec to Vancouver, calling herself a “refugee in her own country.”
And an Orthodox Jewish teacher who wears a head kerchief is worried that she could be blocked from a promotion.
Since the Quebec government in June banned schoolteachers, police officers, prosecutors and other public sector employees from wearing religious symbols while at work, people like these three women have been grappling with the consequences.
François Legault, the right-leaning Quebec premier, says the law — which applies to Muslim head scarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps, Catholic crosses and other religious symbols — upholds the separation between religion and state, and maintains the neutrality of public sector workers. The government has stressed that the vast majority of Quebecers support the ban.
“I would not feel comfortable being faced with a judge or lawyer in court wearing a head scarf here, because I would worry about their neutrality,” said Radhia Ben Amor, a research coordinator at the University of Montreal, who is Muslim and said she moved from Tunisia to live in a more secular country.
But the law has prompted vocal protests and legal challenges, as well as condemnation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Critics say it flouts freedom of religion, breaches constitutional protections and excludes minorities who choose to wear symbols of faith from vital professions. They also say implementing the law will be fraught because it can be hard to discern a religious symbol from a fashion accessory or nonreligious garb.
Photos and more...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/worl ... 778d3e6de3
Swiss Voters Narrowly Approve a Ban on Face Coverings
The referendum forbids veils worn by Muslim women in public places, as well as ski masks donned by protesters.
GENEVA — Switzerland on Sunday became the latest European country to ban the wearing of face coverings in public places, prohibiting the veils worn by Muslim women.
Official results of the nationwide referendum showed 51.2 percent of voters supported the ban on full facial coverings, which was proposed by the populist, anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party (S.V.P.), compared with 48.8 percent opposing it, a much narrower margin of victory than pollsters had initially predicted.
The initiative, started long before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, makes exceptions for facial coverings worn at religious sites and for security or health purposes, but also bans coverings like the ski masks worn by protesters. Officials have two years to write legislation to put the ban into effect.
The federal government had urged voters to reject the ban as tackling a problem that didn’t exist and arguing that it would damage tourism.
Critics of the ban cited a study showing only some 30 women in Switzerland wear the veils and most of them were born in Switzerland and had converted to Islam. The only people seen wearing the burqa, a full head-to-toe covering, are visitors from the Middle East, mostly wealthy tourists from the Persian Gulf bringing welcome revenue to the country’s hospitality industry.
France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria ban face coverings, and opinion polls at the start of the year showed the Swiss initiative garnering the backing of around 65 percent of voters, but the gap narrowed quickly as liberals and women’s groups pushed back against a ban they condemned as racist, Islamophobic and sexist.
The Swiss People’s Party has “always profited from campaigning against minorities, and feel they have to keep doing it,” said Elena Michel, a manager of a campaign against the ban for Operation Libero, an activist group supporting liberal causes. “In the end all our freedoms are at stake. If we open that door, it shows a tendency that it’s OK to take away the fundamental rights of minorities.”
Switzerland’s Central Council of Muslims called the result of the vote “a dark day” for Muslims and issued a statement saying, “Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority.”
The proposal put forward by the Swiss People’s Party, the country’s largest, did not mention Islam or niqabs and burqas — veils traditionally worn by Muslim women — calling instead for a ban on “full facial covering.” But the party left no doubt as to whom it was targeting.
Menacing campaign posters depicting a black-garbed woman scowling from behind her veil carried the slogan “Stop Extremism!”
The initiative evoked memories of a successful 2009 campaign by the S.V.P. to ban the construction of minarets, the towers from which mosques traditionally broadcast the call to prayers. Switzerland had three minarets at the time but the party challenged such architecture as alien to the Alpine nation’s culture and landscape, and hammered home the message with posters depicting minarets as missiles.
The S.V.P. framed its campaign leading up to Sunday’s vote as part of a “war of civilizations” in which it was defending Switzerland against “the Islamization of Europe and our country.”
To win support from other parts of the political spectrum, the party also framed the initiative as liberating women from religious oppression and said it would help the police deal with hooligans in street protests and at sporting events.
Some liberal-leaning Muslims supported the ban.
“What the full veil represents is unacceptable; it is the cancellation of women from public space,” Saïda Keller-Messahli, president of the Forum for a Progressive Islam, told Swiss media.
Social commentators say Switzerland’s 400,000 Muslims, who make up around 5.5 percent of the population, are better integrated than those in France or Germany.
Some who campaigned against the ban called the outcome better than expected.
“We lost the battle but not the war,” said Ines el-Shikh, a Muslim and co-founder of the Violet Scarves, a feminist group, who celebrated the sharp drop in support for the ban. “This is huge. It shows the power that feminism as an organized movement can bring to public debate.”
Others said they feared the outcome would merely stoke the politics of division and fuel anti-Muslim sentiment.
“Things are going in a bad direction and this is going to make them worse,” Sanija Ameti, a political activist and member of the Green Liberals Party, said. “That frightens me.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/worl ... iversified
The referendum forbids veils worn by Muslim women in public places, as well as ski masks donned by protesters.
GENEVA — Switzerland on Sunday became the latest European country to ban the wearing of face coverings in public places, prohibiting the veils worn by Muslim women.
Official results of the nationwide referendum showed 51.2 percent of voters supported the ban on full facial coverings, which was proposed by the populist, anti-immigrant Swiss People’s Party (S.V.P.), compared with 48.8 percent opposing it, a much narrower margin of victory than pollsters had initially predicted.
The initiative, started long before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, makes exceptions for facial coverings worn at religious sites and for security or health purposes, but also bans coverings like the ski masks worn by protesters. Officials have two years to write legislation to put the ban into effect.
The federal government had urged voters to reject the ban as tackling a problem that didn’t exist and arguing that it would damage tourism.
Critics of the ban cited a study showing only some 30 women in Switzerland wear the veils and most of them were born in Switzerland and had converted to Islam. The only people seen wearing the burqa, a full head-to-toe covering, are visitors from the Middle East, mostly wealthy tourists from the Persian Gulf bringing welcome revenue to the country’s hospitality industry.
France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria ban face coverings, and opinion polls at the start of the year showed the Swiss initiative garnering the backing of around 65 percent of voters, but the gap narrowed quickly as liberals and women’s groups pushed back against a ban they condemned as racist, Islamophobic and sexist.
The Swiss People’s Party has “always profited from campaigning against minorities, and feel they have to keep doing it,” said Elena Michel, a manager of a campaign against the ban for Operation Libero, an activist group supporting liberal causes. “In the end all our freedoms are at stake. If we open that door, it shows a tendency that it’s OK to take away the fundamental rights of minorities.”
Switzerland’s Central Council of Muslims called the result of the vote “a dark day” for Muslims and issued a statement saying, “Today’s decision opens old wounds, further expands the principle of legal inequality, and sends a clear signal of exclusion to the Muslim minority.”
The proposal put forward by the Swiss People’s Party, the country’s largest, did not mention Islam or niqabs and burqas — veils traditionally worn by Muslim women — calling instead for a ban on “full facial covering.” But the party left no doubt as to whom it was targeting.
Menacing campaign posters depicting a black-garbed woman scowling from behind her veil carried the slogan “Stop Extremism!”
The initiative evoked memories of a successful 2009 campaign by the S.V.P. to ban the construction of minarets, the towers from which mosques traditionally broadcast the call to prayers. Switzerland had three minarets at the time but the party challenged such architecture as alien to the Alpine nation’s culture and landscape, and hammered home the message with posters depicting minarets as missiles.
The S.V.P. framed its campaign leading up to Sunday’s vote as part of a “war of civilizations” in which it was defending Switzerland against “the Islamization of Europe and our country.”
To win support from other parts of the political spectrum, the party also framed the initiative as liberating women from religious oppression and said it would help the police deal with hooligans in street protests and at sporting events.
Some liberal-leaning Muslims supported the ban.
“What the full veil represents is unacceptable; it is the cancellation of women from public space,” Saïda Keller-Messahli, president of the Forum for a Progressive Islam, told Swiss media.
Social commentators say Switzerland’s 400,000 Muslims, who make up around 5.5 percent of the population, are better integrated than those in France or Germany.
Some who campaigned against the ban called the outcome better than expected.
“We lost the battle but not the war,” said Ines el-Shikh, a Muslim and co-founder of the Violet Scarves, a feminist group, who celebrated the sharp drop in support for the ban. “This is huge. It shows the power that feminism as an organized movement can bring to public debate.”
Others said they feared the outcome would merely stoke the politics of division and fuel anti-Muslim sentiment.
“Things are going in a bad direction and this is going to make them worse,” Sanija Ameti, a political activist and member of the Green Liberals Party, said. “That frightens me.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/worl ... iversified
Sri Lanka to ban burqa, shut many Islamic schools, minister says
Waruna Karunatilake
Reuters Sat, March 13, 2021, 3:44 AM
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country's minority Muslim population.
Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on "national security" grounds.
"In our early days Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa," he said. "It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently. We are definitely going to ban it."
The wearing of the burqa in the majority-Buddhist nation was temporarily banned in 2019 after the bombing of churches and hotels by Islamic militants that killed more than 250.
Later that year, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, best known for crushing a decades-long insurgency in the north of the country as defence secretary, was elected president after promising a crackdown on extremism.
Rajapaksa is accused of widespread rights abuses during the war, charges he denies.
Weerasekera said the government plans to ban more than a thousand madrassa Islamic schools that he said were flouting national education policy.
"Nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children," he said.
The government's moves on burqas and schools follow an order last year mandating the cremation of COVID-19 victims - against the wishes of Muslims, who bury their dead.
This ban was lifted earlier this year after criticism from the United States and international rights groups.
(Reporting by Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by William Mallard)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sr ... 02783.html
Waruna Karunatilake
Reuters Sat, March 13, 2021, 3:44 AM
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country's minority Muslim population.
Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on "national security" grounds.
"In our early days Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa," he said. "It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently. We are definitely going to ban it."
The wearing of the burqa in the majority-Buddhist nation was temporarily banned in 2019 after the bombing of churches and hotels by Islamic militants that killed more than 250.
Later that year, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, best known for crushing a decades-long insurgency in the north of the country as defence secretary, was elected president after promising a crackdown on extremism.
Rajapaksa is accused of widespread rights abuses during the war, charges he denies.
Weerasekera said the government plans to ban more than a thousand madrassa Islamic schools that he said were flouting national education policy.
"Nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children," he said.
The government's moves on burqas and schools follow an order last year mandating the cremation of COVID-19 victims - against the wishes of Muslims, who bury their dead.
This ban was lifted earlier this year after criticism from the United States and international rights groups.
(Reporting by Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by William Mallard)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sr ... 02783.html
I became a hijabi as a 30-year-old mom. I wasn't prepared for what came next
Putting on this sign of faith has made me rethink how to raise my daughter
Before I wore the hijab, I realized I held a certain privilege because I could blend into Canadian society, writes Nabeeha Naqvi. Now, it’s making me rethink how I raise my daughter. (Ben Shannon/CBC)
This is a First Person column by Nabeeha Naqvi who lives in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
When I first held my newborn daughter in my arms, I felt a seismic shift in my priorities.
Although I was a practising Muslim who prayed daily, fasted for Ramadan and ate only halal, I didn't wear the hijab and I hadn't seriously considered it until then. With my daughter, I realized that as a Canadian citizen, she might not be as exposed to her culture or heritage if she didn't see it in practice. So I decided to lead by example and started wearing the hijab — the head covering worn by many Muslim women.
I made the decision because of how motherhood made me feel about my faith. But I hadn't realized how pivotal that decision would be for my daughter or myself — and also how it would impact the way the world saw me now.
Most Muslim women, if they choose to wear the hijab, put it on after puberty. However, I was a 30-year-old mother who committed to becoming a hijabi (someone who wears the hijab). My mother and aunts do not wear the hijab so there weren't any older women in my family to share their experience of what it is actually like to wear a hijab with me.
But I was not worried about my decision because I had not experienced any blatant discrimination while growing up in the Greater Toronto Area, living in the Prairies or working in a small town until that point. I was academically successful, financially well off and didn't speak with an obvious accent. Perhaps that is why I was completely caught off guard when I was targeted after donning the hijab.
I was walking in downtown Toronto on my way to work when a man crossing over from the other side of the intersection muttered, "The Qur'an is only a minor book in the universe."
There was no one else besides me at this intersection. Why would this person feel the urge to say something out loud that would be clearly offensive to a Muslim? My hijabi friends were not even surprised when I shared this with them.
It wasn't like I was unaware of the discrimination the Muslim community can face, but whenever I would come across such stories, I would chalk it up to the location (The U.S. has always been more politically polarized) or the time (Muslims faced increased backlash after 9/11) or dismiss it as isolated incidents. Until it happened again to me. And then again. This time I was driving out of a grocery store parking lot and had my car window down when a man yelled from his car, "Coke is not haram!"
Such incidents are jarring because it's made me aware that I enjoyed a certain privilege since I could blend in before I wore the hijab.
Now, even though I'm the same person who loves Netflix shows and potato chips, the world sees me differently. I am first and foremost a Muslim to them, even to others in my community.
Nabeeha Naqvi is a health-care worker in the Greater Toronto Area and is learning the ups and downs of parenthood as a Muslim in Canada. (Nabeeha Naqvi)
One time, I came across a hijabi student who wasn't feeling well and was trying to nap on a small bench in one of the quieter areas of the hospital where I worked. She visibly relaxed when she saw me and even asked me to check if she was running a temperature. Another time, a Muslim man asked me in the elevator line up if there was a prayer room in the hospital. I know those encounters would likely not have happened if I was not wearing the hijab and I appreciate this acknowledgement and trust shown in me.
I also feel the responsibility of representing a "good" Muslim image. For example, I am careful not to use crude language in public, even with friends and family. And I am more aware of my surroundings to avoid unnecessary attention.
I am glad to know all of this because now I can parent my daughter differently. I want her to wear the hijab, and I hope that by seeing me choose to wear it, she will want to do the same.
If she complains that it's hard being a hijabi because people assume she's oppressed or an extremist, I can actually relate to her — and let her know why she should still choose to wear it.
Like other parents bringing up daughters in the era of social media likes, I want my daughter to know that regardless of her hair, skin colour, size or how bad her teenage acne is, it's her intelligence, kindness and generosity that truly matters. Being pretty may win the popularity contest, but life-long friendships are based on mutual respect and appreciation of each other's inner qualities and not outward markers of faith like the hijab.
I worry about the message some hijabi social media influencers send when they take off their hijab perhaps because of the pressure they might feel to assimilate. I want my daughter to have hijabi role models, and representation matters. For us, it starts at home.
I hope when she sees that her mother has a fulfilling career, loving marriage, and supportive friends, she will know that the happy, thriving Muslim woman is not a myth.
