Why a law on the burqa and the niqab?

Your Excellency,

I think your views are very well presented.

Perhaps you left one thing out. Since we have known suicide bombers to hide under the full burqa, I am sure that your country — including the Muslims that live in it — would not want to take that risk.

Furthermore, I do have a problem with this burqa business when you live in a foreign land. As much as we want you to respect us, we should respect your traditions as well. If you want to wear the burqa, I say, stay in Pakistan. You have no place in a country like France.

I can imagine what would happen here in the US where I reside if some Muslim women decided to wear the burqa.

Finally, Excellency, you are right. The Koran only asks the woman to be modest. And it also asks men — this is conveniently forgotten — to lower their gaze when they see a woman. Recommend

So the French ambassador has to write this considering the outrage in Pakistan. I can assure everybody that this will be the most commented op-ed this month probably.

The Syrian ambassador and the Tunisian ambassadors don’t have to write because the right wingers cannot write against their bans since that would mean that they disagree with their “ummah” and the holy lord Arabs.Recommend

the article, in short, implies that pakistanis need not comment on any events happenin in france…however the wonderful thing is that EU can pass resolution to tell that banning facebook is suppressing miorities’ rights in pakistan…ironic…isnt it!!
republican values n social cohesion are not manifested in banning viel…rather accepting people as they are, is national cohesion
democracy is not simple the rule of majority, it is a way to let the individualism survive. unfortunately at times europe makes the same mistakes which our under developed country very often makesRecommend

It is silly to legislate to enforce burqa (as in Iran) and it is equally silly to legislate to enfore a ban on burqa (as in France). I am afraid French ‘secularists’ are taking the same approach to social issues which some extremist Muslims do – ban this, outlaw that…. Recommend

Mr. Daniel last paragraph is the crux and I will say that “France has its laws and traditions. We respect them”. My only curiousity is that why France did not make a law on Niqab / Burqa when the first Muslim woman in France wore it way back in 19s or 18s or even before? Within this context if we read the 4th and 5th paras of Mr. Daniel, it seems that France is changing also from its customs and traditions.Recommend

Well said, and well done Express Tribune for carrying this piece.

However, I’m sure this will fly over the heads of the right-wingers in Pakistan who will bray and froth at the mouth over measures taken in France, but will not even squeek about the violence and bigotry that women are subjected to in Pakistan. Never mind acid attacks, forced marriages, stone-age jirga laws and honour killings, for this segment, the real threat to Islam and women is the burka ban.Recommend

Excellent piece – I don’t think we Muslims take that into consideration when we debate these issues. We can think of others as aliens but somehow don’t apply the same to ourselves when we act ‘foreign’ in another country and another culture.

Rest assured, majority of the people are following a ‘when in Rome’ philosophy when considering the French laws. After all, there is no reason why France has to conform to laws applicable in another country.Recommend

Dear Ambassador,
I am a law-abiding muslim in Denmark. Does French law not give freedom of choice to its citizens? Muslims women had been practicing this for decades in France too, was there problem then. Admit it or not France is engulf into a wave of “islamofobia”… You say it is to protect rights of women, integration etc… Where is the rights of women and respect when you strip them nacked for the sake of art and commercial gains. Why the immigrants are not given equal oppertunity in the job market? Your discriminating laws and behaviour are key to the isolation and de-integration. That is the delima of europe on the whole after 9/11. Unfortunately.Recommend

In maintaining law and order, niqab is a hindrance. With terrorism and suicide bombings, France has acted in self defense. Recommend

@M Mustafa: when was the last time u saw a suicide bomber….strapped the bomb around his or her face…..thay hv ban the covering of face not the burqa…….”The dignity of women” can u plz elaborate Mr ambassador of France to Pakistan…….Recommend

@Nauman Malik- Really??? “No law in Pakistan stops anyone, foriegner or national, to wear anything” If a female will wear a bikini openly on Pakistani streets, she’ll be ‘punished’ by people and by law!! You HAVE TO RESPECT the value of the country you are living in. If US ex-sec of state had worn a high knee length frock to Shah faisal Mosque, then it was the duty of the person accompanying her to tell her whats the appropriate dress code!Recommend

I think Daniel is right from his country law and rules aspects. We Pakistani or even any Muslim country should not make it controversial or a matter of life and death. We Muslim (Muslim women) thinks burqa is so important and if not wear “Amman” will be effected than we should not travel to France unnecessarily. Same goes to Muslims living in France thinks that way than should migrate from France.

Allah knows your heart very well.Recommend

I totally agree with honorable ambassador. I hope they are able to pass this as a law asap in their country.Recommend

why should muslim women have the “right” to cover their face when no one else is allowed this “right”Recommend

@Imran
I don’t know about a bomb strapped around the face but I do recollect a rouge trying to get away in a burqa under the cover of night. It is indeed the misfortune of our country that he is once again a free man.Recommend

His excellency The Ambassador has done an excellent job. As an appointee of the present French Government he has rightly presented the opinion of the government which may not be the opinion of the People.

