French burka ban is a mistake: It's politicians against women's rights

I am upset and disappointed over the sudden sweep of intolerance toward the burka in France. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "It's a sign of enslavement. . . . It will not be welcome in the French Republic."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: New York Daily News
By Nusrat Qadir | April 13 2011

As I was leaving work the other day, a co-worker complimented my Muslim head covering. It was a lovely sentiment to hear, and I walked away smiling, thankful for the religious tolerance that marks American society.

Sadly, however, the approximately 2,000 women who choose to wear the burka - as the covering worn by female adherents of Islam is known - in France will now be fined and possibly arrested. As of this writing, two women have been detained, and one fined, under France's onerous new "burka ban," which results from longstanding tensions between Muslim immigrants and French authorities.

Indeed, such a concept seems foreign to those of us who value the freedom we ostensibly have in Western nations to wear just about anything we choose.

As a member of the moderate Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I appreciate the freedom to express my faith through clothing, a right shared by every American woman.


At the same time, I am upset and disappointed over the sudden sweep of intolerance toward the burka in France. As French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "It's a sign of enslavement. . . . It will not be welcome in the French Republic."

There is profound irony in this misguided statement. France's infringement on a woman's right to practice her faith as she sees fit is precisely the type of intolerance displayed in Muslim countries where extremists force women to wear the burka. Ultimately, the choice should always be given to the woman, whether she is a resident of Riyadh or Paris - or, for that matter, New York City.

After all, the Prophet Muhammed taught tolerance. As far as clothing is concerned, the Koran simply guides women to dress modestly: "And tell the believing women to lower their gazes and be modest, and to display of their adornments only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms."

There is no mandate for all women to dress in a certain way. Individual cultures created the traditional garments Muslim women may choose to wear.

French politicians boast that the burka ban protects women's rights, when in actuality it is doing quite the opposite. Hiding behind the pretense of liberalism, France is basically telling its Muslim women that they cannot be trusted with their own faith. This is an odd way to protect someone.

As one of the women detained this week in France defiantly said, "This whole law makes France look ridiculous. I never thought to see the day when . . . the country I was born in and I love, the country of liberty, equality, fraternity, would do something that so obviously violates people's freedom." She certainly does not sound like the "enslaved" woman Sarkozy claimed he was protecting with the burka ban.

A defining quality of American life is our tolerance for one another. It may be messy, but it is an essential element of who we are. We may not always understand each other, but we respect difference for the sake of our richly diverse culture. It is this very richness that France lost with its burka ban.

Nusrat Qadir is an American-born Muslim working as a neonatal intensive care unit registered nurse. She is a spokeswoman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA.



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