Nabeeha Naqvi is a health-care worker in the Greater Toronto Area and is learning the ups and downs of parenthood as a Muslim in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/first-pe ... -1.6263314
Putting on this sign of faith has made me rethink how to raise my daughter
Before I wore the hijab, I realized I held a certain privilege because I could blend into Canadian society, writes Nabeeha Naqvi. Now, it’s making me rethink how I raise my daughter. (Ben Shannon/CBC)
This is a First Person column by Nabeeha Naqvi who lives in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
When I first held my newborn daughter in my arms, I felt a seismic shift in my priorities.
Although I was a practising Muslim who prayed daily, fasted for Ramadan and ate only halal, I didn't wear the hijab and I hadn't seriously considered it until then. With my daughter, I realized that as a Canadian citizen, she might not be as exposed to her culture or heritage if she didn't see it in practice. So I decided to lead by example and started wearing the hijab — the head covering worn by many Muslim women.
I made the decision because of how motherhood made me feel about my faith. But I hadn't realized how pivotal that decision would be for my daughter or myself — and also how it would impact the way the world saw me now.
Most Muslim women, if they choose to wear the hijab, put it on after puberty. However, I was a 30-year-old mother who committed to becoming a hijabi (someone who wears the hijab). My mother and aunts do not wear the hijab so there weren't any older women in my family to share their experience of what it is actually like to wear a hijab with me.
But I was not worried about my decision because I had not experienced any blatant discrimination while growing up in the Greater Toronto Area, living in the Prairies or working in a small town until that point. I was academically successful, financially well off and didn't speak with an obvious accent. Perhaps that is why I was completely caught off guard when I was targeted after donning the hijab.
I was walking in downtown Toronto on my way to work when a man crossing over from the other side of the intersection muttered, "The Qur'an is only a minor book in the universe."
There was no one else besides me at this intersection. Why would this person feel the urge to say something out loud that would be clearly offensive to a Muslim? My hijabi friends were not even surprised when I shared this with them.
It wasn't like I was unaware of the discrimination the Muslim community can face, but whenever I would come across such stories, I would chalk it up to the location (The U.S. has always been more politically polarized) or the time (Muslims faced increased backlash after 9/11) or dismiss it as isolated incidents. Until it happened again to me. And then again. This time I was driving out of a grocery store parking lot and had my car window down when a man yelled from his car, "Coke is not haram!"
Such incidents are jarring because it's made me aware that I enjoyed a certain privilege since I could blend in before I wore the hijab.
Now, even though I'm the same person who loves Netflix shows and potato chips, the world sees me differently. I am first and foremost a Muslim to them, even to others in my community.
Nabeeha Naqvi is a health-care worker in the Greater Toronto Area and is learning the ups and downs of parenthood as a Muslim in Canada. (Nabeeha Naqvi)
One time, I came across a hijabi student who wasn't feeling well and was trying to nap on a small bench in one of the quieter areas of the hospital where I worked. She visibly relaxed when she saw me and even asked me to check if she was running a temperature. Another time, a Muslim man asked me in the elevator line up if there was a prayer room in the hospital. I know those encounters would likely not have happened if I was not wearing the hijab and I appreciate this acknowledgement and trust shown in me.
I also feel the responsibility of representing a "good" Muslim image. For example, I am careful not to use crude language in public, even with friends and family. And I am more aware of my surroundings to avoid unnecessary attention.
I am glad to know all of this because now I can parent my daughter differently. I want her to wear the hijab, and I hope that by seeing me choose to wear it, she will want to do the same.
If she complains that it's hard being a hijabi because people assume she's oppressed or an extremist, I can actually relate to her — and let her know why she should still choose to wear it.
Like other parents bringing up daughters in the era of social media likes, I want my daughter to know that regardless of her hair, skin colour, size or how bad her teenage acne is, it's her intelligence, kindness and generosity that truly matters. Being pretty may win the popularity contest, but life-long friendships are based on mutual respect and appreciation of each other's inner qualities and not outward markers of faith like the hijab.
I worry about the message some hijabi social media influencers send when they take off their hijab perhaps because of the pressure they might feel to assimilate. I want my daughter to have hijabi role models, and representation matters. For us, it starts at home.
I hope when she sees that her mother has a fulfilling career, loving marriage, and supportive friends, she will know that the happy, thriving Muslim woman is not a myth.
Nabeeha Naqvi is a health-care worker in the Greater Toronto Area and is learning the ups and downs of parenthood as a Muslim in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/first-pe ... -1.6263314
Saudi crown prince says abaya not necessary
‘Women should decide what type of clothing she should wear as long as it is decent and respectful’
Riyadh: Women in Saudi Arabia need not wear headcover or the black abaya — the loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of Islamic piety — as long as their attire is “decent and respectful”, the kingdom’s reform-minded crown prince said.
With the ascent to power of young Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the country has seen an expansion in women’s rights including a decision to allow women to attend mixed public sporting events and the right to drive cars from this summer.
The changes have been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend towards modernisation in the traditionally conservative country.
“The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of sharia (Islamic law): that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men,” Mohammad said in an interview with CBS television aired late on Sunday.
“This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover. The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”
A senior cleric said last month that women should dress modestly, but this did not necessitate wearing the abaya.
It remains unclear if these statements signal a change in the enforcement of women’s dress code in the country.
Saudi Arabia has no written legal code to go with the texts making up sharia, and police and judiciary have long enforced a strict dress code requiring Saudi women to wear abayas and in many cases to cover their hair and faces.
But the country has witnessed a bold new climate of social freedoms with the rise of the 32-year-old crown prince to power after decades of elderly rulers.
Saudi women have started wearing more colorful abayas in recent years, the light blues and pinks in stark contrast with the traditional black.
Open abayas over long skirts or jeans are also becoming more common in some parts of the country.
On March 8, a group of women in the Saudi city of Jeddah marked International Women’s Day by exercising one of their newly acquired freedoms: the right to go for a jog, paying no heed to bemused onlookers.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/s ... -1.2190993
‘Women should decide what type of clothing she should wear as long as it is decent and respectful’
Riyadh: Women in Saudi Arabia need not wear headcover or the black abaya — the loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of Islamic piety — as long as their attire is “decent and respectful”, the kingdom’s reform-minded crown prince said.
With the ascent to power of young Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the country has seen an expansion in women’s rights including a decision to allow women to attend mixed public sporting events and the right to drive cars from this summer.
The changes have been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend towards modernisation in the traditionally conservative country.
“The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of sharia (Islamic law): that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men,” Mohammad said in an interview with CBS television aired late on Sunday.
“This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover. The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”
A senior cleric said last month that women should dress modestly, but this did not necessitate wearing the abaya.
It remains unclear if these statements signal a change in the enforcement of women’s dress code in the country.
Saudi Arabia has no written legal code to go with the texts making up sharia, and police and judiciary have long enforced a strict dress code requiring Saudi women to wear abayas and in many cases to cover their hair and faces.
But the country has witnessed a bold new climate of social freedoms with the rise of the 32-year-old crown prince to power after decades of elderly rulers.
Saudi women have started wearing more colorful abayas in recent years, the light blues and pinks in stark contrast with the traditional black.
Open abayas over long skirts or jeans are also becoming more common in some parts of the country.
On March 8, a group of women in the Saudi city of Jeddah marked International Women’s Day by exercising one of their newly acquired freedoms: the right to go for a jog, paying no heed to bemused onlookers.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/s ... -1.2190993
BBC
Udupi hijab issue: The Indian girls fighting to wear hijab in college
Imran Qureshi - BBC Hindi
Fri, January 21, 2022, 7:06 PM
A debate over the hijab - a headscarf worn by Muslim women - has caused a stand-off at a women's college in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Six teenage students - at a government-run pre-university college, equivalent to a high school - have alleged that they have been barred from classes for weeks because they insist on wearing a hijab.
The college says it has only asked the students to remove the hijab inside the classroom - they can still wear it around the campus. The six girls wear the college uniform - a loose tunic with pants and a shawl - but say they should also be allowed to cover their hair.
"We have a few male teachers. We need to cover our hair before men. That is why we wear a hijab," Almas AH, one of the students, told BBC Hindi.
It's not unusual to see women wearing hijabs and burkas - which cover the face and body - in India, where public displays of faith are commonplace. But an increasingly polarised atmosphere in recent years has led to minorities - Muslims and Christians - feeling threatened.
Beaten and humiliated for being a Muslim in India
The women facing rape threats on Clubhouse
And this particular row is unfolding in Udupi, one of three districts in Karnataka's communally sensitive coastal belt. Commentators often describe the region - a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing BJP - as a laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics. The BJP is also in power in Karnataka.
Repeated instances of vigilantism and hate speech against Muslims in the area have deepened religious faultlines and led to the rise of vocal minority-led groups that assert their right to religious freedom.
In this case, for instance, the college said the issue is further complicated by the involvement of Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic group, Popular Front of India. Ms Almas said she was not a member of CFI but contacted the organisation when the college stopped them from attending classes.
The college is now at the centre of a storm
"I have called for a report on the issue," Karnataka state education minister BC Nagesh said. "It's basically politics. All this is happening because elections are due next year," Mr Nagesh added, referring to attempts by the Popular Front of India's political wing to gain traction in the coastal belt.
Ms Almas said when they tried to wear the hijab in their first year at the college, they were told that their parents had signed a form that prevented them from doing so.
The pandemic then kept students away from college for months - during this time, said Ms Almas, they realised that the form only mentioned a compulsory uniform and said nothing about a hijab.
At the end of December, when they returned to college wearing headscarves, they were not allowed to enter the classroom, she said.
College principal Rudre Gowda alleged that the six women were deliberately creating problems and that the rest of the Muslim students - around 70 - had no objections to the rule.
He said that initially, around a dozen women wanted to wear the hijab, but the number reduced after he spoke to their parents.
"All we are saying is that when their classes begin, they should remove the hijab," he said.
It is not unusual to see women students with headscarves in India
He added that it was necessary for the teacher to see the student's face, and that the uniform helped them ensure there was no discrimination among students.
"There is no rule in any book or document that the hijab is banned. We have only been told that if it is permitted, others will demand to wear saffron shawls," said Masood Manna, a CFI leader.
Mr Manna was referring to a recent incident in another Karnataka district where a government college banned both saffron scarves - the colour is seen as a Hindu symbol - and hijabs on campus. Muslim women are allowed to cover their heads with scarves but not to fasten it with pins.
A 2018 judgment by a court in neighbouring Kerala state upheld the rights of an educational institution over that of an individual in a case filed by two Muslim school students. Their school had rejected a request for them to wear a headscarf and a long-sleeved shirt.
Justice A Muhamed Mustaque had ruled that the essence of liberty meant that an individual's interest must yield to the larger interest.
"If the management is not given [a] free hand to administer and manage the institution that would denude their fundamental right," he wrote.
But senior advocate Kaleeswaran Raj told BBC Hindi that the judgment treated the rights of the students and the management as competing against each other, which wasn't correct.
"Either you have a right or you don't have a right. It is something that the Constitution protects going by the spirit of Article 25 [which guarantees religious freedom]," he said.
Mr Raj said that it was reasonable for a teacher to want to observe a student's facial expression to gauge whether they were following the lessons.
"But the management cannot insist that it won't allow students to cover their hair to maintain uniformity. This is not permitted by the Constitution. This issue will likely be resolved in a court of law" he added.
Several meetings between college officials, government representatives and the protesting students have failed to resolve the issue.
Mr Gowda meanwhile has alleged that the girls are using social media to gain sympathy - he said they often arrive at college after the gates have closed and take photos of themselves, some of which have gone viral.
Ms Almas denied this, and said that a recent viral photo of them sitting on the college stairs was taken to counter a news report that said they were being permitted to attend classes.
"We all go to college every day despite not being allowed inside the class so that later we are not told we don't have adequate attendance [to sit for exams]."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ud ... 19816.html
Udupi hijab issue: The Indian girls fighting to wear hijab in college
Imran Qureshi - BBC Hindi
Fri, January 21, 2022, 7:06 PM
A debate over the hijab - a headscarf worn by Muslim women - has caused a stand-off at a women's college in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Six teenage students - at a government-run pre-university college, equivalent to a high school - have alleged that they have been barred from classes for weeks because they insist on wearing a hijab.
The college says it has only asked the students to remove the hijab inside the classroom - they can still wear it around the campus. The six girls wear the college uniform - a loose tunic with pants and a shawl - but say they should also be allowed to cover their hair.
"We have a few male teachers. We need to cover our hair before men. That is why we wear a hijab," Almas AH, one of the students, told BBC Hindi.
It's not unusual to see women wearing hijabs and burkas - which cover the face and body - in India, where public displays of faith are commonplace. But an increasingly polarised atmosphere in recent years has led to minorities - Muslims and Christians - feeling threatened.
Beaten and humiliated for being a Muslim in India
The women facing rape threats on Clubhouse
And this particular row is unfolding in Udupi, one of three districts in Karnataka's communally sensitive coastal belt. Commentators often describe the region - a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing BJP - as a laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics. The BJP is also in power in Karnataka.
Repeated instances of vigilantism and hate speech against Muslims in the area have deepened religious faultlines and led to the rise of vocal minority-led groups that assert their right to religious freedom.
In this case, for instance, the college said the issue is further complicated by the involvement of Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic group, Popular Front of India. Ms Almas said she was not a member of CFI but contacted the organisation when the college stopped them from attending classes.
The college is now at the centre of a storm
"I have called for a report on the issue," Karnataka state education minister BC Nagesh said. "It's basically politics. All this is happening because elections are due next year," Mr Nagesh added, referring to attempts by the Popular Front of India's political wing to gain traction in the coastal belt.
Ms Almas said when they tried to wear the hijab in their first year at the college, they were told that their parents had signed a form that prevented them from doing so.
The pandemic then kept students away from college for months - during this time, said Ms Almas, they realised that the form only mentioned a compulsory uniform and said nothing about a hijab.
At the end of December, when they returned to college wearing headscarves, they were not allowed to enter the classroom, she said.
College principal Rudre Gowda alleged that the six women were deliberately creating problems and that the rest of the Muslim students - around 70 - had no objections to the rule.
He said that initially, around a dozen women wanted to wear the hijab, but the number reduced after he spoke to their parents.
"All we are saying is that when their classes begin, they should remove the hijab," he said.
It is not unusual to see women students with headscarves in India
He added that it was necessary for the teacher to see the student's face, and that the uniform helped them ensure there was no discrimination among students.
"There is no rule in any book or document that the hijab is banned. We have only been told that if it is permitted, others will demand to wear saffron shawls," said Masood Manna, a CFI leader.
Mr Manna was referring to a recent incident in another Karnataka district where a government college banned both saffron scarves - the colour is seen as a Hindu symbol - and hijabs on campus. Muslim women are allowed to cover their heads with scarves but not to fasten it with pins.
