Should there be restrictions om Muslim women wearing face coverings?

A burqua is a cloak that covers all but a woman’s hands and feet. In includes a small mesh-like area which allows Muslim women to see, but covers their bodies in order to maintain their modesty. The niqab on the other hand is a veil covering the face but leaving the eye area clear. The word hijab used in the Qur'an for a headscarf or veil is called khimār

Recently, the Dutch cabinet said it was proposing a bill banning clothing that covers the face in public, targeting in particular Muslim woman wearing the burqa or niqab.The ban would be imposed in public and "semi-public" places such as schools, courts, ministries and trains. They claim that it's a public safety measure, saying that garments covering the face may make others feel threatened and that suicide bombers in particular could use burquas to hide the explosives more easily. I am concerned that young Muslim women, especially those 'jihadists' who are teens who are in head-to-toe attire may be forced to carry bombs strapped around their bodies.

Dutch Muslims have objected at the proposed government ban of face veils, saying it infringes on their religious rights. No matter what we may think of Islam, veils, or burkas, they may have a point. What these women wear is a vital part of freedom of expression, and in this case of expression as per a custom- values fundamental to a liberal society. In a liberal society, it is simply assumed that (barring workplace safety issues, or balaclavas in banks), they can wear what they like in public. Many Muslims maintain that it is not the government's business to dictate fashion or tell them what they should wear, any more than it is the government’s business to tell them what they should believe or what they can and cannot do in bed.

A hitherto unknown group calling itself the ‘Just Swords of Islam’ issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip in the first week of December 2006 that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted by the group's members. The warning was directed primarily against female students in a number of universities and colleges who do not cover their heads in line with Islamic tradition. The group said its followers a week earlier threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly" in the center of Gaza City.

Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense? To do so, I would consider myself a moral coward so I will speak my mind.

I don't care if Muslim women wear Burquas in Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Africa, the United Arab Emirates, or any other Muslim nation. However, when they choose to live in Europe or North America, they have to adjust themselves to our customs if it conflicts with our security and well-being. For example, Afghan girls are now free to remove their burquas, which were strictly enforced under the Taliban regime.

As an example of sheer stupidity, some Muslim women who have applied for driver’s licences in some jurisdictions where photos of the drivers must be on the licences, have insisted that they be photographed wearing the burquas so that their faces are hidden and not shown on the liences. How long will it be when these stupid women begin demanding that photographs of their faces not be placed in their passports? These women in my opinion are so daft, they want to spend their days looking at life through a slit. It doesn’t say much for that part of female race with respect to their intelligence or lack thereof.

It’s ironic when one thinks of it. The veil was a symbol of prostitution sanctioned by a religion some 7000 years back. The veil used to identify woman as willing prostitutes who want to be taken to bed by any strangers. Further, prostitutes dedicated to the fertility Goddess were working at the Temples in Canaan. They were required to cover their bodies and faces when entering the temples.

Face coverings make communication and integration into a new culture more difficult, hampering efforts to integrate immigrants into society. According to Reuters this shouldn't present much of a problem in the Netherlands, since only about 50 women in that country actually wear a burqua as they're are already illegal in schools and on public transportation in the Netherlands. However, this law doesn't seem as strict as the French law prohibiting religious attire of any kind (crosses or head scarves) in public schools.

The right-leaning coalition in the Netherlands said that it would look for a way to outlaw the wearing of all Muslim face veils. The grounds for a ban were laid last December when parliament voted in favour of a proposal to criminalize face coverings, as part of a security measure. There have been several instances in India were unknown persons wearing burquas so that they could defeat the purpose of the surveillance cameras, subsequently robbed the stores so I can see why the Dutch authorities are concerned about face coverings.

