This is a current hot international topic. Well according to the French constitution NO person is allowed to show religious signs in Public as they consider it against their unity. Now this coincides with the Purdah of the muslim girls.No one thought to wear Purdah till six-seven years ago some school girls decided to wear Purdah in School. Now this raised a hell. I must tell you that French love their constitution as they achieved it after great struggle (French Revolution) so they are not willing to amend it. There were a lot of Protests from Muslims but the French did not compromise. So what do you people think the muslim girls there should do?
France is in a bit of a bind.
1) Their constitution guarantees freedom of belief
2) Their consitution forbids showing symbols of religion in state-funded schools
Now these two were completely compatible until religious Muslims began going to schools.
Basically, the religious Muslims hold that the French constitution makes it legal for them to wear hijab everywhere, as that is part of their belief.
Their opponents say wearing it in state school, though, would violate the part of the consitution forbidding all religious symbols from being present in schools.
Muslims deny that hijab is a symbol of Islam; the secularists maintain that obligatory hijab is unique to Islam and therefore symbolic of Islam.
One solution would be to establish private Muslim schools and send girls there, but obviously there would only be a limited number of schools, making life difficult for those who don't live in large Muslim communities, and more importantly, parents would have to bear the whole cost of education - which is not possible, given that many Muslims are amongst the poorest in France.
There isn't much you can do in that situation. You have to educate your kids. And until a certain age limit it's obligatory to go to school. Home education is very expensive. So you're stuck.
There are the famous stories of girls refusing to take off their scarfs and were refused entrance in school. What can one do if one has to live in such a country? Most muslims let their daughters go without scarve.
It's not easy, especially in France. They are very strict and for some reason seem to be extra strict towards muslims. Not all common people, but mostly the institutions like Police. If you have to have a pic taken for your id-card, they recommend you take your scarf off, if you don't, they write on your id-card that you're a fundamentalist (which can give you a lot of trouble just traveling or if there's a robbery somewhere in your area). Or in places like in subways, it happens often that in check-ups police will take a few muslims for nothing to police station to 'check in computer if they're not dangerous' which takes hours.
It seems to be a really though situation for Muslims in France.
I've heared about those incidents, where girls were refused to enter their school because of the scarf and I still find it hard to believe every time I hear it.
A law is a law. Every country has laws. If these laws are in direct contradiction to your religious beliefs, than you have two choices.
- Work with the law-makers to get the law changed or compromise on the law and do not follow your religious beliefs
- Leave that country and move to another country which does not put limits to your religious beliefs.
So, in case of France... the French Muslims have clear options. They can either protest and get the law clarified and amended so the religious beliefs of muslims are not infringed upon. If thats not happening due to reasons of national unity, than muslims can move out of France to some other place which does not put such restrictions. Or they can just compromise and send their daughters without a scarf, when these girls are attending state-funded public schools.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts,
however i have a mental confusion. According to a hadith of Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) you are doing a sin when you fear that somebody will watch you doing it. Now for example a muslim in Pakistan will have this fear while drinking Alcohol but a muslim in France will not, because he knows that even if someone sees him it doesnt matter(everyone drinks there). So is the case with non-muslims; they don't have this fear while drinking.
This makes me think that Laws are made for some specific society. Every society has its own laws. A nude person in Pakistan may feel shame but a nude person in primitive African tribe will not.
So, not wearing Purdah in Islamic countries may mean something but does it produce the same effect in France. People here may stare at veiless women, French do not. Its normal for them. So can't this make not wearing Purdah in France legal?
I think it depends on your intention. If you only do it for other people, then I guess you wouldn't care. But a lot of people have the proper nieyaa, to do it because of religion, not becuase of reputation. And for them being in an Islamic country or not, doesn't make difference, they would do it everywhere. So for them going out without purdah would still be illegal. No matter where.
echo I can understand the points u r making but when the law came down prohibiting drinking alcohol it was quite common to drink. Same for covering of your body, in those days women were known to wear very revealing clothes and when the commandment came down to cover your body women literaly pulled the curtains of the walls and wrapped them around their body.
So I don't think it would b ok to go naked with a primitve tribe in the UK.
Well, I dont know whst the poor little girls in France should do, but a friend of mine had his daughters come into Pakistan from France and enrolled in karachi American school and later on they were sent notices for wearing their scarves in th KAS whereas they had no such problem in Paris!
Please say you’re only joking!