The Feminist Anti-Niqabis: Freeing Women from their Free Choice
Deena Khalil3 November 2009 in Deena Khalil, Featured Blogumnist, Islam, Religion
In the midst of all the hullabaloo about the niqab we are witnessing the formation of an unlikely alliance. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Egyptian Sheikh al-Azhar Muhammad Tantawi both stirred controversy after expressing anti-niqab sentiments, and many of the reactions have been quite predictable. But certain opinions – the opinions of two groups in particular – strike me as somewhat self-contradictory: the Muslims who are for the niqab-ban because they see the niqab as an imposition on Islam, and the liberals who are for the ban because they see the niqab as oppressive to women.
Responding to the former group requires delving into issues of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) which may be appropriate for another post. But in this post I will address the latter group: the self-proclaimed feminist freedom-of-choice-gender-equality-empowerment-of-women-espousing liberals.
This opinion is one that I just don’t understand. Personally, I have more respect for a secularist ideologue that hates all religious symbols than I do for a liberal who cries freedom of choice and calls for banning the niqab in the same breath. At least the secularists are consistent. But this particular group has taken on the cause of liberating women from the shackles of backwardness – these shackles being according to their own personal definition, and the women themselves get no say in the matter.
Mona el-Tahawy, Egyptian journalist, writes for the New York Times saying:
“Soad Saleh, a professor of Islamic law and former dean of the women’s faculty of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University — hardly a liberal, said the burqa [niqab] had nothing to do with Islam. It was but an old Bedouin tradition. It is sad to see a strange ambivalence toward the burqa [niqab] from many of my fellow Muslims and others who claim to support us. They will take on everything — the right wing, Islamophobia, Mr. Straw, Mr. Sarkozy — rather than come out and plainly state that the burqa [niqab] is an affront to Muslim women.”
However, this group of anti-niqab advocates misses one crucial point: whether or not the niqab is mandated by Islam has nothing to do with Sarkozy’s (or anybody else’s) right to ban it.
People’s reasons for dressing a certain way are personal, private, and completely irrelevant to the debate, which is a debate about RIGHTS. The point here is: Citizens have the right to wear whatever they want in public. Governments simply should not have the right to interfere in how people dress. Whether or not we agree with, or even understand, their reasons for wearing what they do should be of no significance in any free country.
Those women who freely choose to wear the niqab are dismissed as extremists, people who surrendered rather than fought for their rights and thus are unworthy of our support for their rights to dress as they choose, or brainwashed oppressed souls who need to be saved by those who have been enlightened.
Egyptian journalist Manar Ammar writes for news website BikyaMasr:
“Many people believe that wearing the niqab is forced on women, but they miss out on a very important piece of information: some women wear it because they want to. If people don’t believe me, let us have a public debate where women can list the true reasons behind their clothing choices and then we can talk.”
Sarkozy’s comments render the supposedly democratic French government no different than the Saudi Arabian or Iranian governments in proclaiming that the government has the right to interfere in what people wear. Similarly, many of these self-proclaimed feminist liberals are strong advocates for democracy in Egypt, and yet they support government interference in the way people dress. Many within this group of anti-niqab advocates are using the well-worn argument “if a woman wears skimpy clothing in Saudi Arabia or Iran they get punished for it”. It seems like they believe that if Iran and Saudi Arabia do it, they should do it too!
How can we in good conscience argue so vehemently against Saudi Arabia’s and Iran’s strict dress codes and then call for a ban of the niqab just because we don’t like it? This type of blatant double-standard panders to racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and extremism. Feminism has nothing to do with it.
**portions of this article were published in CSN.
BM
The beliefs and statements of all Bikya Masr blogumnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect our editorial views.
pls, dont tell me.. that women who basically choose to wear niqab with free will know or understand the conception of ” freedom” , those islamists who promote niqab believe that a woman is a sinner and main source for evil deeds, they look down upon women… i get disgusted seeing a munaqabba in front of me , myself. this is a culture of bedouins.
It is amazing the amount of stereotyping and name calling in this issue
Culture is of Bedouins, nothing shame about it.
The most prosper city on earth is the Bedouin city of Dubai, the royal family proudly dresses in their Bedouin cloth. Even worse, in the level ignorance, that traditional Bedouins culture does not require women to cover their face.
Although comment #1 author lives in Virginia, USA, he fails to see in his backyard and allover Europe, well-educated women who are wearing Hajab and Neqab on their own free choice.
Feminists, liberals and human rights activists have failed this test as they collectively stood against everything they promoted for years about rights and freedoms.
Mohajer Masry
I am an Egyptian practicing Muslim living in Egypt. In my own person prejudiced opinion, I hate women who wear niqab. When I see one of them, I make immediate snap judgements and see them as ignorant, stupid sex objects and not human beings. I have the utmost disregard and disrespect for such a choice.
But Ms. Khalil has a point. They have their own reasons for choosing to cover their face. Whether I or others disrespect or do not understand that decision is irrelevant. We should let them do what they want, for it is their personal choice.
I find the security argument rather vague and inconsistent; it just seems more like an excuse to ban it. When security and identification are concerned, they can just uncover their faces and I don’t think it will be a problem for them.
I do, however, stand by the decision to ban teachers and students from wearing it in schools on the grounds that it hinders proper dialogue and interaction (though others would disagree with me).
