Banning the Burkha/ Niqab

I wear a hijab.

My sisters wear burkhas (long floaty dress thing).

My mum wears a niqab and a burka.

No one was forced to wear them.
I chose to wear my scarf like 3 years ago, I didn't used to, but when i turned 17, I wanted to.
Also i know someone on this thread, can't remember who, made a comment about girls wearing the hijab, but still wearing loads of make-up, and how is that modest? Well, you're right, that's not very modest, but I shouldn't judge cos everybody does stuff a bit wrong, including me.


And i get why the French have banned it, cos of their history with their ex-colonies like Algeria etc.
In the Algerian War of Independence in 1954, the Algerian men and women all mobilised together to get the French out of their country.
The women helped out in the cause - the women in burkha and niqab sometimes helped to carry supplies that did result in rebellious attacks and bombing.
And other muslim women took off their hijabs and burkhas and acted 'westernised' in order to help out in the attacks.

All this info is in the film 'The Battle of Algiers' - powerful film, you should watch it.

Anyhow, i get why the French are annoyed, they're scared and suspicous i guess.

And i also get why the British and the 'West' are also p*ssed off, and also suspicous, cos of 7/7 and 9/11, but the whole muslim community should not get shunned and discriminated against just cos of the unislamic acts of a few.

Quote: curly_cow, Jul 2010

I wear a hijab.

My sisters wear burkhas (long floaty dress thing).

My mum wears a niqab and a burka.

No one was forced to wear them.
I chose to wear my scarf like 3 years ago, I didn't used to, but when i turned 17, I wanted to.
Also i know someone on this thread, can't remember who, made a comment about girls wearing the hijab, but still wearing loads of make-up, and how is that modest? Well, you're right, that's not very modest, but I shouldn't judge cos everybody does stuff a bit wrong, including me.


And i get why the French have banned it, cos of their history with their ex-colonies like Algeria etc.
In the Algerian War of Independence in 1954, the Algerian men and women all mobilised together to get the French out of their country.
The women helped out in the cause - the women in burkha and niqab sometimes helped to carry supplies that did result in rebellious attacks and bombing.
And other muslim women took off their hijabs and burkhas and acted 'westernised' in order to help out in the attacks.

All this info is in the film 'The Battle of Algiers' - powerful film, you should watch it.

Anyhow, i get why the French are annoyed, they're scared and suspicous i guess.

And i also get why the British and the 'West' are also p*ssed off, and also suspicous, cos of 7/7 and 9/11, but the whole muslim community should not get shunned and discriminated against just cos of the unislamic acts of a few.

Cheers, Sabiha

My friend Zahra is a rather devout Muslim. She's worn the hijab since at least year 8 (when she came to this school)- is it a rite of passage that you wear once you feel like a woman? She keeps her arms and legs covered at all times, only showing enough wrist so that she can see a watch.

My friend Sab (her name's also Sabiha, but to avoid confusion, she'll be Sab), doesn't wear the hijab, and thinks nothing of doing athletics competitions with both sexes in skimpy shorts and a top. She's still Muslim, eats Halal, doesn't drink, etc.

Is there some reason as to why you choose to wear the hijab but none of the others?

/rushed, am going out. Sorry!

Quote: Albi The Racist Dragon, Jul 2010

First of all can we all stop calling them burkhas, I have never seen anyone in this country ever wearing a burkha, they're the ones that cover everything including the whole face with just a mesh bit to look through. It kinda annoys me that the right-wing press have started referring to burkhas, presumably because the lower intelligence readers need to hate something they can pronounce.

What we are concerned with is a niqab (which is fairly easy to pronounce, in fact).

On one hand I hate religion and agree there is a certain amount of opression involved in making women wear veils (and I mean making in the loosest possible sence here - I know that a large percentage of niqab-wearers say they choose to to please God, but that means they're being forced to by culture, if you like). However, this is definitely outweighed by the floodgates of basically banning an item of clothing. Where do you stop, what's to stop say hoodies being banned a few years down the line? And as everyone said, banning veils will just mean certain women from the hardline end of Islam won't be allowed out at all.

And a lot of the support for the ban, judging from the comments on various news websites, is all for the wrong reasons. All the ones I've read just decend into 'send them back' idiocy.

You did suggest, though (on the 9th of July, 2009) that Sarah Underwhelmed should wear a burkha.

Anyroad, i think the idea of banning the niqab seems hypocritical because it's freeing people from being oppressed by telling them what to wear.

Quote: The Underwhelmed One, Jul 2010

I don't remember that. What was the reason behind it?

It was because you weren't sure what to wear at your Muslim friend's wedding.

They are totally ridiculous in my opinion but banning them would be stupid and achieve nothing.

/end useless contribution.