A 2018 judgment by a court in neighbouring Kerala state upheld the rights of an educational institution over that of an individual in a case filed by two Muslim school students. Their school had rejected a request for them to wear a headscarf and a long-sleeved shirt.
Justice A Muhamed Mustaque had ruled that the essence of liberty meant that an individual's interest must yield to the larger interest.
"If the management is not given [a] free hand to administer and manage the institution that would denude their fundamental right," he wrote.
But senior advocate Kaleeswaran Raj told BBC Hindi that the judgment treated the rights of the students and the management as competing against each other, which wasn't correct.
"Either you have a right or you don't have a right. It is something that the Constitution protects going by the spirit of Article 25 [which guarantees religious freedom]," he said.
Mr Raj said that it was reasonable for a teacher to want to observe a student's facial expression to gauge whether they were following the lessons.
"But the management cannot insist that it won't allow students to cover their hair to maintain uniformity. This is not permitted by the Constitution. This issue will likely be resolved in a court of law" he added.
Several meetings between college officials, government representatives and the protesting students have failed to resolve the issue.
Mr Gowda meanwhile has alleged that the girls are using social media to gain sympathy - he said they often arrive at college after the gates have closed and take photos of themselves, some of which have gone viral.
Ms Almas denied this, and said that a recent viral photo of them sitting on the college stairs was taken to counter a news report that said they were being permitted to attend classes.
"We all go to college every day despite not being allowed inside the class so that later we are not told we don't have adequate attendance [to sit for exams]."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ud ... 19816.html
Re: Hejab
The Telegraph
Iran’s ambassador to UK dismissed after hosting ‘un-Islamic’ party at embassy
Ahmed Vahdat
Sun, February 27, 2022, 11:16 AM
Iran’s ambassador to the UK has been dismissed after hosting an “un-Islamic” party which featured a British singer and a female pianist who was not wearing a hijab.
Mohsen Baharvand hosted the party at the country’s embassy in Kensington, west London, to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. After a video of the event emerged on social media, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, summoned Mr Baharvand back to Tehran.
The footage, posted on social media, shows the ambassador at a reception attended by Iranian and foreign guests while a female pianist, who is not wearing a hijab, plays alongside a violinist.
Fars news agency, which has close links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, condemned the “mixed party” as “insulting and far from the principles of the Islamic Revolution which has caused a great deal of anger among the pious Iranians”.
Mr Abdollahian has faced criticism for the selection of ambassadors he has appointed, with some hardliners viewing them as too “liberal and pro-Western”.
The Basij student union at Iran foreign ministry’s faculty of international relations wrote to Mr Abdollahian and demanded the sacking of Mr Baharvand.
“This incident must act as a wake-up call for the top officials of our foreign ministry to avoid any further such happenings by reprimanding those responsible for this breach of our revolutionary principles," the union said.
Mr Abdollahian has repeatedly signalled to Iranian dual nationals that his ministry is keen to facilitate their safe return to Iran so they can use their expertise and wealth to invest in the country's progress, without the fear of being taken hostage.
Mr Baharvand had been the ambassador to Britain for less than four months before the party on Feb 11. He previously served as a legal affairs deputy to Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister.
Mr Baharvand’s exit comes at a critical time for Iran’s relations with Western countries. Months of negotiations with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal are due to reach the final stage with Western diplomats expecting an outcome within days. Iran’s chief negotiator returned to Vienna this weekend.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ir ... 57019.html
Iran’s ambassador to UK dismissed after hosting ‘un-Islamic’ party at embassy
Ahmed Vahdat
Sun, February 27, 2022, 11:16 AM
Iran’s ambassador to the UK has been dismissed after hosting an “un-Islamic” party which featured a British singer and a female pianist who was not wearing a hijab.
Mohsen Baharvand hosted the party at the country’s embassy in Kensington, west London, to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. After a video of the event emerged on social media, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, summoned Mr Baharvand back to Tehran.
The footage, posted on social media, shows the ambassador at a reception attended by Iranian and foreign guests while a female pianist, who is not wearing a hijab, plays alongside a violinist.
Fars news agency, which has close links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, condemned the “mixed party” as “insulting and far from the principles of the Islamic Revolution which has caused a great deal of anger among the pious Iranians”.
Mr Abdollahian has faced criticism for the selection of ambassadors he has appointed, with some hardliners viewing them as too “liberal and pro-Western”.
The Basij student union at Iran foreign ministry’s faculty of international relations wrote to Mr Abdollahian and demanded the sacking of Mr Baharvand.
“This incident must act as a wake-up call for the top officials of our foreign ministry to avoid any further such happenings by reprimanding those responsible for this breach of our revolutionary principles," the union said.
Mr Abdollahian has repeatedly signalled to Iranian dual nationals that his ministry is keen to facilitate their safe return to Iran so they can use their expertise and wealth to invest in the country's progress, without the fear of being taken hostage.
Mr Baharvand had been the ambassador to Britain for less than four months before the party on Feb 11. He previously served as a legal affairs deputy to Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister.
Mr Baharvand’s exit comes at a critical time for Iran’s relations with Western countries. Months of negotiations with world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal are due to reach the final stage with Western diplomats expecting an outcome within days. Iran’s chief negotiator returned to Vienna this weekend.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ir ... 57019.html
Re: Hejab
Indian Court Upholds Ban on Hijabs in Schools
One school’s initial ban set off unrest and violence that spread to other schools in the southern state of Karnataka.
A top court in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Tuesday upheld a government order banning Muslim girls from wearing head scarves inside schools, a ruling that is likely to heighten tensions at a time when India is increasingly polarized along religious lines.
The court said that wearing the hijab is not part of essential religious practice under Islam. The ruling came at a time when members of India’s minority community are increasingly coming under attack as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted Hindu-first policies.
Religious freedom is protected under the country’s Constitution, but there has been a proliferation of religious-based hate crimes, particularly against members of the Muslim community. Their members and right-wing Hindu activists have also been clashing at school campuses around Karnataka.
The dispute began in September at a college preparatory school for girls in Udupi, a city in southwestern Karnataka, when teachers there barred several Muslim students from entering their classrooms while wearing hijabs.
In previous years, head scarves had not been a problem, according to one of the petitioners who sought to overturn the ban. The school’s ban, later affirmed by the state government, set off unrest and violence that spread to other schools in the state, prompting the government to close down schools for days.
When the students defied the ban, they were met at the campus by scores of boys wearing saffron, the color most associated with Hinduism, and shouting slogans like “Hail Lord Ram,” a major Hindu god.
Several of the students’ parents filed a petition, which the judges considered before their ruling. The three judges heard arguments from lawyers to overturn the hijab ban, while students’ lawyers argued that it violated the girls’ right to an education and their freedom of religion. India’s Constitution affirms “the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.”
The court previously issued an intermediate order preventing students from wearing any religious garb, including saffron shawls, until the decision on Tuesday.
Pralhad Joshi, a federal minister of parliamentary affairs, welcomed the court’s decision, which is likely to affect thousands of hijab-wearing students in Karnataka, saying that the “basic work of the students is to study.”
Mr. Joshi also told the Indian news agency ANI, “Everyone has to maintain peace by accepting the order of the high court.”
In recent weeks, the restrictions on students wearing head scarves had become a flash point over minority rights in India. Critics of Mr. Modi say his Bharatiya Janata Party is increasingly taking steps to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims, one of the largest Muslim populations in the world.
Right-wing Hindu monks have made calls for other Hindus to arm themselves and kill Muslims. And there has been a rise in violence against Muslims in India under Mr. Modi, part of a broader shift in which minorities feel less safe.
Recently, a prominent Muslim member of Parliament survived an apparent assassination attempt while campaigning in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. After the police arrested two people accused of shooting at the lawmaker’s vehicle, members of Mr. Modi’s party visited the home of a suspect and declared him innocent.
Karnataka, where the hijab controversy is playing out, is controlled by Mr. Modi’s party. The students’ protest there has inspired Muslim women to march elsewhere in India for their right to wear head scarves and other Islamic clothing.
“The hijab is not a moment where liberty or equality are being tested,” wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a columnist for The Indian Express. “It is coming when there is an attempt to visibly erase Muslims from India’s public culture.”
Karnataka residents said some Muslim women wearing head scarves have been prevented from entering shops or have been chided on public transportation. In another state, a hijab-wearing woman was not allowed to withdraw cash from a bank, Indian news media reported.
“When you board a bus, everyone starts staring at you,” said Huzaifa Kulsum, a homemaker in Karnataka who said she had worn the hijab since childhood. “It seems suddenly everyone is interested in knowing why we wear it.”
Video footage at some schools in Karnataka showed Muslim students and teachers being directed to remove head coverings before entering the campus. Many parents instead chose not to have their children attend the school.
On Tuesday, the authorities in Karnataka closed schools and colleges for a day and police officers were seen patrolling the streets. Before the court ruling, the regional government banned large gatherings for a week in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state, in order “to maintain public peace and order.”
The girls who had petitioned the court have decided that they will appeal the ban to India’s top court, according to their lawyer, Anas Tanwir.
Aiman Mohiuddin, a student who was among those barred from wearing the hijab at Rotary School in Mandya, a city in Karnataka, said before the verdict that she had felt as if someone was chopping off part of her body.
During the hearings, a top government lawyer told the judges that barring students from wearing the hijab at school did not violate guarantees of religious freedom under the Indian Constitution.
Prabhuling Navadgi, a lawyer representing the Karnataka government, told the court that educational institutions had the right to set school dress rules.
“There is no issue of hijab in the government order,” he said. “The government order is innocuous in nature. It does not affect the petitioners’ rights.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/worl ... iversified
One school’s initial ban set off unrest and violence that spread to other schools in the southern state of Karnataka.
A top court in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Tuesday upheld a government order banning Muslim girls from wearing head scarves inside schools, a ruling that is likely to heighten tensions at a time when India is increasingly polarized along religious lines.
The court said that wearing the hijab is not part of essential religious practice under Islam. The ruling came at a time when members of India’s minority community are increasingly coming under attack as the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted Hindu-first policies.
Religious freedom is protected under the country’s Constitution, but there has been a proliferation of religious-based hate crimes, particularly against members of the Muslim community. Their members and right-wing Hindu activists have also been clashing at school campuses around Karnataka.
The dispute began in September at a college preparatory school for girls in Udupi, a city in southwestern Karnataka, when teachers there barred several Muslim students from entering their classrooms while wearing hijabs.
In previous years, head scarves had not been a problem, according to one of the petitioners who sought to overturn the ban. The school’s ban, later affirmed by the state government, set off unrest and violence that spread to other schools in the state, prompting the government to close down schools for days.
When the students defied the ban, they were met at the campus by scores of boys wearing saffron, the color most associated with Hinduism, and shouting slogans like “Hail Lord Ram,” a major Hindu god.
Several of the students’ parents filed a petition, which the judges considered before their ruling. The three judges heard arguments from lawyers to overturn the hijab ban, while students’ lawyers argued that it violated the girls’ right to an education and their freedom of religion. India’s Constitution affirms “the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.”
The court previously issued an intermediate order preventing students from wearing any religious garb, including saffron shawls, until the decision on Tuesday.
Pralhad Joshi, a federal minister of parliamentary affairs, welcomed the court’s decision, which is likely to affect thousands of hijab-wearing students in Karnataka, saying that the “basic work of the students is to study.”
Mr. Joshi also told the Indian news agency ANI, “Everyone has to maintain peace by accepting the order of the high court.”
In recent weeks, the restrictions on students wearing head scarves had become a flash point over minority rights in India. Critics of Mr. Modi say his Bharatiya Janata Party is increasingly taking steps to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims, one of the largest Muslim populations in the world.
Right-wing Hindu monks have made calls for other Hindus to arm themselves and kill Muslims. And there has been a rise in violence against Muslims in India under Mr. Modi, part of a broader shift in which minorities feel less safe.
Recently, a prominent Muslim member of Parliament survived an apparent assassination attempt while campaigning in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. After the police arrested two people accused of shooting at the lawmaker’s vehicle, members of Mr. Modi’s party visited the home of a suspect and declared him innocent.
Karnataka, where the hijab controversy is playing out, is controlled by Mr. Modi’s party. The students’ protest there has inspired Muslim women to march elsewhere in India for their right to wear head scarves and other Islamic clothing.
“The hijab is not a moment where liberty or equality are being tested,” wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a columnist for The Indian Express. “It is coming when there is an attempt to visibly erase Muslims from India’s public culture.”
Karnataka residents said some Muslim women wearing head scarves have been prevented from entering shops or have been chided on public transportation. In another state, a hijab-wearing woman was not allowed to withdraw cash from a bank, Indian news media reported.
“When you board a bus, everyone starts staring at you,” said Huzaifa Kulsum, a homemaker in Karnataka who said she had worn the hijab since childhood. “It seems suddenly everyone is interested in knowing why we wear it.”
Video footage at some schools in Karnataka showed Muslim students and teachers being directed to remove head coverings before entering the campus. Many parents instead chose not to have their children attend the school.
On Tuesday, the authorities in Karnataka closed schools and colleges for a day and police officers were seen patrolling the streets. Before the court ruling, the regional government banned large gatherings for a week in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state, in order “to maintain public peace and order.”
The girls who had petitioned the court have decided that they will appeal the ban to India’s top court, according to their lawyer, Anas Tanwir.
Aiman Mohiuddin, a student who was among those barred from wearing the hijab at Rotary School in Mandya, a city in Karnataka, said before the verdict that she had felt as if someone was chopping off part of her body.
During the hearings, a top government lawyer told the judges that barring students from wearing the hijab at school did not violate guarantees of religious freedom under the Indian Constitution.
Prabhuling Navadgi, a lawyer representing the Karnataka government, told the court that educational institutions had the right to set school dress rules.
“There is no issue of hijab in the government order,” he said. “The government order is innocuous in nature. It does not affect the petitioners’ rights.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/worl ... iversified
Re: Hejab
Muslim Women and the Politics of the Headscarf
For many women, wearing the hijab was—and is—an element of piety, but it’s been coopted into a political symbol.
As the hijab—the headscarf worn by many Muslim women—has become increasingly visible in global metropolises, it has also become increasingly politicized. Many people are surprised to learn that the hijab, in the sense of a head-covering appears nowhere in the Qur’an. Where it is used, it is as a “curtain” or “barrier” intended to separate the wives of the Prophet Muhammad from visitors. More generally, hijab is used to described modest behavior and the Qur’an does indeed prescribe modesty in clothing for both men and women. The so-called “hijab verses” (24:30-31) use the Arabic words “khimar” and “jilbab,” translated variously as “covering” or “headscarf” and “outer garment” or “cloak,” respectively. This range of definitions leads to varied understandings of the need for head-covering; some say it is required, others deem it optional.