The present government in government in France is of the Right. The president (Sarkozy) of the party is trying to keep the extreme right on his side. He is using this Burqa issue for his political battle in 2012.

The word Burqa is used only for the complete covering of a woman from head to heal as it is done in Afghanistan, North of Pakistan and rarely some other parts of Indo-Pakistan subcontinent.

This shuttle-cork has nothing to do with OPEN FACE Hijab, Niqab.or Chadar.

“I guess that leaves French people no room to question the Iranian dress code for women.”

The Iranian women have their beautiful eyes and charming faces open to public. Who will have any objection in France?

“I find it very difficult, if not impossible, to rationalize the arguments either for or against wearing Burka in Europe. It’s an issue that does not lend itself easily to an intellectual debate. The reaction to Bruka in France, as in some other countries, is visceral or instinctive. What they expect of immigrants is that they adapt to the traditions of the host countries who have welcomed them, and not the other”

Any religion is based on belief (without logic and argument). Thus any religion is irrational. It is not surprising that a debate based on an irrational subject be also irrational.

It is very common among the Pakistani intellectuals that they consider every debate should be intellectual. The Burqa has nothing to do with Intelligence. So, the debate is social, civil, political and conservative.

Even the non-intellectuals have the right to debate.

“It is personal matter or choice.. She has right what she wears burqa or skirt”
Yes. But dressing by a leaf or by nothing should be also right of an individual. In India the Naked Sadhus are a common feature. Have you ever tried to walk naked in Pakistan?.
“I don’t understand this hypocrisy…….If one decides wear burqa then who are we to stop them. Its our birth rite to decide what we have to wear.”

It is also your birth right to walk naked!

“Mr. Daniel Jouanneau, that is a lame and disingenious argument. The ban is as straight forward an infringement of personal liberty as it can get! Just like no one has the right to tell a women to wear a burqa, the French dont have any right to tell these women not to wear one. Its their personal choice and not the business of the state. Its a slippery slope because if the state can tell women not to wear a burqa then what is to stop the state from telling women to wear a burqa? In light of your ban, your criticism of the Taliban is just pure hypocrisy. As the matter of principle, what your parliament did and what what the Taliban are doing is the same thing! However, I personally dont care because its your society/country and you can do whatever you want with it, so go screw it up even more. Europeans and whites in general are a bunch of racial, cultural and moral supremacists! We dont need a war on terror, we need a war against racism!”
@Haroon
Pakistan is an Islamic Republic. It is normal that Islam is present every where. France is a Secular Republic. The religion (any) is free to exist in the state (country) but it remains out of the STATE (system of the government). All the institutions, organizations, hospitals, schools and run by the state. In this republican space, religion does not enter. This is why you will not find any cross or Jesus Christ in a government school or hospital.
The Muslims claim that Burqa is an Islamic obligation, then state has every right to ban it from the Republican space but not from the public space. To ban it from the public space will be unconstitutional.
On a market day in many working class areas in France you will see more Niqab, Hijab and head cover than in a Pakistani Bazar.Recommend

Can women wear a mini skirt to Kissa Khawani Baazar, Peshawar? Or wear a bikini in Liberty, Lahore.
We all have our sensitivities, for France it the nikab, for Pakistan its more the better.
Respect the laws of the countries you live in.Recommend

Mr. Ambassador, I respect your views and understand the values and culture of your society. But we Muslims are immensely proud of Burqa-clad or purdah-observing ladies who follow the teachings of the Holy Quran and implement on the sayings of our beloved Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him). I believe that laws of your country enshrine and guarantee the freedom of speech and liberty for an individual to lead his/her life according to his/her religious teachings. Wearing burqa or covering a face is by no means a sign of any discomfort or uneasiness. The people of your country must reconcile with the fact that purdah is a part and parcel for a Muslim women. This purdah or veil is no hinderance in their interacting with people living together in a society. It does not pose any threat whatsoever to the dignity of women, equality of man and women and law and order situation. Therefore, the law against the veil must not be promulgated and Muslim women should be allowed to observe their purdah as per the teachings of Islam. I strongly oppose the undue and unjustified ban on Pudah in your country.Recommend

Bhurqa is a pre-Islamic period Persian custom, rich Persian women used to wear it to distinct themselves from the commoners; they brought this custom with them when they embraced Islam like Hindus brought dowery custom with them when they embraced Islam. This practice has been passed on from generation to generation and is still being practised especially in Pakistani villages where only Bibi Gis wear Bhurqas but the rest of the village community do not.

Bhurqa has nothing to do with Islam and the same goes for other Islamic outfits like Hijab, Jilbab, Niqab, Beard, Topi which we wear so eagerly in the western countries but none of them are Islamic dresses; in fact there isn’t any Islamic dress prescribed anywhere in Qur’an and if Jilbab was prescribed then it was meant for the 7th century Arabian society not for the evolved society of today.

