CAIRO, July 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) While
respecting a recent fatwa by a leading British Muslim scholar allowing
them to take off hijab to avoid spiraling harassment, a number of young
British Muslim women said they would keep their religious dress code and
seek police protection against racists.
"As a British citizen I have every right to wear my
hijab, which is part of my Muslim identity," Yusra, a University of London
student, told IslamOnline.net by phone, referring to the Constitutions
freedom of religion article.
"If harassed because of my religion, I would
immediately resort to the Metropolitan Police to protect me from
racists."
She maintained that taking off her hijab would be
tantamount to giving in to extremists and racists "who would not stop at
that".
Sheikh Zaki Badawi, the principal of the Muslim
College in London and chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams in
Britain, told IOL Thursday, July 28, that Muslim women in Britain can don
off their hijab to head off racist attacks.
"I have issued a fatwa that Muslim women in Britain
have an Islamic right to take off their hijab at this point of time if
attacked or fearing to be attacked," he said, citing 15,00 assault against
hijab-clad women in three days.
A Guardian/ICM poll published Tuesday, July 26,
indicated that nearly half a million Muslims contemplated leaving Britain
after the London attacks.
Freedom of Choice
Allaa Al-Samarai, another student, said it is up to
each Muslim woman to make up such a decision.
"One might use the fatwa authorization and take off
her hijab and that would be her right, but personally I will keep my hijab
to gain Gods reward," she said.
Her colleague Hiba Al-Ramadani said it makes no sense
that Muslim women take off their hijab whenever they face a
problem.
"Otherwise, we will gradually lose our Muslim identity
and this will greatly undermine the Muslim minority in Britain," estimated
at some 1.7 million people, she said.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a
religious symbol displaying ones affiliations.
The issue has taken central stage in Europe
particularly after a French bill banning hijab in public schools and
institutions.
Necessity
Wisan Al-Tikriti, a student in Leeds University,
begged to differ with Badawi over the "need" to take off hijab at this
crucial time.
"I respect Dr. Badawi who is trying to safeguard the
dignity and protect the lives of British Muslim women," she
said.
"But I do not think there is a real need necessitating
British Muslims to take off their hijab."
Mokhtar Al-Badri, the deputy chairman of the Muslim
Association of Britain (MAB), echoed a similar position.
"If necessity arises, we will undoubtedly back up
Badawis fatwa," he told IOL.
Badri said "individual" racist attacks on Muslims in
Britain following the London terrorist attacks do not necessitate such a
fatwa.
The Muslim Safety Forum (MSF), an umbrella group of
Muslim organizations advising the police, said on Thursday that attacks on
Asians and religious minorities in London have leapt more than 500 percent
since the July 7 bombings.
There have been more than 230 faith-related crimes
recorded by London police since the attacks on the city's transport system
that killed 56 people including four bombers.
But London police chief Ian Blair said racially and
religiously-motivated crimes remained at a low level for a large city,
despite an increase following the July 7 bombings and a failed second wave
on July 21.
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