Why do these women cover their faces in the first place since there is nothing in the Qur'an directing them to do so. The answer is quite simple. It’s their menfolk who are demanding that they do so. They don’t want any other man gazing upon the faces of their women with lust. Give me a break. Why, for example, would a man look upon the face of a sixty-year-old woman with lust? I don’t care if this custom goes back hundrds of years ---- it’s utter nonsence. I strongly doubt that these women are happy wearing their black burqas on a hot summer day while gardening in their back yards. How they must yearn to go swimming in the cool waters of the lake, sea or ocean nearby.

I have nothing but contempt for any man who insists that his wife or adult daughters wear this form of attire. They obviously don’t trust their womenfolk and that by itself is an insult to these women. These men have only their own interests in mind and not the best interests of their wives and adult daughters. I think it actually detracts from the woman’s active witness to her faith, by focusing only on one aspect of it - exagerated ‘modesty’ - covering herself from ‘lustful gaze’ - and misses out a far more important part, which is her witness to her faith lived out through her life, a life which is best served by fully engaging with her fellow humans. Head to toe coverings negate such women to a cypher, a woman must cover herself from lust; as if all men are lustful animals. Do all men, especially since they are assumed by many Muslim husbands and fathers, of women wearing such clothing, appear to them as predators? Do they not deserve more trust and respect than to be assumed to be lascivious uncontrollable rutting brute beasts when in the presence of their women? If women feel so at risk from male sexuality (as if wearing a burqua protected women from being raped and mistreated anyway) that they must cover up in full, then the problem lies with the menfolk of their aquanitance.

I find it very hard to believe that any of these unfortunate women; if given a choice, would continue to wear such foolish attire. I doubt any "moderate" Muslims wear full burquas. It is only a small proportion of Muslim women who are tricked into believing that there is a religious obligation to do so. The burqua is a symbol of old cultural custom that has no place in a modern liberal society especially since facial identification is a pretty fundamental part of western society. If you take away male intervention and assume that Muslim women wear the veil without any coercion from the men in their lives, then I would argue that it is therefore a political act and has nothing whatever to do with the women’s modesty.

Itis also highly rude in our society to not show your face when talking to someone whether it be wearing sunglasses or wearing a veil over one’s face.

One Muslim perception may well be that the west is not in the best position to preach to Muslim women about what types of attire denote and encourage female self- determination. I am not suggesting that these women, go out and buy a dress, put away their shalwar kameez and saris, or even to ban their burquas, I am simply saying that when they talk to someone, they should show their faces. Nothing in Islam prevents this, its not a sin and it is not a sign of disrespect. Nowhere in the Qu’ran does it say that the Muslim women’s faces must be covered at all times when in public.

Women have covered their bodies for centuries. There are plenty of ways for them to dress modestly. What we culturally understand to be ‘modest’ does not mean they have to cover up their entire bodies. Surely the point of modesty and modest dress is so that the woman’s intellect, opinions, faith, character can come through loudly and clearly and truthfully. The niqabs and burkas seem to take that away by acting as ostentatious masks - and masks are usually worn to disguise the persons wearing them.
Western women put on makeup and wear nice clothes to feel attractive. It is a perfectly natural instinct for a human being to try to look attractive. Men groom themselves to look attractive to women so why can’t women do the same? The issue is whether a society/culture should impose restrictions on one sex that it is not prepared place on the other sex. The key difference between Saudi Arabia and Western society is that the latter does not make women second class citizens as the Saudis seek to do. In western society it is not Muslim men’s place to pass judgment on what women can and can’t wear.

We must not forget that that when Ataturk was the leader of Turkey, he ordered that the fez was not to be worn. No one in Turkey wears a fez and it is an accepted practice to not wear a fez in Turkey. In Canada, most men do not wear fedoras on their heads anymore. In fact one rarely sees a man wearing any hat nowadays. They can if they want to but few men do. Japanese women no longer have their feet bound so tight that if unbound, they couldn’t walk. Customs change and we all change with them.

I sincerely hope that the day will come for the Muslim women forced by custom to wear the burquas, when they can shed them and enjoy the fresh air that will strike their bodies and enjoy the sun’s rays as it shines on them. When that day comes, these women will then truly be liberated.