The Real Issue: Choice Between Modesty and Nudity

Historically, African Americans have looked at the country of France with respect and admiration. When African American solders were sent to France in 1917, during WW I, they were treated with respect and consideration. The French citizens demonstrated open-mindedness toward African Americans soldiers. The recognition and respect, without marginality, demonstrated by France was in direct contrast to America's Jim-Crowism and segregation leveled at its Black citizens.

However, after 93 years France has shifted its political and social policies of democracy and equality toward 'secularism' at a cost of religious freedom. In America, where 24-30% of its Muslim population are African Americans, the respect for France has shifted to regret and condemnation at the French Senate, which adopted into law banning Muslim women from wearing veils -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women. This law denies Muslim women the right to cover their faces in public arenas such as hospitals, schools, government buildings and while using public transportation.

The law imposes a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a women to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."

The ban pertains to the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes. The hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently are not banned by law.

The real issue, from a Muslim's perspective, is framed around the choice between 'modesty' and 'nudity'. The non-Muslim political face may suggest that the real issue is the choice between 'religion' and 'secularism'. Secularism may be viewed as the endeavor to maintain the separation between 'church' and 'state'.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes that a person's choice of dress is a personal matter. Islam teaches modesty for both men and women but underlying all Islamic injunctions is the Qur'anic principle that 'There is no compulsion in religion'. Thus if a woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, chooses not to cover her head then that is her right but on the other hand if a woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, chooses to cover her head or face then that too is her right and ought never to be interfered with. This belief was echoed by President Barack Obama in a speech in Cairo last June 09. He said:

"...it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim women should wear. We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretense of liberalism."

America! Religious freedom is a gift that we must honor, preserve and protect. Our claim as a great nation is not through discrimination, prejudice and intolerance, but through exemplifying the qualities of freedom, justice and equality.

Allah, bless America!

Are the Women of Islam Our Enemy?

America's conservative Christian Right movement would say, "Yes! They are the enemy. Their mode of dress is a political statement of non-conformity, non-integration into Western culture and a sure sign of Islamic fundamentalism." To complete this picture, the Muslim woman's mode of dress is considered as a gateway to extremism and viewed by many as an affront to gender equality.

There is an African proverb that says, "Until the lions tell their side of the story, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." That said, Muslim women have a lot to say about their condition and position. Naheed Mustafa, in her compelling article entitled My Body is My Own Business says,

"WOMEN are taught from early childhood that their worth is proportional to their attractiveness. We feel compelled to pursue abstract notions of beauty, half realizing that such a pursuit is futile. When women reject this form of oppression, they face ridicule and contempt. Whether it's women who refuse to wear makeup, or shave their legs, or to expose their bodies, society, men and women, have trouble dealing with them. In the Western world, the hijab has come to symbolize either forced silence or radical, unconscionable militancy. Actually, it's neither. It is simply a woman's assertion that judgment of her physical person is to play no role whatsoever in social interaction. Women are not going to achieve equality with the right to bear their breasts in public, as some people would like to have you believe. That would only make us party to our own objectification. True equality will be had only when women don't need to display themselves to get attention and won't need to defend their decision to keep their bodies to themselves."

Oppression, which Muslim women face for taking control of their own bodies, comes in many forms. In the case of the two Muslim women pictured above, they were rejected from employment at McDonalds because they wear the hijab. These are not immigrants who society wants to integrate into American culture, but two Dearborn, Michigan African American Muslim women seeking employment. The McDonald's manager could not see beyond their hijab and discriminated against them on the bases of their religion.

Modesty is the "signature distinction " of a Muslim woman. The Holy Qur'an is very clear where Allah, the Al-Mighty says, "And say to the believing women that they restrain their looks (also in the presence of men who are not near of kin and so lawful for marriage) and guard their private parts, and that they disclose not their natural and artificial beauty except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms, ..." (Al-Nur:32)

Islamic dress and Islamic norms of modesty can be easily absorbed within Western culture without the perception that Muslims are not conforming or integrating into society. The reaction toward the Islamic norms of modesty by the Western Occidental power-brokers may be illustrated by the judicial ruling of the Michigan justice system, which will allow judges to bar Muslim women wearing veils from testifying in court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Religious and domestic violence groups joined to fight against the Michigan Supreme Court.

The West's response and subsequent reaction to Islamic dress and Islamic norms of modesty is puzzling to say the least. The very people who judge us as non-conformist, fundamentalist, extremest, who pose an affront to gender equality have a holy book which says, "But every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered shames her head for it is one and the same as if she were a (woman) with a shaved head. For if a woman does not cover herself let her also be shorn; but if it is disgraceful for women to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered." (1 Corinthians: 11:5-6)

As explained from the aforementioned verses, the Bible treats the wearing of a veil as an inherently righteous undertaking.