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Qaradawi warns of backlash against Europe's niqab ban moves
Publish Date: Saturday,8 May, 2010, at 01:55 AM Doha Time
By Anwar ElShamy
Staff Reporter
Al-Qaradawi: appeal
Qatar-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi yesterday urged those
European countries which are considering outlawing the full veil (niqab) to
review their plans, saying that a wider ban on niqab might prompt clerics to
campaign for imposing a "modest dress code" on foreigners living in Muslim
countries.
In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Qaradawi said the recent outlawing of the
face-covering veil in public by Belgium along with a French draft law to make
it illegal would be a violation of both religious and personal freedoms.
"I hope that France, Belgium and all of Europe will show respect to Islamic
values and creed. Banning a Muslim woman from wearing the niqab would only
place her in a dilemma about whether to comply with the law or obey what she
believes is a religious order," Sheikh Qaradawi told a congregation at the Omar
bin Al-Khattab mosque at Khalifa South town.
However, the scholar, who is the chairman of the Dublin-based International
Muslim Scholars Union, said the face-covering veil was not obligatory in Islam
and that a woman should cover the head and neck but leave the face open.
"Although I think that wearing niqab is not obligatory and that women should
only wear the hijab (covering the head and neck, but leaving the face visible),
I am totally against banning a Muslim from wearing niqab if she is convinced of
it as a religious obligation," he explained.
"I do not represent all Muslim scholars. There are scholars in Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries who consider niqab as obligatory and
there are millions of women who wear it by their own free choice. If I asked
them to stop wearing it, I would be violating their personal and religious
freedom," he maintained.
Quoting from a letter he had sent to former French president Jacques Chirac,
the scholar said the ban imposed on hijab in schools would be a betrayal of the
principles of the French Revolution, namely liberty, fraternity and equality.
"I told (president Chirac) that prohibiting women from wearing the hijab would
be discrimination against them and make them hate France which is known to be a
leading country for freedom," he added.
In his letter, he had also dismissed the notion that hijab was a religious
symbol for Muslims as "untrue", saying that if it was a symbol, why they were
allowed to take it off when they were in the presence of other women or male
relatives."Wearing hijab for Muslims could not be dealt with as wearing a
necklace with a cross pendant for Christians," he said.
He indicated that the sentiments against niqab or hijab were a reflection of a
desire by European countries to impose their culture on others. "I have
received a recent visit by French ambassador Gilles Bonnaud and I explained
these things to him. I told him that Muslims believed in the unity of humanity
but also believed that each nation should stick to its traits," he added.
"When Muslims ruled India, they did not close down temples or impose a ban on
cremation. It is the duty of each nation to respect the values of the other,
but with the European case, we can make it difficult for French and Belgian
women who stay in Muslim countries by asking them to stick to a modest dress,"
he quoted from the conversation he had with the French ambassador to Qatar.
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