If we Muslims wear these dresses in European countries, we put up a huge demarcation line between ‘them and us’ leaving no room for our future generation to integrate. If we do not integrate in the western society where we live we will create two parallel societies; then one unfortunate day we might suffer from the same fate that the Jews did in Germany.

Salaam.Recommend

I agree with the very valid points the Ambassador makes and wonder why Pakistani’s have double standards making a hue and cry when a western nation bans the niqab and keeping silent about Tunis, Turkey and most recently Syria taking the same measure…… Recommend

I mean is this burqa really causing any harm to other fellow citizens? If it is then ban it? But is thier any harm to me if a person wears burqa?Recommend

@Blogging at work seems to have misunderstood me, I question our double standards complaining about the West and not the Muslim countries who have banned the niqab; I personally oppose it and am for its total ban having read the Quran and not finding a single reference to warrant its use. I agree with the Ambassador, the French do not have to accept something so alien to their culture. Recommend

I am really disappointed to read all the comments to this blog. I respect the notion of honourable Frenchman and I fully agree that France is totally alowed to enact any law that she wants….

But I am really worried to read the comments of young girls and boys of our country..Just because they are overawed, overwhelmed and highly inspired by the liberal, nude and highly promiscous western society, they are blatantly saying that Burqa or Naqab is not part of Islam..This is what West wanted…to make inroads through such tricky ways……
If you do not know Soora Noor, If you have not read the hadeeth in which Hazoor was moving along with ummulmomineen one night when someone came along…Hazoor asked ummulmonineen to take veil off her face so that the man can clearly see that Hazoor is only moving along with ummulmomineen and none else….If she did not have veil on her face then why the need of this action….???

Finally….I am really worried our youth is heading gradually towards bikinis…!!!! in the name of freedom and liberality…. I am already observing sleeveless shirts and skirts ……..Recommend

Hey Mr. Disappointed,

To justify the veil as an Islamic requirement, you say : “Hazoor asked ummulmonineen to take the veil off her face so that the man can clearly see that Hazoor is only moving along with ummulmomineen and none else….”

This means that the stranger could recognize ummulmonineen’s face, which means he must have seen her without a veil several times to be able to recognize her instantly. Don’t you see the contradiction in your own statement? Recommend

@Dr. Altaf ul Hassan, Well said. I think you have objectively hit the nail on the head.Recommend

@Mr. Disappointed Sir,
I beg to submit very humbly in the best interest of all of us( in the best interest of the faith we believe in and claiming ourelves to be the true follower of Islam) that no effort should be made to porve that (God forbid) Islam is only the religion of past and not practicable in the present times.Whereas converse is true as for as the teachings of islam are concerned and I believe in it very strongly.Islam is most practicable religion in the present times as it had been in the past and will remain so without any incompatibility with those even who do not follow it as it is a religion of piece and blessing for every one and nothing else.Recommend

The message is quite moderate as it comes from an official, so it is just official. I know Europe’s prejudice against immigerants, they accept them as cheap labour but do not accommodate all of their values. They also put other barriers not letting them get better jobs (but snce we are not talking about it, let it go). Basic fact behind Niqaab is for the Muslim women to keep themselves from sexual provocation which is quite opposite to European norms. I wonder if European woman have right to nakedness and present it sometime as an art and accept it with all its manifetations, why Muslim women have no right to protect their dignity? Where is your right to live one’s own way? As for threat, this is just a concoction that Niqaab is a threat to a security. Poeple who do not wear it have all street crimes in their name.Recommend

Hi,
The purpose of the French ambassador for writing article adressing Pakistani people is to prepare ground before the impending law of banning the face covering Bhurqa comes into effect in France in September; this is meant to soften the blow against those nutcases who might protest agaist it and burn their own properties.

I am a European and I have been to Pakistan; I must say that Pakistani educated women are leading the way amongst all the Islamic countries of the world the way they dress themselves according to the Qur’anic requisites; some wear modest western dresses but most wear beautiful Salawar Kameeze with Dupata either hung around their necks or placed over their shoulders or thrown over their breasts like Qur’an 24:31 instructs. I saw very few ladies wearing Bhurqa and Hijab; these two dresses are not the Qur’anic requirements and I hope that this trend will die down in Pakistan.

In the United Kingdom, I have seen women praying Jummah prayer without covering their hair, I have seen women giving Khutba and leading prayers with mixed congregation of women lined up behind men. Islam is getting modernised Mashaallah, Qur’an is silent about it and our Ullamahs who have been conditioning us for centuries to stay covered from head to toe are loosing ground. No wonder Qur’an is the final testament meant to fit the all ages.

Salaam.Recommend

Mr. Ambassador,
Very well written. I completely agree with your opinion.
If us Pakistanis/Muslims can object to skimpy clothing for foreigners in our countries, we have no right to object to laws in foreign countries.
The fact of the matter is, the law is not targeting Hijab, it is infact targeting the veil, which in today’s world can be a concern in terms of security.Recommend