Primarily associated with Islam, the headscarf has been popular in different parts of the world for a spectrum of cultural, religious, and pragmatic reasons. The practice of head covering has been common in Jewish, Christian, and Hindu communities, but it never attracted as much attention—and engendered so much controversy—in relation to those faiths as it has done in the Muslim context since the 19th century, when the veil was established as a symbol of Muslim societies by colonial rulers of the Middle East.
Historically, political actors who banned or imposed partial prohibitions upon it did so to signal their “modern,” secular orientation. There was, for instance, Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1936 in Iran, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey about a decade earlier. Afghanistan’s King Amanullah strongly discouraged its use in the 1920s and 1930s. By contrast, the Islamic Republic of Iran has, since it came to power in 1979, enforced its use as a symbol of its fundamentalist approach and a reproach of what it sees as the Shah’s permissiveness.
More...
https://daily.jstor.org/muslim-women-an ... dium=email
For many women, wearing the hijab was—and is—an element of piety, but it’s been coopted into a political symbol.
As the hijab—the headscarf worn by many Muslim women—has become increasingly visible in global metropolises, it has also become increasingly politicized. Many people are surprised to learn that the hijab, in the sense of a head-covering appears nowhere in the Qur’an. Where it is used, it is as a “curtain” or “barrier” intended to separate the wives of the Prophet Muhammad from visitors. More generally, hijab is used to described modest behavior and the Qur’an does indeed prescribe modesty in clothing for both men and women. The so-called “hijab verses” (24:30-31) use the Arabic words “khimar” and “jilbab,” translated variously as “covering” or “headscarf” and “outer garment” or “cloak,” respectively. This range of definitions leads to varied understandings of the need for head-covering; some say it is required, others deem it optional.
Primarily associated with Islam, the headscarf has been popular in different parts of the world for a spectrum of cultural, religious, and pragmatic reasons. The practice of head covering has been common in Jewish, Christian, and Hindu communities, but it never attracted as much attention—and engendered so much controversy—in relation to those faiths as it has done in the Muslim context since the 19th century, when the veil was established as a symbol of Muslim societies by colonial rulers of the Middle East.
Historically, political actors who banned or imposed partial prohibitions upon it did so to signal their “modern,” secular orientation. There was, for instance, Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1936 in Iran, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Turkey about a decade earlier. Afghanistan’s King Amanullah strongly discouraged its use in the 1920s and 1930s. By contrast, the Islamic Republic of Iran has, since it came to power in 1979, enforced its use as a symbol of its fundamentalist approach and a reproach of what it sees as the Shah’s permissiveness.
More...
https://daily.jstor.org/muslim-women-an ... dium=email
Re: Hejab
Chicago Tribune
‘My hijab, my right’ campaign raises awareness of violations of Muslim rights in India, and eyebrows in Chicago at its mixed message.
María Paula Mijares Torres, Chicago Tribune
Wed, April 13, 2022, 4:06 PM
Driving north on Interstate 294 you might notice a billboard that reads “My hijab, my right” featuring an illustration of a Muslim woman with her arm raised to make a fist. The ad is part of a campaign organized by local Islamic organizations to raise awareness of the violation of the freedom of religion right of Muslims in India that has arisen in the last three months. The second goal of this campaign is to “clear negative stereotypes about the hijab and oppression.”
In the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, young women were denied entry to school and colleges because the state put a strict policy that prohibits uniforms to be worn with hijabs, said Aamer Adbul-Jaleel, a Chicagoan and organizer of the “My hijab, my right” campaign with the local chapter of the Muslim organization GainPeace Chicago.
“The reason this billboard is relevant now is because the right to wear the hijab for the Muslim women and the rights that we take for granted in this country — freedom of expression and freedom to wear what we want — they are being taken away in many parts of India,” said Sabeel Ahmed, director of GainPeace Chicago, a group that wants to raise awareness and popularity on this issue in the U.S., via its campaign with the Council of Social Justice and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
The woman illustrated in the billboard is Muskan Khan, an Indian girl who became one of the main images of this movement as a video of her being heckled at her college by a crowd of Hindu male students went viral on social media. “Other Muslim women in India have also been victims of lynching, and once the people of our communities in Chicago heard (Khan’s) story, they understood the motive of our campaign and supported it,” Ahmed said.
“It’s been 23 years since I came to the States and none of my relatives who decided to wear a hijab in India like my mom and my aunts were never harassed,” said Samia Aadbul-Jaleel, a Chicago resident and India native Muslim woman who helped with this initiative. “My relatives never experienced any racism or discrimination (for being Muslim), and it makes me sad to see how things are changing.”
GainPeace representatives explained that these measures were being taken in India because of the rise of a political party that holds the Hindu majority in the state. According to the 2011 census of India, there are 172.2 million Muslims in the country, making it one of the top three countries with the largest Muslim population.
“I see how that narrative could be out there, but it’s just not rooted in my reality,” said Shereen Husain, board member and secretary of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. “(Wearing a headscarf) is something that we choose to observe just like any other tenet of faith, and it is something personal to each person.”
“Over the summer there were times that I get a lot of questions from people from other faiths like: ‘Wow, you’re wearing a full sleeve and you’re covering your hair like, aren’t you hot in this 100-degree weather?’,” Aadbul-Jaleel said. “But I felt very confident and very strong, so I actually took these occasions in a positive way to teach them about my religion so they could respect it as I respect other religions.”
Some leaders in the community, however, think the message should have a clearer focus on the situation in India.
“I understand the sentiment and I agree that the Islamophobia and the attacks against particularly Muslim women students in India are very heinous, and we should all speak out against it, and we should be aware of it,” said Hind Makki, an interfaith and anti-racism educator based in Chicago. “But I felt like the billboard was not very clear about it.”
Although there is a portion of it that does talk about standing “in solidarity with the oppressed in India and worldwide,” Makki said that most Americans are still not aware of the situation in India. “A person driving on 294 seeing the billboard for like two seconds might be a little confused about the situation in India. Especially because the main point is about a woman defending her right to wear a headscarf, but that is a protected right in the United States.”
Makki, who has been involved in activism campaigns, said that a hashtag or advertisements in local newspapers would be a better way to raise awareness. The billboard has three hashtags: #MuskanKhan, #HijabMyRight and #EducationMyRight.
“I think that if Americans knew about (the situation in India), they would care about it because it’s about the protection of religious freedom, and that’s an issue that Americans do care about,” Makki said. “So I think, maybe less focus on the image of a woman wearing a headscarf and more on the fact that India seems to be rolling back its protections of its religious minorities. And I’m saying that because I’m a Muslim woman, I wear a headscarf and this piece of clothing that I really spend maybe 30 seconds thinking about wearing every morning just to decide which matches the outfit that I want to wear is something unfortunately, other people have politicized so much ... I think that the issue in India is more than that.”
Ahmed, the GainPeace director, has received “two messages (like Makki’s opinion) out of a hundred positive ones.” He and Aadbul-Jaleel said that this was the best way to communicate the message because they cannot “write a whole paragraph in a billboard.”
GainPeace hopes that people call the hotline (1-800-662-ISLAM) on the billboard or visit the website gainpeace.com to learn more about the situation in India, and get any questions answered about the Muslim religion, which there might be during the month of Ramadan. The hotline has received around 35 calls so far.
The billboard facing south on the northbound side of I-294, a half-mile before I-290, will be on display until April 22 and the GainPeace chapters in Detroit are working on putting a billboard with the same design in their community.
Mosques all over Chicago are organizing events where non-Muslims can join their Muslim neighbors to break fast and learn about their traditions. Additionally, Ahmed said that many mosques in the Chicago area are meeting with local representatives and legislators to raise awareness of the human rights issues in India involving Muslims.
“When our neighbors come inside the mosques and break bread with us, it’s just a whole different feeling,” Aamer Aadbul-Jaleel said. “They leave happy because they’re just reading and hearing about Islam through the media, which doesn’t necessarily portray Islam in a positive light. But when they see what’s going on and they see what the prayer is like, they are like: ‘I can’t believe we used to live here for so many years and we never entered into the mosque.’
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/hi ... 00568.html
‘My hijab, my right’ campaign raises awareness of violations of Muslim rights in India, and eyebrows in Chicago at its mixed message.
María Paula Mijares Torres, Chicago Tribune
Wed, April 13, 2022, 4:06 PM
Driving north on Interstate 294 you might notice a billboard that reads “My hijab, my right” featuring an illustration of a Muslim woman with her arm raised to make a fist. The ad is part of a campaign organized by local Islamic organizations to raise awareness of the violation of the freedom of religion right of Muslims in India that has arisen in the last three months. The second goal of this campaign is to “clear negative stereotypes about the hijab and oppression.”
In the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, young women were denied entry to school and colleges because the state put a strict policy that prohibits uniforms to be worn with hijabs, said Aamer Adbul-Jaleel, a Chicagoan and organizer of the “My hijab, my right” campaign with the local chapter of the Muslim organization GainPeace Chicago.
“The reason this billboard is relevant now is because the right to wear the hijab for the Muslim women and the rights that we take for granted in this country — freedom of expression and freedom to wear what we want — they are being taken away in many parts of India,” said Sabeel Ahmed, director of GainPeace Chicago, a group that wants to raise awareness and popularity on this issue in the U.S., via its campaign with the Council of Social Justice and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
The woman illustrated in the billboard is Muskan Khan, an Indian girl who became one of the main images of this movement as a video of her being heckled at her college by a crowd of Hindu male students went viral on social media. “Other Muslim women in India have also been victims of lynching, and once the people of our communities in Chicago heard (Khan’s) story, they understood the motive of our campaign and supported it,” Ahmed said.
“It’s been 23 years since I came to the States and none of my relatives who decided to wear a hijab in India like my mom and my aunts were never harassed,” said Samia Aadbul-Jaleel, a Chicago resident and India native Muslim woman who helped with this initiative. “My relatives never experienced any racism or discrimination (for being Muslim), and it makes me sad to see how things are changing.”
GainPeace representatives explained that these measures were being taken in India because of the rise of a political party that holds the Hindu majority in the state. According to the 2011 census of India, there are 172.2 million Muslims in the country, making it one of the top three countries with the largest Muslim population.
“I see how that narrative could be out there, but it’s just not rooted in my reality,” said Shereen Husain, board member and secretary of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. “(Wearing a headscarf) is something that we choose to observe just like any other tenet of faith, and it is something personal to each person.”
“Over the summer there were times that I get a lot of questions from people from other faiths like: ‘Wow, you’re wearing a full sleeve and you’re covering your hair like, aren’t you hot in this 100-degree weather?’,” Aadbul-Jaleel said. “But I felt very confident and very strong, so I actually took these occasions in a positive way to teach them about my religion so they could respect it as I respect other religions.”
Some leaders in the community, however, think the message should have a clearer focus on the situation in India.
“I understand the sentiment and I agree that the Islamophobia and the attacks against particularly Muslim women students in India are very heinous, and we should all speak out against it, and we should be aware of it,” said Hind Makki, an interfaith and anti-racism educator based in Chicago. “But I felt like the billboard was not very clear about it.”
Although there is a portion of it that does talk about standing “in solidarity with the oppressed in India and worldwide,” Makki said that most Americans are still not aware of the situation in India. “A person driving on 294 seeing the billboard for like two seconds might be a little confused about the situation in India. Especially because the main point is about a woman defending her right to wear a headscarf, but that is a protected right in the United States.”
Makki, who has been involved in activism campaigns, said that a hashtag or advertisements in local newspapers would be a better way to raise awareness. The billboard has three hashtags: #MuskanKhan, #HijabMyRight and #EducationMyRight.
“I think that if Americans knew about (the situation in India), they would care about it because it’s about the protection of religious freedom, and that’s an issue that Americans do care about,” Makki said. “So I think, maybe less focus on the image of a woman wearing a headscarf and more on the fact that India seems to be rolling back its protections of its religious minorities. And I’m saying that because I’m a Muslim woman, I wear a headscarf and this piece of clothing that I really spend maybe 30 seconds thinking about wearing every morning just to decide which matches the outfit that I want to wear is something unfortunately, other people have politicized so much ... I think that the issue in India is more than that.”
Ahmed, the GainPeace director, has received “two messages (like Makki’s opinion) out of a hundred positive ones.” He and Aadbul-Jaleel said that this was the best way to communicate the message because they cannot “write a whole paragraph in a billboard.”
GainPeace hopes that people call the hotline (1-800-662-ISLAM) on the billboard or visit the website gainpeace.com to learn more about the situation in India, and get any questions answered about the Muslim religion, which there might be during the month of Ramadan. The hotline has received around 35 calls so far.
The billboard facing south on the northbound side of I-294, a half-mile before I-290, will be on display until April 22 and the GainPeace chapters in Detroit are working on putting a billboard with the same design in their community.
Mosques all over Chicago are organizing events where non-Muslims can join their Muslim neighbors to break fast and learn about their traditions. Additionally, Ahmed said that many mosques in the Chicago area are meeting with local representatives and legislators to raise awareness of the human rights issues in India involving Muslims.
“When our neighbors come inside the mosques and break bread with us, it’s just a whole different feeling,” Aamer Aadbul-Jaleel said. “They leave happy because they’re just reading and hearing about Islam through the media, which doesn’t necessarily portray Islam in a positive light. But when they see what’s going on and they see what the prayer is like, they are like: ‘I can’t believe we used to live here for so many years and we never entered into the mosque.’
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/hi ... 00568.html
The Female Soccer Players Challenging France’s Hijab Ban
France’s soccer federation forbids hijab-wearing women from competing in soccer games, even though FIFA allows them. A collective of Muslim players is fighting what it considers a discriminatory rule.
SARCELLES, France — Every time Mama Diakité heads to a soccer game, her stomach is in knots.
It happened again on a recent Saturday afternoon in Sarcelles, a northern suburb of Paris. Her amateur team had come to face the local club, and Diakité, a 23-year-old Muslim midfielder, feared she would not be allowed to play in her hijab.
This time, the referee let her in. “It worked,” she said at the end of the game, leaning against the fence bordering the field, her smiling face wrapped in a black Nike head scarf.
But Diakité had only fallen through the cracks.
For years, France’s soccer federation has banned players participating in competitions from wearing conspicuous religious symbols such as hijabs, a rule it contends is in keeping with the organization’s strict secular values. Although the ban is loosely enforced at the amateur level, it has hung over Muslim women’s players for years, shattering their hopes of professional careers and driving some away from the game altogether.
Les Hijabeuses is an informal group of hijab-wearing women who play soccer together in an effort to draw attention to a French policy they say drives Muslim women out of the game.
In an ever more multicultural France, where women’s soccer is booming, the ban has also sparked a growing backlash. At the forefront of the fight is Les Hijabeuses, a group of young hijab-wearing soccer players from different teams who have joined forces to campaign against what they describe as a discriminatory rule that excludes Muslim women from sports.
