Opinion Editorials, July 2010

French Interference on Islamic Religious Dress Code:

It Will Spread Intolerance

By S. A. Hannan

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, July 27, 2010

France's lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. There were 335 votes for the bill and only one against in the 557-seat National Assembly. It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law. The ban has strong public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.Many of the opposition Socialists, who originally wanted the ban limited only to public buildings, abstained from voting after coming under pressure from feminist supporters of the bill.President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed the ban as part of a wider debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters

We are shocked at this action of the French Parliament against religious rights of Muslims.. France has initiated an action which will influence the behavior of other countries. Already public polls are taken on the issue of Niqab, though public opinion is not a basis for taking action on religious or human right issue.Niqab is obligatory according to one view in Islamic jurisprudence. This has to be respected as religious right. To give an example, you can not say on an issue of religious obligation that we will consider the Catholic view but will not consider Protestant view. This has now happened on the issue of Islamic modest dress issue, present French view is we will allow head covering, not face covering.

The French view is hypocritical. A few years back they stopped scarf or head covering for university students. They did not relent despite serious protest. The world will enter into a new phase of intolerance unless France is forced by Courts and human right organizations to mend its ways.

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