Contributors react: The Banning of the Hijab in France

The banning of the Hijab in France has created a worldwide debate. Several Muslim women around the world have spoken up against this unjust ruling.  In this article three of our own Muslim Women contributors speak about their experience on the matter. 

“When I first heard about the banning of the Hijab in France I was infuriated. Sadly this is not the first time we are witnessing how Muslim women are wrongly been stripped of their rights to freely express their religion and agency. Since 2005, France has discriminated against Muslim women with barbaric laws for years and seems that the France government has enforced further measures to ensure that the autonomy and agency of Muslim girls and women are stripped even further.

As a non-hijab-wearing Muslim woman, I find it extremely difficult to wrap my head around the fact that in 2021 women are having to fight for basic human rights. According to the France government, the hijab is a threat, this is just an unjustified excuse to use the ban as a way to police women’s bodies and showcase extreme levels of islamophobia. 

The Hijab and other forms of face-covering in the Islam culture stand for different things for different Muslim women and no it is not a form of oppression.  The banning of the Hijab and Niqab reeks of misogyny, oppression, and against women’s agency and freedom of choice.   It is evident that the so-called “threat” that the France government supposedly feels about hijab niqab and is just their way of trying to take away the agency of women and having the white man dedicate what women can and can’t wear. 

As a Muslim woman, I feel sick to my stomach that my fellow sisters are been violated of their right to wear their headscarf.  For decades women around the world have fought hard to ensure the freedoms of equality, respect, fairness, and empowerment that has always been rightfully ours however it is evident that this ban indicates the battle seems to never end. “

 

– Zahirah Benjamin 

“The rate at which people misinterpret the Hijab is alarming and disheartening, why would someone see the Hijab, that make me feel liberated whenever I use it, as a ‘threat’.

Understanding the Hijab in the aspect of Islam would have been better than creating phobia for the woman who wear it. The bill in the French senate does not start with them and obviously would not end with them.

In 2019 Austria banned the Hijab in schools, Syria and Egypt ban the face veil in universities, from July 2010 and 2015 respectively. While some of these countries see the hijab as a ‘threat’, some believe it shows political Islam which is totally untrue.

Some facts you should know about hijab:

1. Woman are not forced: I started using the Hijab at age 17. I wasn’t forced by my parents or anyone else, I use it because I love it. In Islam, men are actually not allowed to force the Hijab on a woman.
2. Hijab is a symbol of identity and authority: A lot of people view the Hijab as a submissive religious dogma, but to me and several Muslim women, it’s not enslavement or oppression but rather a liberalising force and an identification.
3. It reduces sexual oppression: There is this adage that says ‘you are going to be addressed the way you are dressed’. Research shows that the Hijab symbolizes ‘Chastity’ and the mode of dressing reduces sexual oppression as they are viewed to be religious.
4. The Hijab is not just for woman but with man inclusive:

What do I mean by this?

In chapter 24 known as An Nur(the light) verse 30

  قُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ يَغُضُّوْا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ

 وَ يَحْفَظُوْا فُرُوْجَهُمْ, ذَلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ.

  “Say to the believing men that they should cast down their glances and be chaste…this is better for them.”

This verse rebukes forced law on women that says “a woman must cover up otherwise men are distracted”

In Islam, men are directed to first observe the Hijab by lowering their gaze. If the French bill eventually becomes law, the police are effectively given the right to harass and arrest Muslim woman. This would lead to a country where people can’t practice their religion freely. We Muslims should be able to live by our faith and worship freely as every other people, banning the Hijab is equal to creating islamophobia.

Kimar, Niqab, Burqa, Hijab, Chador or whatever veil we Muslim women decide to cover ourselves with shouldn’t be seen as a ‘threat’ or misinterpreted. Freedom is everyone fundamental human right and we Muslim are not excluded. My choice of using the Hijab should not be hindered because I should have control over my body and whatever I choose to wear.

The wearing of the hijab is for our protection, not oppression.”

– Sanni Barokah –Tweet to @BarhokahSanni

France’s decisions to ban the hijab have triggered an uproar from the Muslim community, and rightly so.

The banning is for women under the age of 18 in France, like Switzerland’s potential banning of the burqa, which is a whole different topic in itself. But the common theme in both cases is that Muslim women are having their right to religious freedom taken from them.

Hijab is an important aspect of Islam; it is a symbol of faith as it allows women to take pride in Islam and it is a religious practice too.

Many Muslim women do and do not wear the hijab, for their own induvial reasons. For many Muslim women, this is a choice. The issue lies in the fact that in this instance there is not a choice, or rather the choice is being made for them since they do not have the option to wear the hijab.

This is blatant islamophobia, and the lack of attention this has received from mainstream media is upsetting. It has been said that the banning is to ‘protect women from oppression’. Muslim women have had to listen to people moan that the hijab is oppressive when it is not. I speak on behalf of all Muslims when I say this is frustrating to hear, especially since the hijab itself is a means to protect women.

It’s upsetting to know this is happening in the 21st century, but it’s more upsetting to know that the world stays silent during this.

Muslim women are being banned from practising an essential part of their religion, and it seems that the world has ignored this.”

– Halimah Begum – Tweet to @halimahbegum_

By Zahirah Benjamin, Halimah Begum, Sanni Barokah

Featured image courtesy of Artur Aldyrkhanov via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.