Their activism has touched a nerve in France, reviving heated debates on the integration of Muslims in a country with a tortured relationship with Islam, and highlighting the struggle of French sports authorities to reconcile their defense of strict secular values with growing calls for greater representation on the field.
“What we want is to be accepted as we are, to implement these grand slogans of diversity, inclusiveness,” said Founé Diawara, the president of Les Hijabeuses, which has 80 members. “Our only desire is to play soccer.”
The Hijabeuses collective was created in 2020 with the help of researchers and community organizers in an attempt to solve a paradox: Although French laws and FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, allow sportswomen to play in hijabs, France’s soccer federation prohibits it, arguing that it would break with the principle of religious neutrality on the field.
Supporters of the ban say hijabs portend an Islamist radicalization taking over sports. But the personal stories of Hijabeuses members emphasize how soccer has been synonymous with emancipation — and how the ban continues to feel like a step backward.
Founé Diawara, the president of Les Hijabeuses.
Diakité began playing soccer at age 12, initially hiding it from her parents, who saw soccer as a boys’ sport. “I wanted to be a professional soccer player,” she said, calling it “a dream.”
Jean-Claude Njehoya, her current coach, said that “when she was younger, she had a lot of skills” that could have propelled her to the highest level. But “from the moment” she understood the hijab ban would impact her, he said, “she didn’t really push herself further.”
Diakité said she decided on her own to wear the hijab in 2018 — and to give up her dream. She now plays for a third-division club and plans to open a driving school. “No regret,” she said. “Either I’m accepted as I am, or I’m not. And that’s it.”
Karthoum Dembele, a 19-year-old midfielder who wears a nose ring, also said she had to confront her mother to be allowed to play. She quickly joined a sports-intensive program in middle school and participated in club tryouts. But it wasn’t until she learned about the ban, four years ago, that she realized she may no longer be allowed to compete.
“I had managed to make my mother give in and I’m told the federation won’t let me play,” Dembele said. “I told myself: What a joke!”
Other members of the group recalled episodes when referees barred them from the field, prompting some, feeling humiliated, to quit soccer and turn to sports where hijabs are allowed or tolerated, like handball or futsal.
Mama Diakité, who plays for Jeanne D’Arc Drancy, after a match in Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris. Technically, Diakité is not allowed to play in a hijab, but referees often look the other way.
Throughout last year, Les Hijabeuses lobbied the French soccer federation to overturn the ban. They sent letters, met with officials and even staged a protest at the federation’s headquarters — to no avail. The federation declined to comment for this article.
Paradoxically, it was Les Hijabeuses’ staunchest opponents who finally put them in the spotlight.
In January, a group of conservative senators tried to enshrine the soccer federation’s hijab ban in law, arguing that hijabs threatened to spread radical Islam in sports clubs. The move reflected a lingering malaise in France regarding the Muslim veil, which regularly stirs controversy. In 2019, a French store dropped a plan to sell a hijab designed for runners after a barrage of criticism.
Energized by the senators’ efforts, Les Hijabeuses waged an intense lobbying campaign against the amendment. Making the most of their strong social media presence — the group has nearly 30,000 followers on Instagram — they launched a petition that gathered more than 70,000 signatures; rallied dozens of sport celebrities to their cause; and organized games before the Senate building and with professional athletes.
Vikash Dhorasoo, a former France midfielder who attended a game, said the ban left him dumbfounded. “I just don’t get it,” he said. “It’s the Muslims who are targeted here.”
Members of Les Hijabeuses meet regularly with Diawara (in pink sweater and black hijab) and supporters like the sociologist Haifa Tlili, left, who have offered help in their fight against France’s soccer federation.
Stéphane Piednoir, the senator behind the amendment, denied the accusation that the legislation was aimed at Muslims specifically, saying its focus was all conspicuous religious signs. But he acknowledged that the amendment had been motivated by the wearing of the Muslim veil, which he called “a propaganda vehicle” for political Islam and a form of “visual proselytizing.” (Piednoir also has condemned the display of the Catholic tattoos of the P.S.G. star Neymar as “unfortunate” and wondered if the religious ban should extend to them.)
The amendment was eventually rejected by the government’s majority in parliament, although not without frictions. The Paris police banned a protest organized by Les Hijabeuses, and the French sports minister, who said the law allows hijab-wearing women to play, clashed with government colleagues opposing the head scarf.
The Hijabeuses’ fight may not be a popular one in France, where six in 10 people support banning hijabs in the street, according to a recent survey by the polling firm CSA. Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate who will face President Emmanuel Macron in a runoff vote on April 24 — with a shot at a final victory — has said that if elected, she will ban the Muslim veil in public spaces.
But, on the soccer field, everyone seems to agree that hijabs should be allowed.
“Nobody minds if they play with it,” said Rana Kenar, 17, a Sarcelles player who had come to watch her team face Diakité’s club on a bitterly cold February evening.
Kenar was sitting in the bleachers with about 20 fellow players. All said they saw the ban as a form of discrimination, noting that, at the amateur level, the ban was loosely enforced.
Even the referee of the game in Sarcelles, who had let Diakité play, seemed at odds with the ban. “I looked the other way,” he said, declining to give his name for fear of repercussions.
Les Hijabeuses held a celebrity game in February that drew athletes, actors and other supporters who oppose the hijab ban.
Pierre Samsonoff, the former deputy head of the soccer federation’s amateur branch, said the issue would inevitably come up again in the coming years, with the development of women’s soccer and the hosting of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which will feature veiled athletes from Muslim countries.
Samsonoff, who initially defended banning the hijab, said he had since softened his stance, acknowledging the policy could end up ostracizing Muslim players. “The issue is whether we are not creating worse consequences by deciding to ban it on the fields than by deciding to allow it,” he said.
Piednoir, the senator, said the players were ostracizing themselves. But he acknowledged never having spoken with any hijab-wearing athletes to hear their motivations, comparing the situation to “firefighters” being asked to go “listen to pyromaniacs.”
Dembele, who manages the Hijabeuses’ social media accounts, said she was often struck by the violence of online comments and the fierce political opposition.
“We hold on,” she said. “It’s not just for us, it’s also for the young girls who tomorrow will be able to dream of playing for France, for P.S.G.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/spor ... 778d3e6de3
SARCELLES, France — Every time Mama Diakité heads to a soccer game, her stomach is in knots.
It happened again on a recent Saturday afternoon in Sarcelles, a northern suburb of Paris. Her amateur team had come to face the local club, and Diakité, a 23-year-old Muslim midfielder, feared she would not be allowed to play in her hijab.
This time, the referee let her in. “It worked,” she said at the end of the game, leaning against the fence bordering the field, her smiling face wrapped in a black Nike head scarf.
But Diakité had only fallen through the cracks.
For years, France’s soccer federation has banned players participating in competitions from wearing conspicuous religious symbols such as hijabs, a rule it contends is in keeping with the organization’s strict secular values. Although the ban is loosely enforced at the amateur level, it has hung over Muslim women’s players for years, shattering their hopes of professional careers and driving some away from the game altogether.
Les Hijabeuses is an informal group of hijab-wearing women who play soccer together in an effort to draw attention to a French policy they say drives Muslim women out of the game.
In an ever more multicultural France, where women’s soccer is booming, the ban has also sparked a growing backlash. At the forefront of the fight is Les Hijabeuses, a group of young hijab-wearing soccer players from different teams who have joined forces to campaign against what they describe as a discriminatory rule that excludes Muslim women from sports.
Their activism has touched a nerve in France, reviving heated debates on the integration of Muslims in a country with a tortured relationship with Islam, and highlighting the struggle of French sports authorities to reconcile their defense of strict secular values with growing calls for greater representation on the field.
“What we want is to be accepted as we are, to implement these grand slogans of diversity, inclusiveness,” said Founé Diawara, the president of Les Hijabeuses, which has 80 members. “Our only desire is to play soccer.”
The Hijabeuses collective was created in 2020 with the help of researchers and community organizers in an attempt to solve a paradox: Although French laws and FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, allow sportswomen to play in hijabs, France’s soccer federation prohibits it, arguing that it would break with the principle of religious neutrality on the field.
Supporters of the ban say hijabs portend an Islamist radicalization taking over sports. But the personal stories of Hijabeuses members emphasize how soccer has been synonymous with emancipation — and how the ban continues to feel like a step backward.
Founé Diawara, the president of Les Hijabeuses.
Diakité began playing soccer at age 12, initially hiding it from her parents, who saw soccer as a boys’ sport. “I wanted to be a professional soccer player,” she said, calling it “a dream.”
Jean-Claude Njehoya, her current coach, said that “when she was younger, she had a lot of skills” that could have propelled her to the highest level. But “from the moment” she understood the hijab ban would impact her, he said, “she didn’t really push herself further.”
Diakité said she decided on her own to wear the hijab in 2018 — and to give up her dream. She now plays for a third-division club and plans to open a driving school. “No regret,” she said. “Either I’m accepted as I am, or I’m not. And that’s it.”
Karthoum Dembele, a 19-year-old midfielder who wears a nose ring, also said she had to confront her mother to be allowed to play. She quickly joined a sports-intensive program in middle school and participated in club tryouts. But it wasn’t until she learned about the ban, four years ago, that she realized she may no longer be allowed to compete.
“I had managed to make my mother give in and I’m told the federation won’t let me play,” Dembele said. “I told myself: What a joke!”
Other members of the group recalled episodes when referees barred them from the field, prompting some, feeling humiliated, to quit soccer and turn to sports where hijabs are allowed or tolerated, like handball or futsal.
Mama Diakité, who plays for Jeanne D’Arc Drancy, after a match in Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris. Technically, Diakité is not allowed to play in a hijab, but referees often look the other way.
Throughout last year, Les Hijabeuses lobbied the French soccer federation to overturn the ban. They sent letters, met with officials and even staged a protest at the federation’s headquarters — to no avail. The federation declined to comment for this article.
Paradoxically, it was Les Hijabeuses’ staunchest opponents who finally put them in the spotlight.
In January, a group of conservative senators tried to enshrine the soccer federation’s hijab ban in law, arguing that hijabs threatened to spread radical Islam in sports clubs. The move reflected a lingering malaise in France regarding the Muslim veil, which regularly stirs controversy. In 2019, a French store dropped a plan to sell a hijab designed for runners after a barrage of criticism.
Energized by the senators’ efforts, Les Hijabeuses waged an intense lobbying campaign against the amendment. Making the most of their strong social media presence — the group has nearly 30,000 followers on Instagram — they launched a petition that gathered more than 70,000 signatures; rallied dozens of sport celebrities to their cause; and organized games before the Senate building and with professional athletes.
Vikash Dhorasoo, a former France midfielder who attended a game, said the ban left him dumbfounded. “I just don’t get it,” he said. “It’s the Muslims who are targeted here.”
Members of Les Hijabeuses meet regularly with Diawara (in pink sweater and black hijab) and supporters like the sociologist Haifa Tlili, left, who have offered help in their fight against France’s soccer federation.
Stéphane Piednoir, the senator behind the amendment, denied the accusation that the legislation was aimed at Muslims specifically, saying its focus was all conspicuous religious signs. But he acknowledged that the amendment had been motivated by the wearing of the Muslim veil, which he called “a propaganda vehicle” for political Islam and a form of “visual proselytizing.” (Piednoir also has condemned the display of the Catholic tattoos of the P.S.G. star Neymar as “unfortunate” and wondered if the religious ban should extend to them.)
The amendment was eventually rejected by the government’s majority in parliament, although not without frictions. The Paris police banned a protest organized by Les Hijabeuses, and the French sports minister, who said the law allows hijab-wearing women to play, clashed with government colleagues opposing the head scarf.
The Hijabeuses’ fight may not be a popular one in France, where six in 10 people support banning hijabs in the street, according to a recent survey by the polling firm CSA. Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate who will face President Emmanuel Macron in a runoff vote on April 24 — with a shot at a final victory — has said that if elected, she will ban the Muslim veil in public spaces.
But, on the soccer field, everyone seems to agree that hijabs should be allowed.
“Nobody minds if they play with it,” said Rana Kenar, 17, a Sarcelles player who had come to watch her team face Diakité’s club on a bitterly cold February evening.
Kenar was sitting in the bleachers with about 20 fellow players. All said they saw the ban as a form of discrimination, noting that, at the amateur level, the ban was loosely enforced.
Even the referee of the game in Sarcelles, who had let Diakité play, seemed at odds with the ban. “I looked the other way,” he said, declining to give his name for fear of repercussions.
Les Hijabeuses held a celebrity game in February that drew athletes, actors and other supporters who oppose the hijab ban.
Pierre Samsonoff, the former deputy head of the soccer federation’s amateur branch, said the issue would inevitably come up again in the coming years, with the development of women’s soccer and the hosting of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which will feature veiled athletes from Muslim countries.
Samsonoff, who initially defended banning the hijab, said he had since softened his stance, acknowledging the policy could end up ostracizing Muslim players. “The issue is whether we are not creating worse consequences by deciding to ban it on the fields than by deciding to allow it,” he said.
Piednoir, the senator, said the players were ostracizing themselves. But he acknowledged never having spoken with any hijab-wearing athletes to hear their motivations, comparing the situation to “firefighters” being asked to go “listen to pyromaniacs.”
Dembele, who manages the Hijabeuses’ social media accounts, said she was often struck by the violence of online comments and the fierce political opposition.
“We hold on,” she said. “It’s not just for us, it’s also for the young girls who tomorrow will be able to dream of playing for France, for P.S.G.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/spor ... 778d3e6de3
Excerpts: Their Highnesses the Aga Khans III and IV on the veil, headscarf, hijab and purdah
[The Aga Khan] is interested in the current debate on whether the
hijab, the Muslim headscarf, should be worn in Irish schools and
cautions against the issue being used to create division:
"'My own sense is that if an individual wishes to associate publicly
with a faith, that's the right of that individual to do that, whether
he's a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim. That is, to me, something
which is important.'
"But he says that people should not be forced to wear the hijab:
"'To go from there to an imposed process by forces in society, to me
is unacceptable. It's got to be the choice of the individual who wishes
to associate with his faith or her faith. I have great respect for any
individual who wants in the right way to be associated with his own
faith. I accept that totally and I would never challenge it.'"
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2008 Irish Times interview with Alison Healy
(Maynooth, Ireland)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/8845/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline Pigozzi/Jean-Claude Deutsch: What does the Aga
Khan, a Europeanised Muslim, think about the debate on the
wearing of the Islamic scarf in France?
Aga Khan: How do you expect me to forbid someone from openly
associating themselves with their religion? The law today is acting
on the form, not the underlying significance of this practise. One
should not impose oneself in an aggressive manner, but should live
serenely within one's faith. If pressuring someone to change their
beliefs is considered offensive, why should someone change their
beliefs just because these beliefs consist of a free individual right?