Thank you for your insight, Ms. Khalil
I will tell you why u i believe niqab has nothing to do with freedom of choice. Although i personally don’t believe that the hijab is mandatory, i do observe the fact that whomever decides to wear it is free to do so. but when it comes to Niqab (and all security concerns, although valid, aside) it is a matter of violating MY own rights of knowing who I am dealing with, with many full-veiled women in our society i will eventually be forced to deal with them either as at work, on the street or anywhere else
in conclusion to keep things even:
1- they should not be allowed to drive cars (you need to be able to recognize the driver in case of an accident)
2 -they should not be allowed to provide services (educational, civil or medical)
3 – anyone should have the right to refuse to deal with them
4- my right to cover up completely as a male should also be recognised
5- if a woman walks down the street in revealing clothes, no one should ask her or advise her to dress more modestly
I believe that by completely covering up, you are gaining superiority over the people around you
and my final message is that if you dont want to be seen…… stay at home dont work, dont teach, dont drive. and lets see if its really worth it after all of that
There are many self-destructive things that men and women choose to do. Being a feminist or someone who believes in liberal values does not mean one has to support every choice equally.
Is that a value judgement? Yes. But, being a feminist or liberal doesn’t mean you have to throw all your values out the window.
I’m a feminist and a liberal. I do not support the choice of prostitution, the choice of public nudity, the choice of polygamy or the choice of wearing a niqab in public. The niqab harms all women. It is intended to remove a woman from her surroundings. It is an affront to human decency, and I feel no ethical dilemma standing up and saying so.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joseph Mayton, Bikya Masr and John Relation, Zarko. Zarko said: The Feminist Anti-Niqabis: Freeing Women from their Free Choice …: In the midst of all the hullabalo.. http://bit.ly/3nqRjR #Nicolaz [...]
[...] The Feminist Anti-Niqabi: Freeing Women from their Free Choice This piece was originally published at BikyaMasr.com. [...]
i totally agree with comment no.4
and i support these demands and conclusions you wrote. …
“People’s reasons for dressing a certain way are personal, private, and completely irrelevant to the debate, which is a debate about RIGHTS”
If it is not because of Islam, then it is because freedom of choice. I’ll tell you, mainly they became Monaqubat because they were forced either by their families, or to avoid sexual harassment. Using freedom of choice as an excuse to wear a backward dress is very poor reason.
By the way Dubai residents are backward also. We don’t judge civilization by the number of fancy expensive cars in the streets or the number of high rise in a square mile. We judge civilization by how people interact with each other and their thinking process, if any. Baudouin is a Badouin, even if he fly his own jet plane. He is still backward because the way he think about women and his general rational and reasoning. It is how the brain process the information in a scientific way using logic and not by how many possession he has.
It is unbelievable how most Egyptian prefer to attach themselves to Baudouin or Arab culture and way of life, and detached themselves from their own great magnificent ancient Egyptian heritage, which is not logic. However it is acceptable in Egypt because Kamal El-Din Hussein (former minister of education and one of the July 13 freedom officers) remove the study of reasoning, rational and logic from the education curriculum. According to him, it does not coincide with Islam since it might lead the thinker to Kufr. Now we know that he and the rest of the poorly educated army officers are wrong and we are the product of these 13 men. So, actually their is an excuse for the lack of logic. Think about it and count to 10 before you …..
Sorry, please admin delete the above comment from me, it was a mistake/misunderstanding!! My apologies for the misunderstanding.
yeah, we were a bit surprised by this, Amr, but no worries. We don’t censor comments unless they are racist or advocate the killing of people.
I do like and agree in principal with the comments of “Egyptian” and Gamal. Especially having had a lots of “near hits” in the traffic by women wearing the Niqab I support the vote of non-driving for the Munaqabat – on top of that they don’t see where they are driving they are verbally very abusive (my experience).
Having said that I don’t like the Niqab because it portrays a wrong image from Islam. This is NOT Islam but it is a pre-Islamic trandition equal to the Purda and Burka. On top of it it is taken by the western media in portraying “THE Islam”. Not one article about Islam where there is not the Munaqaba pictured. Think about this, my dear Niqab wearing sisters.
Yet I would like to paraphrase Voltaire by saying: “Although I despise the Niqab I will fight for the woman’s right to wear it.” Clothing is a personal choice and a question of taste. Nobody has the right to interfere with it if it doesn’t affect the wellbeing and safety of the public in general. As it is written: “There is no force in religion”.
But! When it comes to public offices and schools/universities the Niqab has nothing to do there. Everybody has the right to see the face of the person he/she is dealing with. More so as the face is – second to the voice – the most distinguished and distinguishable means of communication. And that is withheld!
In private businesses it should be a question of company policy. And in private life it should be a question of personal preference where nobody has the right to interfere.
Why is this so difficult?
And with respect to the remark regarding “backward culture” … who on earth is there to judge what is a “worthy” culture and what is not?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Probably the “McDonalds’ and Coke “culture” is more worthy … ????
Salam
In general:
It would be interesting to hear what is more demeaning to people (women or not): wearing the Niqab or the (woman) Minister of the Work Force who bows to kiss the hand of the First Lady …?
Just curious …
Salam
[...] Now what has made me bring up this topic is the fact that a lot of stereotypes about being a Muslim woman tend to be born out of pure ignorance, lack of understanding for the religion, cultural misunderstandings that have been added into the religion, media influenced lack of knowledge about the true lives of Muslim women and frankly, some people just purely do not want to get to know other people, races, cultures, religions or life styles. [...]
Doesn’t the nigib seem to assume the worst in human nature? As if showing your face or hands will cause unwanted attention and harrassment?(which of course is unheard of in Egypt) The paradox here is the claim that wearing the nigab somehow protects the woman’s dignity or honor. When in fact their is no dignity in losing your individuality and becoming at automatan, no matter how much “freedom” of choice you think you have.
Do we really want half of the population to be dressed in large black bags?
Quit flattering yourselves ladies. One can dress a goat in a black robe – and if you imagine really hard, you might find it attractive.