Risking Jail for Niqab

OnIslam & Newspapers

Sunday, 10 April 2011 14:28

“I will go out in my full veil and I will fight…I will fight for my liberty,” said Drider

CAIRO – As a French law banning the wearing of face-veil in public places is to take effect on Monday, April 11, some Muslim women are not ready to take off the outfit as one of their basic rights.

"I will be going about my business in my full veil as I have for the last 12 years and nothing and nobody is going to stop me," Kenza Drider, a mother-of-four, told The Observer on Sunday, April 10.

A French law banning the wearing of face-veil – burka or niqab -- in public place is to take into effect on Monday, April 11.

Offenders would be fined 150 euros ($189) or required to take part in a citizenship class.

However, Drider is not worried about the ban, insisting on wearing her burqa.

"Fines? They don't bother me,” she says.

“What is the state going to do, send a policeman outside my front door to give me a ticket every time I go out?

“For me this is women's liberty, the liberty to wear what I wish and not be punished for it.”

It is not the first time that France sets a controversial law against a Muslim outfit.

In 2004, France banned hijab in schools and public places, with many European countries following suit.

France is home to some 5-6 million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Europe.

The face-veil, a garment that is often black, covers the face but leaves the eyes uncovered, different from burqa wore by Afghani women.

While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil, or niqab, but believe that it is up to women to decide whether to cover her face.

Personal Choice

Drider, of Moroccan background, says she wears the face-veil out of personal conviction.

"I never covered my head when I was young. I came from a family of practicing Muslims, but we were not expected to even wear a headscarf,” she said.

"There was no mosque involved, no pressure from anyone.

“It is not a religious constraint since it is not laid down in Islam or the Qur'an that I have to wear a full veil. It is my personal choice," she says.

"I would never encourage others to do it just because I do. That is their choice. My daughters can do what they like. As I tell them, this is my choice, not theirs."

But since the government began to debate a ban on face-veil, Drider became subjected to insults, harassment and death threats.

"When President Sarkozy said: 'The burqa is not welcome in France', the president, my president, opened the door for racism, aggression and attacks on Islam,” she says.

“This is an attempt to stigmatize Islam and it has created enormous racism and Islamophobia that wasn't there before."

Drider sees the ban as a violation of her basic rights to wear what she wants.

"This whole law makes France look ridiculous," she says.

"I never thought I'd see the day when France, my France, the country I was born in and I love, the country of liberté, égalité, fraternité, would do something that so obviously violates people's freedom.

"I'll be getting on with my life and if they want to send me to prison for wearing the niqab then so be it. One thing's for sure: I'm not taking it off."

Drider says that the issue is bigger than a “piece of material” she puts on her face, it is a fundamental human right granted for all French women to wear what they wish.

"This is about basic fundamental human rights and freedoms,” she says.

“I will go out in my full veil and I will fight. I'm prepared to go all the way to the European court of human rights and I will fight for my liberty.”

(source:onislam.net)

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