The separation of religion and state implies multiculturalism before
anything else.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1994 Paris Match Interview (1st) with Caroline
Pigozzi and Jean-Claude Deutsch (Paris, France) [Translation]
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/850/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"The veil for women is a tradition which precedes Islam, and was
introduced as a sign of respect of women and not of submission, i.e.
against the concept that woman is an object of the society of men."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2001 Corriere della Sera interview with
Massimo Nava (Italy) [Translation]
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/6010/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Nicholas Tomalin: Have you used your power to make any
radical changes in the Ismaili religion?
Aga Khan: You don't change the religion. But you might change
certain traditions. For instance, my grandfather made it quite clear
to the Ismaili Community that women were not to wear the veil, and
they no longer do. I have not made any strong directives of this type.
But I hope I am modern in my outlook, and I know that in many
ways I am a different sort of person from my grandfather. This will
necessarily subtly change the character of the Faith.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1965 The London Sunday Times interview,
Part I, with Nicholas Tomalin (London, United Kingdom)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1400/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"The second factor which stood in the way of pan-Islamism was one
of the ideas which I mentioned as a possible source for the new
flame. This was the internal movement within the religion itself. The
close contacts between the Muslims and the West which were
brought about by the war made many people think, and analyse
their faith. The more progressive Muslims asked for changes in their
civil and criminal law; they asked for Western type laws of
succession and Western codes, and they also found that many of
their traditions could not be kept up, were they to move as rapidly
as Europe. One of these traditions was the wearing of the veil and
the sore question of giving secular education to women.
"These problems may have been solved had there not been at least
ten different forms of Islamic law already in use. I sometimes doubt
whether the solution would have been found even if there had only
been one practised code. But there were the four Sunni schools and
there were the Shia schools; and there were the Muslim schools that
had been influenced by Greek and Byzantine tradition.
"The Muslims were unable, simply because of the background in
which they had lived, to reach a common agreement."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1957 address to the Dar es Salaam Cultural
Society, 'Harvard University and Studies of the Middle East' (Dar es
Salaam,Tanzania)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/908/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"A second cause of our present apathy is the terrible position of
Muslim women ... There is absolutely nothing in Islam, or the
Qur'an, or the example of the first two centuries, to justify this
terrible and cancerous growth that has for nearly a thousand, years
eaten into the very vitals of Islamic society.... The Prophet ... by a
few wise restrictions, such as must be practised by any society that
hopes to exist, made the former constant and unceremonious
companionship of men and strange women impossible.
"From these necessary and wholesome rules the jealousy of the
Abbassides, borrowing from the practice of the later Persian
Sassanian kings, developed the present system ... which means the
permanent imprisonment and enslavement of half the nation. How
can we expect progress from the children of mothers who have never
shared, or even seen, the free social intercourse of modern mankind?
This terrible cancer that has grown since the 3rd and 4th century
[sic] of the Hijra must either be cut out, or the body of Muslim
society will be poisoned to death by the permanent waste of all the
women of the nation. But purdah, as now known, itself did not exist
till long after the Prophet's death and is no part of Islam. The part
played by Muslim women at Kardesiah and Yarmuk the two most
momentous battles of Islam next to Badr and Honein, and their
splendid nursing of the wounded after those battles, is of itself a
proof to any reasonable person that purdah, as now understood, has
never been conceived by the companions of the Prophet. That we
Muslims should saddle ourselves with this excretion of Persian
custom, borrowed by the Abbassides, is due to that ignorance of
early Islam which is one of the most extraordinary of modern
conditions."
Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III's 1902 All India Muhammadan
Educational Conference Presidential address, 'Muslim Education in
India' (Delhi, India)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1311/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"In matters of social reform I have tried to exert my influence and
authority sensibly. and progressively. I have always sought to
encourage the emancipation and education of women. In my
grandfather's and my father's time the Ismailis were far ahead of
any other Muslim sect in the matter of the abolition of the strict veil,
even in extremely conservative countries. I have absolutely abolished
it; nowadays you will never find an Ismaili woman wearing the
veil."
Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III's autobiography: 'The Memoirs of
Aga Khan III -- World Enough and Time', Chapter 2: Islam, The Religion of
My Ancestors, 1954
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1225/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
See also: Their Highnesses the Aga Khans III and IV on Islamic Law and
the Sharia
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nanowisd ... 6552905198
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
See also: TH Aga Khans III and IV on interpreting the faith: individuality vs
formalistic approaches which anchor faith in time
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nanowisd ... 8273491695
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Click here for this post in PDF format.
hijab, the Muslim headscarf, should be worn in Irish schools and
cautions against the issue being used to create division:
"'My own sense is that if an individual wishes to associate publicly
with a faith, that's the right of that individual to do that, whether
he's a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim. That is, to me, something
which is important.'
"But he says that people should not be forced to wear the hijab:
"'To go from there to an imposed process by forces in society, to me
is unacceptable. It's got to be the choice of the individual who wishes
to associate with his faith or her faith. I have great respect for any
individual who wants in the right way to be associated with his own
faith. I accept that totally and I would never challenge it.'"
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2008 Irish Times interview with Alison Healy
(Maynooth, Ireland)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/8845/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline Pigozzi/Jean-Claude Deutsch: What does the Aga
Khan, a Europeanised Muslim, think about the debate on the
wearing of the Islamic scarf in France?
Aga Khan: How do you expect me to forbid someone from openly
associating themselves with their religion? The law today is acting
on the form, not the underlying significance of this practise. One
should not impose oneself in an aggressive manner, but should live
serenely within one's faith. If pressuring someone to change their
beliefs is considered offensive, why should someone change their
beliefs just because these beliefs consist of a free individual right?
The separation of religion and state implies multiculturalism before
anything else.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1994 Paris Match Interview (1st) with Caroline
Pigozzi and Jean-Claude Deutsch (Paris, France) [Translation]
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/850/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"The veil for women is a tradition which precedes Islam, and was
introduced as a sign of respect of women and not of submission, i.e.
against the concept that woman is an object of the society of men."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 2001 Corriere della Sera interview with
Massimo Nava (Italy) [Translation]
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/6010/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Nicholas Tomalin: Have you used your power to make any
radical changes in the Ismaili religion?
Aga Khan: You don't change the religion. But you might change
certain traditions. For instance, my grandfather made it quite clear
to the Ismaili Community that women were not to wear the veil, and
they no longer do. I have not made any strong directives of this type.
But I hope I am modern in my outlook, and I know that in many
ways I am a different sort of person from my grandfather. This will
necessarily subtly change the character of the Faith.
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1965 The London Sunday Times interview,
Part I, with Nicholas Tomalin (London, United Kingdom)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1400/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"The second factor which stood in the way of pan-Islamism was one
of the ideas which I mentioned as a possible source for the new
flame. This was the internal movement within the religion itself. The
close contacts between the Muslims and the West which were
brought about by the war made many people think, and analyse
their faith. The more progressive Muslims asked for changes in their
civil and criminal law; they asked for Western type laws of
succession and Western codes, and they also found that many of
their traditions could not be kept up, were they to move as rapidly
as Europe. One of these traditions was the wearing of the veil and
the sore question of giving secular education to women.
"These problems may have been solved had there not been at least
ten different forms of Islamic law already in use. I sometimes doubt
whether the solution would have been found even if there had only
been one practised code. But there were the four Sunni schools and
there were the Shia schools; and there were the Muslim schools that
had been influenced by Greek and Byzantine tradition.
"The Muslims were unable, simply because of the background in
which they had lived, to reach a common agreement."
His Highness the Aga Khan's 1957 address to the Dar es Salaam Cultural
Society, 'Harvard University and Studies of the Middle East' (Dar es
Salaam,Tanzania)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/908/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"A second cause of our present apathy is the terrible position of
Muslim women ... There is absolutely nothing in Islam, or the
Qur'an, or the example of the first two centuries, to justify this
terrible and cancerous growth that has for nearly a thousand, years
eaten into the very vitals of Islamic society.... The Prophet ... by a
few wise restrictions, such as must be practised by any society that
hopes to exist, made the former constant and unceremonious
companionship of men and strange women impossible.
"From these necessary and wholesome rules the jealousy of the
Abbassides, borrowing from the practice of the later Persian
Sassanian kings, developed the present system ... which means the
permanent imprisonment and enslavement of half the nation. How
can we expect progress from the children of mothers who have never
shared, or even seen, the free social intercourse of modern mankind?
This terrible cancer that has grown since the 3rd and 4th century
[sic] of the Hijra must either be cut out, or the body of Muslim
society will be poisoned to death by the permanent waste of all the
women of the nation. But purdah, as now known, itself did not exist
till long after the Prophet's death and is no part of Islam. The part
played by Muslim women at Kardesiah and Yarmuk the two most
momentous battles of Islam next to Badr and Honein, and their
splendid nursing of the wounded after those battles, is of itself a
proof to any reasonable person that purdah, as now understood, has
never been conceived by the companions of the Prophet. That we
Muslims should saddle ourselves with this excretion of Persian
custom, borrowed by the Abbassides, is due to that ignorance of
early Islam which is one of the most extraordinary of modern
conditions."
Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III's 1902 All India Muhammadan
Educational Conference Presidential address, 'Muslim Education in
India' (Delhi, India)
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1311/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"In matters of social reform I have tried to exert my influence and
authority sensibly. and progressively. I have always sought to
encourage the emancipation and education of women. In my
grandfather's and my father's time the Ismailis were far ahead of
any other Muslim sect in the matter of the abolition of the strict veil,
even in extremely conservative countries. I have absolutely abolished
it; nowadays you will never find an Ismaili woman wearing the
veil."
Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah, Aga Khan III's autobiography: 'The Memoirs of
Aga Khan III -- World Enough and Time', Chapter 2: Islam, The Religion of
My Ancestors, 1954
http://www.nanowisdoms.org/nwblog/1225/
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
See also: Their Highnesses the Aga Khans III and IV on Islamic Law and
the Sharia
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nanowisd ... 6552905198
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
See also: TH Aga Khans III and IV on interpreting the faith: individuality vs
formalistic approaches which anchor faith in time
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nanowisd ... 8273491695
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Click here for this post in PDF format.
Taliban Impose Head-to-Toe Coverings for Women
A new decree recommends, but doesn’t require that women wear burqas, and says male relatives of those who don’t cover themselves would be punished.
Women wearing burqas shopping at a market in Kabul, in November.Credit...Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban government decreed Saturday that Afghan women must cover themselves from head to toe, expanding a series of onerous restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life.
The decree, by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, drew condemnation from women’s rights advocates and the United Nations, which described it as another bald betrayal of Taliban pledges to respect gender equality.
The ministry suggested the burqa as the preferred garment for covering a woman’s face, hair and body. But it did not mandate wearing the garment as long as women otherwise cover themselves with a hijab.
The full-body burqa, long emblematic of patriarchal control of women’s public attire in Afghanistan, was described by the ministry as “the good and complete hijab” — a garment with various versions that cover a woman’s hair and much or all of her face and body.
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August, Afghan women have been subjected to a cascade of announcements restricting their employment, education, travel, deportment and other aspects of public life. Many had assumed that the return of a burqa-style body covering was the inevitable next step.
The burqa, which leaves only a woman’s hands and feet visible and includes a stitched facial netting for vision, was required by the Taliban when it ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The ministry’s definition of “hijab” Saturday described a garment that “should not be too short or too tight,” the ministry announcement said. The intent was to obscure the outlines of a woman’s body, the ministry said.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said the Taliban decree would create new strains in the militant group’s efforts to gain international recognition as the country’s legitimate government.
In a statement posted on its website, the mission said the decree “contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans’ human rights, including those of women and girls, that had been provided to the international community by Taliban representatives during discussions and negotiations over the past decade.”
Shabana Shabdeez, 24, a women’s activist in Kabul, said she would refuse to cover herself, “even if they kill me.” She added, “Women are born free. It is their basic human right to walk around freely.”
A woman along the side of the Kabul–Kandahar Highway north of Ghazni, Afghanistan, in December. The Afghan government stated that a “hijab” should cover not only a woman’s hair and face, but her entire body from head to toe.Credit...David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
In public announcements regarding women in recent months, the government has often delivered vaguely worded proclamations left open to interpretation. Wary of Western condemnation as the Taliban government seeks diplomatic recognition and humanitarian aid, many announcements have appeared to rely on inference and intimidation.
But the ministry, which is responsible for enforcing the government’s interpretation of Islamic law, was quite specific Saturday about punishments for the male head of family of women who fail to adhere to the latest decree.
If a woman failed to wear the prescribed hijab in public, ministry officials would visit her home and advise the male head of the family to require her to comply, the ministry announcement said.
Failure to comply would result in a summons to the ministry, the officials said. If the man still failed to follow the guidelines, he would be jailed for three days.
If the jail sentence did not compel adherence, the man would be compelled to appear before a religious court for further punishment, ministry officials said.
Male government employees whose wives or daughters fail to cover themselves in public would be subject to suspension or dismissal, the announcement said. And the relatively few women still permitted to hold jobs — such as nurses, doctors and teachers — could be fired if they did not comply with the regulations.
Women in burqa with children at a health facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
“We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the acting vice and virtue minister.
Shir Mohammad, a vice and virtue official, said in a statement that “all dignified Afghan women” should cover themselves from head to toe. “Those women who are not too old or too young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he added.
Since the Taliban takeover in August, more women in Kabul appear to have begun wearing burqas. But the majority of women on the streets of the capital have continued to wear less encompassing versions of hijabs, with many covering only their hair and leaving most or all of their faces still visible.
Even under the previous, Western-backed government, many women — especially in rural areas and small towns — continued to wear burqas. The history of the garment dates back generations in Afghanistan, and is a product of conservative Afghan culture that long preceded the emergence of the Taliban in the 1990s.
At Saturday’s news conference, religious speakers delivered dissertations on the Islamic history of the hijab and its benefits according to Islamic law and practice.
The ministry instructed officials across Afghanistan to put up posters in bazaars and other public locations with instructions and images of approved garments for women. In recent months, small posters have appeared in Kabul depicting head-to-toe hijabs, including burqas, as proper public attire for women.
On Saturday, ministry officials said the “ruling, importance and benefits of the hijab” should be discussed in mosques and distributed through the news media.
In September, the Taliban converted the previous government’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the office for the Vice and Virtue ministry. Under the Taliban government of the 1990s, women who failed to wear a burqa in public were often beaten by vice and virtue religious police, who also delivered warnings to male relatives.
