By Ahmed Al-Matboli, IOL Correspondent
VIENNA, March 16, 2205 (IslamOnline.net) � Austrian
Interior Minister Liese Prokop has backtracked on anti-hijab statements,
thanks to immediate and astute action from the Muslim minority in the
south-central European country.
�I respect Muslim women and their right to choose
their attire,� Prokop said in press statements carried by IslamOnline.net
Tuesday, March 15.
She shifted her ground following a visit by a
delegation led by Amina Baghajati, the media spokeswoman for the Islamic
Religious Authority (IGG), the main representative body of the Muslim
minority in Austria.
Prokop told the state-run Falter magazine on
March 8 that she strongly supported banning hijab-clad women from teaching
in schools.
�I consider now the legality of banning hijab in
schools,� Prokop told the state-run Falter Magazine Tuesday, March
8. �But, anyhow, I will throw my weight about the ban.�
Expectedly, the minister�s statements raised the ire
of the Muslim minority and government officials with Chancellor Wolfgang
Schussel saying Prokop was in no position to address such an
issue.
Reinforcing the eminent status they enjoy under Islam,
Austrian Muslim women established last month the Muslim Women Forum in
Austria (FMFO) as an affiliate to the IGG to get the message
across.
Credit for a successful and a fruitful 2004 does not
only go to Muslim men in Austria; Muslim women have
in that regard.
Muslims make up some 8 per cent of the country�s eight
million population.
Islam, which was officially acknowledged in Austria in
1908, is considered the second religion in the country after Catholic
Christianity.
Racial Profiling
But the problem of hijab is far from over in the
country. Hijab-clad women still suffer from racial profiling and
discrimination at workplace and universities for no other reason other
than being veiled.
�It is hard for a hijab-clad woman in Austria to get a
job opportunity,� Um Kareem, who accepted Islam 11 years ago, told
IOL.
�I myself used to have a job before taking on hijab,�
she added. �Austrians, in effect, look with suspicion at hijab-clad women,
which is offensive.�
She said that such looks make Muslim women feel very
alien to their country.
�They think that we can�t speak German and
undereducated,� Um Kareem said.
FMFO president Andrea Saleh, on her part, said that
Muslim women are offended by comments made by Austrians on their
hijabs.
�The old proverb says �speak so that I can see you;�
hence, they shouldn�t be preoccupied with our hijabs.�
Um Kareem, meanwhile, advised Muslim converts to enter
Islam step by step.
�My family was really shocked when they saw me in
hijab�.They really found it strange.�
Baghajati agreed that a Muslim woman convert should
wear hijab gradually not all at once.
�I was wrong when I decided to wear hijab immediately
after I embraced Islam because it really gave my mother the shock of her
life,� she said.
In the last few years, hijab has become the subject of
increasing controversy in European countries.
Muslim organizations across Europe have reported that
discrimination against Muslim women wearing hijab peaked since September
11.
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
(IHF) said in a report released on March 7 that the debate surrounding the
adoption in 2004 of a French law prohibiting religious attire in public
schools helped encourage intolerance and discrimination against hijab-clad
Muslim women across Europe.
�Because of the discriminatory treatment often faced
by veiled Muslim women, public employment offices reportedly consider the
use of the headscarf a �disability� in the job search process,� according
to the report.
