What she said was that Quran does not compel women to cover their face and the issue needs to be debated. She probably wanted to reassure the European audiences about the liberalism among the Indian Muslims. But it has been taken as an affront. The statement was described as “appalling”. Some went to the extent of declaring her a “non- Muslim”. Even a person like Maulana Mahmood Madni, MP and General Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind accused her of “talking about sensitive issues without authority.”

The debate about the veil has been going on for long in different parts of the world. It was revived recently in London when the former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that British Muslim women should set aside the veil because this is a “visible statement of separation and of difference” from the rest of the mainstream British society. He said this made community relations more difficult. Ironically, the statement came from a political leader who has over 20 percent Muslim population in his constituency.

Straw has always been considered a fair- minded advocate of minorities and Muslim rights but he was candid in saying that he often asked Muslim women in his constituency to remove their veils so that he could have a real “face to face” interaction. Straw received unconditional support from Prime Minister Tony Blair. He received public support from at least one other Labour MP, Ann Cryer, who also has a substantial Muslim population in his West Yorkshire constituency of Keighley.

Among Straw’s supporters was the writer Salman Rushdie who declared that “veil sucks”. Giving his full backing to Jack Straw he said “I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women.”

About nine months ago, the Dutch Parliament voted by a thunderous majority to ban the Burqa, outright. The Proposal will make Netherlands the first European country to ban a Muslim Veil. In Belgium, at least one city, Maaseik, made wearing Burqa at public places a crime about two years ago and levied a 125 Euro fine for it. It was followed by Utrecht in Holland, which cut unemployment benefits for Muslim women wearing Burqa, as it prevented employers from hiring them. Passions were raised when France banned wearing head scarves and other religious symbols in public schools.

In Australia, a senior Islamic cleric Shiekh Taj Aldin al Hilali raised uproar by comparing women who do not wear a headscarf with “uncovered meat” who invite rape. Australian newspapers quoted him as saying that “if you take out uncovered meat and place it outside…without cover…and the cats come to eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat”. Though he denied later that he was condoning rape it was interpreted as inciting young men to violent crime. There were demands that Australian Muslims should force him to step down.

The Tory leader in United Kingdom David Cameron has expressed his anxiety over coming up of Muslim ghettos in British cities. He demanded that in future Islamic schools should admit a quarter of their pupils from other faiths. Communities cannot be allowed to grow up with “parallel lives.” He was emphatic that “a new generation of Muslim schools is emerging. If these schools are to be British state schools, they must be part of our society, not separate from it”

What does all this indicate? That Islam which stands for humanism and love for others is being hijacked? One thing is clear that liberal Muslim identity has no space in the community and those who try to create it are shouted down by the hard core clergy. Remember how hell broke loose sometime ago on a statement by Professor Mushir-ul- Hassan of the Jamia Milia Islamia. He had said that although he thought Salman Rushdie’s book, the Satanic Verses was offensive he did not favour its banning. Students banned his entry into the University Campus.

There are a lot many controversies raging on the issues concerning the Muslim community -Talaq, recitation of Vande Mataram and a host of others. These can be resolved only by making the community realize that they have to adapt themselves with changing times. And this can best be done through education. The world is heading towards liberalization and cooperative functioning. Assimilation and not separation is the watch word for different communities for progress.


Courtesy : Syndicate Features

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