The Lycée Maryam open market in northern Kabul, in November. The majority of women in the capital have continued to wear less encompassing versions of hijabs, leaving part of their faces still visible.Credit...Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times
Also Saturday, a spokesman for an Afghan opposition group that has mounted an insurgency against the Taliban government repeated earlier claims that it had “liberated” three districts in the northern province of Panjshir. Asked whether the National Resistance Front, as the movement calls itself, had seized government district centers, the spokesman replied by text message, “They were besieged in the district offices,” referring to Taliban officials.
The Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that “no military incident has taken place” in Panjshir or any other nearby areas. National Resistance Front claims “were not true, no one should be worried,” Mr. Mujahid wrote.
He added that thousands of Islamic Emirate fighters were in Panjshir and preventing any military advances by the front.
The National Resistance Front, or N.R.F., was formed by several leaders or supporters of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government before it collapsed last summer. It is part of a resistance that consists of a smattering of armed fighters spread across the mountains of northern Afghanistan, according to interviews with more than a dozen resistance fighters and leaders.
The N.R.F. has an estimated several hundred fighters, many of them low-ranking officers in the former government’s security forces. It is led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of the deceased Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Mr. Massoud left Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power and has directed the N.R.F. from abroad.
Yaqoob Akbary and Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/worl ... 778d3e6de3
Women wearing burqas shopping at a market in Kabul, in November.Credit...Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban government decreed Saturday that Afghan women must cover themselves from head to toe, expanding a series of onerous restrictions on women that dictate nearly every aspect of public life.
The decree, by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, drew condemnation from women’s rights advocates and the United Nations, which described it as another bald betrayal of Taliban pledges to respect gender equality.
The ministry suggested the burqa as the preferred garment for covering a woman’s face, hair and body. But it did not mandate wearing the garment as long as women otherwise cover themselves with a hijab.
The full-body burqa, long emblematic of patriarchal control of women’s public attire in Afghanistan, was described by the ministry as “the good and complete hijab” — a garment with various versions that cover a woman’s hair and much or all of her face and body.
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August, Afghan women have been subjected to a cascade of announcements restricting their employment, education, travel, deportment and other aspects of public life. Many had assumed that the return of a burqa-style body covering was the inevitable next step.
The burqa, which leaves only a woman’s hands and feet visible and includes a stitched facial netting for vision, was required by the Taliban when it ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The ministry’s definition of “hijab” Saturday described a garment that “should not be too short or too tight,” the ministry announcement said. The intent was to obscure the outlines of a woman’s body, the ministry said.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said the Taliban decree would create new strains in the militant group’s efforts to gain international recognition as the country’s legitimate government.
In a statement posted on its website, the mission said the decree “contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans’ human rights, including those of women and girls, that had been provided to the international community by Taliban representatives during discussions and negotiations over the past decade.”
Shabana Shabdeez, 24, a women’s activist in Kabul, said she would refuse to cover herself, “even if they kill me.” She added, “Women are born free. It is their basic human right to walk around freely.”
A woman along the side of the Kabul–Kandahar Highway north of Ghazni, Afghanistan, in December. The Afghan government stated that a “hijab” should cover not only a woman’s hair and face, but her entire body from head to toe.Credit...David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
In public announcements regarding women in recent months, the government has often delivered vaguely worded proclamations left open to interpretation. Wary of Western condemnation as the Taliban government seeks diplomatic recognition and humanitarian aid, many announcements have appeared to rely on inference and intimidation.
But the ministry, which is responsible for enforcing the government’s interpretation of Islamic law, was quite specific Saturday about punishments for the male head of family of women who fail to adhere to the latest decree.
If a woman failed to wear the prescribed hijab in public, ministry officials would visit her home and advise the male head of the family to require her to comply, the ministry announcement said.
Failure to comply would result in a summons to the ministry, the officials said. If the man still failed to follow the guidelines, he would be jailed for three days.
If the jail sentence did not compel adherence, the man would be compelled to appear before a religious court for further punishment, ministry officials said.
Male government employees whose wives or daughters fail to cover themselves in public would be subject to suspension or dismissal, the announcement said. And the relatively few women still permitted to hold jobs — such as nurses, doctors and teachers — could be fired if they did not comply with the regulations.
Women in burqa with children at a health facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
“We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the acting vice and virtue minister.
Shir Mohammad, a vice and virtue official, said in a statement that “all dignified Afghan women” should cover themselves from head to toe. “Those women who are not too old or too young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he added.
Since the Taliban takeover in August, more women in Kabul appear to have begun wearing burqas. But the majority of women on the streets of the capital have continued to wear less encompassing versions of hijabs, with many covering only their hair and leaving most or all of their faces still visible.
Even under the previous, Western-backed government, many women — especially in rural areas and small towns — continued to wear burqas. The history of the garment dates back generations in Afghanistan, and is a product of conservative Afghan culture that long preceded the emergence of the Taliban in the 1990s.
At Saturday’s news conference, religious speakers delivered dissertations on the Islamic history of the hijab and its benefits according to Islamic law and practice.
The ministry instructed officials across Afghanistan to put up posters in bazaars and other public locations with instructions and images of approved garments for women. In recent months, small posters have appeared in Kabul depicting head-to-toe hijabs, including burqas, as proper public attire for women.
On Saturday, ministry officials said the “ruling, importance and benefits of the hijab” should be discussed in mosques and distributed through the news media.
In September, the Taliban converted the previous government’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the office for the Vice and Virtue ministry. Under the Taliban government of the 1990s, women who failed to wear a burqa in public were often beaten by vice and virtue religious police, who also delivered warnings to male relatives.
The Lycée Maryam open market in northern Kabul, in November. The majority of women in the capital have continued to wear less encompassing versions of hijabs, leaving part of their faces still visible.Credit...Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times
Also Saturday, a spokesman for an Afghan opposition group that has mounted an insurgency against the Taliban government repeated earlier claims that it had “liberated” three districts in the northern province of Panjshir. Asked whether the National Resistance Front, as the movement calls itself, had seized government district centers, the spokesman replied by text message, “They were besieged in the district offices,” referring to Taliban officials.
The Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that “no military incident has taken place” in Panjshir or any other nearby areas. National Resistance Front claims “were not true, no one should be worried,” Mr. Mujahid wrote.
He added that thousands of Islamic Emirate fighters were in Panjshir and preventing any military advances by the front.
The National Resistance Front, or N.R.F., was formed by several leaders or supporters of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government before it collapsed last summer. It is part of a resistance that consists of a smattering of armed fighters spread across the mountains of northern Afghanistan, according to interviews with more than a dozen resistance fighters and leaders.
The N.R.F. has an estimated several hundred fighters, many of them low-ranking officers in the former government’s security forces. It is led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of the deceased Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Mr. Massoud left Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power and has directed the N.R.F. from abroad.
Yaqoob Akbary and Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/07/worl ... 778d3e6de3
Re: Hejab
Associated Press
Taliban divisions deepen as Afghan women defy veil edict
A woman wearing a burka and her children walk in front of their house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 8, 2022. Afghan women are furious and fearful over a recent decree by the country's Taliban leaders that reinstated the burqa and similar outfits as mandatory for them in public. But some are defying the strict interpretation of Islamic dress codes, venturing out with less restrictive versions than that which the Taliban demanded — outfits that only reveal their eyes. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sun, May 8, 2022, 10:29 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Arooza was furious and afraid, keeping her eyes open for Taliban on patrol as she and a friend shopped Sunday in Kabul's Macroyan neighborhood.
The math teacher was fearful her large shawl, wrapped tight around her head, and sweeping pale brown coat would not satisfy the latest decree by the country's religiously driven Taliban government. After all, more than just her eyes were showing. Her face was visible.
Arooza, who asked to be identified by just one name to avoid attracting attention, wasn't wearing the all-encompassing burqa preferred by the Taliban, who on Saturday issued a new dress code for women appearing in public. The edict said only a woman's eyes should be visible.
The decree by the Taliban's hardline leader Hibaitullah Akhunzada even suggested women shouldn't leave their homes unless necessary and outlines a series of punishments for male relatives of women violating the code.
It was a major blow to the rights of women in Afghanistan, who for two decades had been living with relative freedom before the Taliban takeover last August — when U.S. and other foreign forces withdrew in the chaotic end to a 20-year war.
A reclusive leader, Akhunzada rarely travels outside southern Kandahar, the traditional Taliban heartland. He favors the harsh elements of the group's previous time in power, in the 1990s, when girls and women were largely barred from school, work and public life.
Like Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, Akhunzada imposes a strict brand of Islam that marries religion with ancient tribal traditions, often blurring the two.
Akhunzada has taken tribal village traditions where girls often marry at puberty, and rarely leave their homes, and called it a religious demand, analysts say.
The Taliban have been divided between pragmatists and hardliners, as they struggle to transition from an insurgency to a governing body. Meanwhile, their government has been dealing with a worsening economic crisis. And Taliban efforts to win recognition and aid from Western nations have floundered, largely because they have not formed a more representative government, and restricted the rights of girls and women.
Until now, hardliners and pragmatists in the movement have avoided open confrontation.
Yet divisions were deepened in March, on the eve of the new school year, when Akhunzada issued a last-minute decision that girls should not be allowed to go to school after completing the sixth grade. In the weeks ahead of the start of the school year, senior Taliban officials had told journalists all girls would be allowed back in school. Akhunzada asserted that allowing the older girls back to school violated Islamic principles.
A prominent Afghan who meets the leadership and is familiar with their internal squabbles said that a senior Cabinet minister expressed his outrage over Akhunzada's views at a recent leadership meeting. He spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
Torek Farhadi, a former government adviser, said he believes Taliban leaders have opted not to spar in public because they fear any perception of divisions could undermine their rule.
“The leadership does not see eye to eye on a number of matters but they all know that if they don’t keep it together, everything might fall apart," Farhadi said. “In that case, they might start clashes with each other.”
“For that reason, the elders have decided to put up with each other, including when it comes to non-agreeable decisions which are costing them a lot of uproar inside Afghanistan and internationally,” Farhadi added.
Some of the more pragmatic leaders appear to be looking for quiet workarounds that will soften the hard-line decrees. Since March, there has been a growing chorus, even among the most powerful Taliban leaders, to return older girls to school while quietly ignoring other repressive edicts.
Earlier this month, Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirajuddin, who heads the powerful Haqqani network, told a conference in the eastern city of Khost that girls are entitled to education and that they would soon return to school — though he didn't say when. He also said that women had a role in building the nation.
“You will receive very good news that will make everyone very happy... this problem will be resolved in the following days,” Haqqani said at the time.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, women wore the customary conservative Muslim dress. Most wore a traditional hijab, consisting of a headscarf and long robe or coat, but few covered their faces, as directed by the Taliban leader a day earlier. Those wearing a burqa, a head-to-toe garment that covers the face and hides the eyes behind netting were in the minority.
“Women in Afghanistan wear the hijab, and many wear the burqa, but this isn't about hijab, this is about the Taliban wanting to make all women disappear," said Shabana, who wore bright gold bangles beneath her flowing black coat, her hair hidden behind a black head scarf with sequins. “This is about the Taliban wanting to make us invisible."
Arooza said the Taliban rulers are driving Afghans to leave their country. “Why should I stay here if they don't want to give us our human rights? We are human," she said.
Several women stopped to talk. They all challenged the latest edict.
“We don't want to live in a prison,” said Parveen, who like the other women wanted only to give one name.
“These edicts attempt to erase a whole gender and generation of Afghans who grew up dreaming of a better world,” said Obaidullah Baheer, a visiting scholar at New York’s New School and former lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan.
“It pushes families to leave the country by any means necessary. It also fuels grievances that would eventually spill over into large-scale mobilization against the Taliban," he said.
After decades of war, Baheer said it wouldn’t have taken much on the Taliban’s part to make Afghans content with their rule “an opportunity that the Taliban are wasting fast.”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 34120.html
Taliban divisions deepen as Afghan women defy veil edict
A woman wearing a burka and her children walk in front of their house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 8, 2022. Afghan women are furious and fearful over a recent decree by the country's Taliban leaders that reinstated the burqa and similar outfits as mandatory for them in public. But some are defying the strict interpretation of Islamic dress codes, venturing out with less restrictive versions than that which the Taliban demanded — outfits that only reveal their eyes. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sun, May 8, 2022, 10:29 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Arooza was furious and afraid, keeping her eyes open for Taliban on patrol as she and a friend shopped Sunday in Kabul's Macroyan neighborhood.
The math teacher was fearful her large shawl, wrapped tight around her head, and sweeping pale brown coat would not satisfy the latest decree by the country's religiously driven Taliban government. After all, more than just her eyes were showing. Her face was visible.
Arooza, who asked to be identified by just one name to avoid attracting attention, wasn't wearing the all-encompassing burqa preferred by the Taliban, who on Saturday issued a new dress code for women appearing in public. The edict said only a woman's eyes should be visible.
The decree by the Taliban's hardline leader Hibaitullah Akhunzada even suggested women shouldn't leave their homes unless necessary and outlines a series of punishments for male relatives of women violating the code.
It was a major blow to the rights of women in Afghanistan, who for two decades had been living with relative freedom before the Taliban takeover last August — when U.S. and other foreign forces withdrew in the chaotic end to a 20-year war.
A reclusive leader, Akhunzada rarely travels outside southern Kandahar, the traditional Taliban heartland. He favors the harsh elements of the group's previous time in power, in the 1990s, when girls and women were largely barred from school, work and public life.
Like Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, Akhunzada imposes a strict brand of Islam that marries religion with ancient tribal traditions, often blurring the two.
Akhunzada has taken tribal village traditions where girls often marry at puberty, and rarely leave their homes, and called it a religious demand, analysts say.
The Taliban have been divided between pragmatists and hardliners, as they struggle to transition from an insurgency to a governing body. Meanwhile, their government has been dealing with a worsening economic crisis. And Taliban efforts to win recognition and aid from Western nations have floundered, largely because they have not formed a more representative government, and restricted the rights of girls and women.
Until now, hardliners and pragmatists in the movement have avoided open confrontation.
Yet divisions were deepened in March, on the eve of the new school year, when Akhunzada issued a last-minute decision that girls should not be allowed to go to school after completing the sixth grade. In the weeks ahead of the start of the school year, senior Taliban officials had told journalists all girls would be allowed back in school. Akhunzada asserted that allowing the older girls back to school violated Islamic principles.
A prominent Afghan who meets the leadership and is familiar with their internal squabbles said that a senior Cabinet minister expressed his outrage over Akhunzada's views at a recent leadership meeting. He spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
Torek Farhadi, a former government adviser, said he believes Taliban leaders have opted not to spar in public because they fear any perception of divisions could undermine their rule.
“The leadership does not see eye to eye on a number of matters but they all know that if they don’t keep it together, everything might fall apart," Farhadi said. “In that case, they might start clashes with each other.”
“For that reason, the elders have decided to put up with each other, including when it comes to non-agreeable decisions which are costing them a lot of uproar inside Afghanistan and internationally,” Farhadi added.
Some of the more pragmatic leaders appear to be looking for quiet workarounds that will soften the hard-line decrees. Since March, there has been a growing chorus, even among the most powerful Taliban leaders, to return older girls to school while quietly ignoring other repressive edicts.
Earlier this month, Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirajuddin, who heads the powerful Haqqani network, told a conference in the eastern city of Khost that girls are entitled to education and that they would soon return to school — though he didn't say when. He also said that women had a role in building the nation.
“You will receive very good news that will make everyone very happy... this problem will be resolved in the following days,” Haqqani said at the time.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, women wore the customary conservative Muslim dress. Most wore a traditional hijab, consisting of a headscarf and long robe or coat, but few covered their faces, as directed by the Taliban leader a day earlier. Those wearing a burqa, a head-to-toe garment that covers the face and hides the eyes behind netting were in the minority.
“Women in Afghanistan wear the hijab, and many wear the burqa, but this isn't about hijab, this is about the Taliban wanting to make all women disappear," said Shabana, who wore bright gold bangles beneath her flowing black coat, her hair hidden behind a black head scarf with sequins. “This is about the Taliban wanting to make us invisible."
Arooza said the Taliban rulers are driving Afghans to leave their country. “Why should I stay here if they don't want to give us our human rights? We are human," she said.
Several women stopped to talk. They all challenged the latest edict.
“We don't want to live in a prison,” said Parveen, who like the other women wanted only to give one name.
“These edicts attempt to erase a whole gender and generation of Afghans who grew up dreaming of a better world,” said Obaidullah Baheer, a visiting scholar at New York’s New School and former lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan.
“It pushes families to leave the country by any means necessary. It also fuels grievances that would eventually spill over into large-scale mobilization against the Taliban," he said.
After decades of war, Baheer said it wouldn’t have taken much on the Taliban’s part to make Afghans content with their rule “an opportunity that the Taliban are wasting fast.”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 34120.html
Re: Hejab
BBC
Fury in Iran as young woman dies following morality police arrest
Rana Rahimpour - BBC Persian
Fri, September 16, 2022 at 9:31 AM
A 22-year-old Iranian woman has died days after being arrested by morality police for allegedly not complying with strict rules on head coverings.
Eyewitnesses said Mahsa Amini was beaten while inside a police van when she was picked up in Tehran on Tuesday.
Police have denied the allegations, saying Ms Amini had "suddenly suffered a heart problem".
It is the latest in a series of reports of brutality against women by authorities in Iran in recent weeks.
Ms Amini's family say that she was a healthy young woman with no medical conditions that would explain a sudden heart problem.
However, they were informed she had been taken to hospital a few hours after her arrest and the family said she had been in a coma before she died on Friday.
Tehran police said Ms Amini had been arrested for "justification and education" about the hijab, the headscarf which is mandatory for all women to wear.
Her death comes in the wake of growing reports of repressive acts against women, including those judged not to be complying with Islamic dress code being barred from entering government offices and banks.
Many Iranians, including pro-government individuals, are expressing their outrage on social media platforms regarding the very existence of the morality police, also known as Guidance Patrols, and are using hashtags that translate as Murder Patrols.
Videos have emerged on social media appearing to show officers detaining women, dragging them on the ground, and forcefully whisking them away.
Many Iranians blame the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, directly. An old speech of his is being reshared on social media in which he justifies the role of the morality police and insists that under Islamic rule, women must be forced to observe the Islamic dress code.
The latest episode will only deepen the divide between a large part of Iran's young and vibrant society and its radical rulers, a rift that seems ever harder to mend.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance ... 57583.html
Fury in Iran as young woman dies following morality police arrest
Rana Rahimpour - BBC Persian
Fri, September 16, 2022 at 9:31 AM
A 22-year-old Iranian woman has died days after being arrested by morality police for allegedly not complying with strict rules on head coverings.
Eyewitnesses said Mahsa Amini was beaten while inside a police van when she was picked up in Tehran on Tuesday.
Police have denied the allegations, saying Ms Amini had "suddenly suffered a heart problem".
It is the latest in a series of reports of brutality against women by authorities in Iran in recent weeks.
Ms Amini's family say that she was a healthy young woman with no medical conditions that would explain a sudden heart problem.
However, they were informed she had been taken to hospital a few hours after her arrest and the family said she had been in a coma before she died on Friday.
Tehran police said Ms Amini had been arrested for "justification and education" about the hijab, the headscarf which is mandatory for all women to wear.
Her death comes in the wake of growing reports of repressive acts against women, including those judged not to be complying with Islamic dress code being barred from entering government offices and banks.
Many Iranians, including pro-government individuals, are expressing their outrage on social media platforms regarding the very existence of the morality police, also known as Guidance Patrols, and are using hashtags that translate as Murder Patrols.
Videos have emerged on social media appearing to show officers detaining women, dragging them on the ground, and forcefully whisking them away.
Many Iranians blame the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, directly. An old speech of his is being reshared on social media in which he justifies the role of the morality police and insists that under Islamic rule, women must be forced to observe the Islamic dress code.
The latest episode will only deepen the divide between a large part of Iran's young and vibrant society and its radical rulers, a rift that seems ever harder to mend.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance ... 57583.html
Re: Hejab
Fox News
Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without hijab, hauled back to Islamic Republic for arrest: report
Danielle Wallace
Tue, October 18, 2022 at 9:12 AM
A female Iranian climber who competed in a South Korean championship without a hijab has reportedly gone missing and is expected to be placed under arrest upon her return to the Islamic Republic.
Elnaz Rekabi, who went viral for competing without the Islamic headscarf at the International Federation of Sport Climbing's Asian Championships in Seoul on Sunday, has not been heard from.
Her friends told the BBC's Persian service, which has extensive contacts within Iran despite being banned from operating there, that they had been unable to contact Rekabi. The outlet quoted an unnamed "informed source" who said Iranian officials seized both Rekabi's phone and passport.
BBC Persian also reported that Rekabi was to be arrested upon her return to the Islamic Republic.
A later Instagram post on an account attributed to Rekabi said not wearing a hijab was "unintentional," though it wasn't immediately clear whether she wrote the post or what condition she was in at the time.
READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP
The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights group describe as coerced confessions on state television, according to the Associated Press.
Rekabi, 33, didn’t put on a hijab during Sunday’s final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asia Championship, according to the Seoul-based Korea Alpine Federation, the organizers of the event. Federation officials said Rekabi wore a hijab during her initial appearances at the one-week climbing event.
Iran's Elnaz Rekabi competes without hijab
A woman looks at a screen displaying a video of an international climbing competition is Seoul, South Korea, during which Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competes without a hijab, in the Cypriot capital Nicosia on October 18, 2022.
She wore just a black headband when competing Sunday, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail; she had a white jersey with Iran's flag as a logo on it. The video of Rekabi competing without the headscarf went viral as protests sparked by the September in-custody death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police for wearing the hijab too loosely, have entered a fifth week in more than 100 Iranian cities.
Rekabi left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight, the Iranian Embassy in South Korea said. Her departure was initially scheduled for Wednesday, but the flight was moved up.
In a tweet, the Iranian Embassy in Seoul denied "all the fake, false news and disinformation" regarding Rekabi’s departure. But instead of posting a photo of her from the Seoul competition, it posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she took a bronze medal.
IranWire, another website focusing on the country founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who once was detained by Iran, reported that Rekabi was somehow tricked by Reza Zarei, the head of Iran's Climbing Federation, to enter the Iranian embassy in Seoul and hand over her passport and phone in exchange for her guaranteed safe return to Iran.
Elnaz Rekabi competing with hijab
Iran's Elnaz Rekabi competes in the Women's Lead qualification at the indoor World Climbing and Paraclimbing Championships 2016 at the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris on September 14, 2016.
According to the outlet, Zarei was instructed to do so by Mohammad Khosravivafa, Iran's Olympic Committee chairman. Khosravivafa had been ordered by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to move Rekabi into the embassy. The quick flight was reportedly to avoid protesters gathering outside the embassy in South Korea.
IranWire reported that once Rekabi arrived at Imam Khomeini international airport, she was to be immediately transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison. The prison was the site of a massive fire that killed at least eight prisoners.
Rekabi reportedly made the decision to compete without the hijab about a month ago but did not opt to seek asylum in South Korea because her husband is back in Iran and she, therefore, wanted to be able to return to her home country after the competition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/el ... 00753.html
Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without hijab, hauled back to Islamic Republic for arrest: report
Danielle Wallace
Tue, October 18, 2022 at 9:12 AM
A female Iranian climber who competed in a South Korean championship without a hijab has reportedly gone missing and is expected to be placed under arrest upon her return to the Islamic Republic.
Elnaz Rekabi, who went viral for competing without the Islamic headscarf at the International Federation of Sport Climbing's Asian Championships in Seoul on Sunday, has not been heard from.
Her friends told the BBC's Persian service, which has extensive contacts within Iran despite being banned from operating there, that they had been unable to contact Rekabi. The outlet quoted an unnamed "informed source" who said Iranian officials seized both Rekabi's phone and passport.
BBC Persian also reported that Rekabi was to be arrested upon her return to the Islamic Republic.
A later Instagram post on an account attributed to Rekabi said not wearing a hijab was "unintentional," though it wasn't immediately clear whether she wrote the post or what condition she was in at the time.
READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP
The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights group describe as coerced confessions on state television, according to the Associated Press.
Rekabi, 33, didn’t put on a hijab during Sunday’s final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asia Championship, according to the Seoul-based Korea Alpine Federation, the organizers of the event. Federation officials said Rekabi wore a hijab during her initial appearances at the one-week climbing event.
Iran's Elnaz Rekabi competes without hijab
A woman looks at a screen displaying a video of an international climbing competition is Seoul, South Korea, during which Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competes without a hijab, in the Cypriot capital Nicosia on October 18, 2022.
She wore just a black headband when competing Sunday, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail; she had a white jersey with Iran's flag as a logo on it. The video of Rekabi competing without the headscarf went viral as protests sparked by the September in-custody death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police for wearing the hijab too loosely, have entered a fifth week in more than 100 Iranian cities.
Rekabi left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight, the Iranian Embassy in South Korea said. Her departure was initially scheduled for Wednesday, but the flight was moved up.
In a tweet, the Iranian Embassy in Seoul denied "all the fake, false news and disinformation" regarding Rekabi’s departure. But instead of posting a photo of her from the Seoul competition, it posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she took a bronze medal.
IranWire, another website focusing on the country founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who once was detained by Iran, reported that Rekabi was somehow tricked by Reza Zarei, the head of Iran's Climbing Federation, to enter the Iranian embassy in Seoul and hand over her passport and phone in exchange for her guaranteed safe return to Iran.
Elnaz Rekabi competing with hijab
Iran's Elnaz Rekabi competes in the Women's Lead qualification at the indoor World Climbing and Paraclimbing Championships 2016 at the Accor Hotels Arena in Paris on September 14, 2016.
According to the outlet, Zarei was instructed to do so by Mohammad Khosravivafa, Iran's Olympic Committee chairman. Khosravivafa had been ordered by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to move Rekabi into the embassy. The quick flight was reportedly to avoid protesters gathering outside the embassy in South Korea.
IranWire reported that once Rekabi arrived at Imam Khomeini international airport, she was to be immediately transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison. The prison was the site of a massive fire that killed at least eight prisoners.
Rekabi reportedly made the decision to compete without the hijab about a month ago but did not opt to seek asylum in South Korea because her husband is back in Iran and she, therefore, wanted to be able to return to her home country after the competition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/el ... 00753.html
Re: Hejab
CAIRO: A ban on wearing the face veil in Egyptian schools announced by the government this week sparked debate on social media on Tuesday with critics condemning it as “tyrannical”.
The education ministry decision, announced in the state-run newspaper Akhbar al-Youm on Monday, applies to both state and independent schools.
It bans the niqab, an all-encompassing black garment that leaves only the eyes visible and is worn by a small minority of Egyptian women. The decision leaves optional the hijab, the headscarf worn by a much larger number of women.
The choice must be made according to the “wishes of the pupil, without pressure or coercion from any party except her legal guardian, who must be informed of the choice,” the decree said.
Critics took to social media to lambast the move, accusing the government of meddling in private matters.
“People are angry because the government gave no justification. It’s a tyrannical decision that impinges on people’s private lives,” a user going by the name Mohammed posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Supporters retorted that only an extremist minority would be affected.
“Nobody is angry except supporters of the Taliban and the Islamic State group,” posted a user calling himself “al-Masri” (the Egyptian).
Talk show host Ahmed Moussa, a fervent supporter of the anti-Islamist administration of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, welcomed a “first significant step towards the destruction of extremism and the correction of an education system that had become the haunt of Muslim Brotherhood terrorist groups”.
Sisi was still army chief when in 2013 he overthrew the democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader. The group has since then been outlawed as a “terrorist organization”, with hundreds of its members killed and tens of thousands thrown in jail.
Other posts questioned the government’s priorities.
“Is the niqab to blame for the overcrowded classes, the old furniture and the difficulties faced by teachers?” one post asked.
In 2015, Cairo University banned its teachers from wearing the niqab, in a decision upheld by an administrative court in 2020.
Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023
https://www.dawn.com/news/1775617/egypt ... cial-media
The education ministry decision, announced in the state-run newspaper Akhbar al-Youm on Monday, applies to both state and independent schools.
It bans the niqab, an all-encompassing black garment that leaves only the eyes visible and is worn by a small minority of Egyptian women. The decision leaves optional the hijab, the headscarf worn by a much larger number of women.
The choice must be made according to the “wishes of the pupil, without pressure or coercion from any party except her legal guardian, who must be informed of the choice,” the decree said.
Critics took to social media to lambast the move, accusing the government of meddling in private matters.
“People are angry because the government gave no justification. It’s a tyrannical decision that impinges on people’s private lives,” a user going by the name Mohammed posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Supporters retorted that only an extremist minority would be affected.
“Nobody is angry except supporters of the Taliban and the Islamic State group,” posted a user calling himself “al-Masri” (the Egyptian).
Talk show host Ahmed Moussa, a fervent supporter of the anti-Islamist administration of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, welcomed a “first significant step towards the destruction of extremism and the correction of an education system that had become the haunt of Muslim Brotherhood terrorist groups”.
Sisi was still army chief when in 2013 he overthrew the democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader. The group has since then been outlawed as a “terrorist organization”, with hundreds of its members killed and tens of thousands thrown in jail.
Other posts questioned the government’s priorities.
“Is the niqab to blame for the overcrowded classes, the old furniture and the difficulties faced by teachers?” one post asked.
In 2015, Cairo University banned its teachers from wearing the niqab, in a decision upheld by an administrative court in 2020.
Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023
https://www.dawn.com/news/1775617/egypt ... cial-media