I just read an interesting article on one of my favorite blogs, intlxpatr’s blog, the article is taken from BBC news and it says that a veiled Muslim woman was denied citizenship in france coz she, allegedly, practices “radical” islam.
Guys and Girls, Tell me, enlighten me please, Isn’t this story and countless other stories where we read that girls are not allowed to wear Hijabs to schools in certain european countries are prime examples of pure hatred and discrimination?
If I wear to say the N word I would’ve been called a racist, if I wear to say women belonged in the kitchen I would’ve been shunned by women and most men, if I were ever to say, God forbid, AC Milan suck and Qadsiya rules, I would’ve been assassinated by Milan fans. We’re always called out, without tolerance, always stopped mid sentence when something wrong is about to be said. Yet, we see the same self righteous people publicly displaying their hypocrisy without being called out often enough.
France, being the country that it is, which was responsible for so many constitution and has influence on most of the world’s constitutions as well, I think it the country I hate the most for being so hypocrite and racist. I googled and found that the french people are against the veil for 2 main reasons, the reasons are:
1-Wearing the veil symbolizes a woman’s submission to men.
2-women who wear the veil display their religious and community affiliation, which harms the unity.
My reply, respectively, to any person who believes in those 2 reasons:
1-Denying any woman education coz she wears a veil would make her even more submissive to men, coz she’ll end up with no education and no personal freedom to practice her faith, her choice of clothing and the school she wants to join.
2-So, by this reasoning, Unity will only be enforced by discriminating against minorities and their personal beliefs? is this some sort of an oxymoron? or just plain ignorance & stupidity?
This video say it best.
“Freedom of religion is guaranteed in France by the constitutional rights set forth in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
However, in recent years, some legislation and government actions were taken against some groups considered to be dangerous or criminal. Officials and associations fighting excesses of such groups, justified these measures by the need to have appropriate legal tools and the need to fight criminal organizations masquerading as legitimate religious groups. Critics contended that those actions unfairly targeted minority religions, jeopardized freedom of religion, and were motivated by prejudice.” – from wikipedia
Sure, yeah, now I understand their stance on the Hijab, I was so out of line with this post, coz you see.. France is a big nation that should put it’s national security and it’s people’s safety first, and those little school girls wearing the Hijab can be very dangerous! don’t be deceived by the cute faces, those girls are a threat to their national security! especially with their little scarfs on! they can smuggle weapons of mass destruction and nobody would be able to tell! You don’t want to happen, now do you!?
Two points:
1. The land of God is vast, she can seek citizenship elswhere.
2. Most Muslim countries including Kuwait, do not give citizenship to non Muslims. Therefore, It is hypocrytical for you to complain.
Cheers
i hate hal monafeqeen!! it was always a matter of choice when i choosed to wear hejab! no one forced me! and u know what am proud of it! and when i travel any where every one respects it, its like advertising islam thats why they hate it! coz they know it will attrack more people into it!
france is always like this .. thier human rights shouts at us in eid al ath7a when we kill goats or sheaps to seperate thiere meat on poor poeple and they forget that they have a whale killing festeval! yeah festival! i got that on my e mail last week and guess what the sea is full of blood in that season ! were is the murcy they`re talking about??!!
I am honored, Yousef, that you are inspired by my blog. I need to disagree with one thing. I don’t thing most French have a problem with hijab. I think it is niqab that causes this particular decision.
There are many many Moslem women in France who cover their hair. The French don’t seem to mind as long as it is not overtly religious looking. Scarves are accepted. Many African women cover with glorious turbans, and the Moroccan /Tunisian/Algerial women – oh la la! they are gorgeous, and well accepted, with their colorful and glamorous hair coverings.
France has always been cautious about keeping France French – look at the care they take to insure that their language stays pure!
Just as Kuwait limits citizenship to insure that an overwhelming ex-pat population does not overwhelm the Kuwaitiness of Kuwait, France tries to insure that France maintains its Frenchness. Or that is how I see it.
intlxpat that is so not the same!
would they ask a nun to take of her habit cz its too religious looking?
this is not france keeping its frenchness
this is religious discrimination
so maybe kuwait should ask all xpat men to wear dishdashas to keep our kuwaitiness
thats just a bunch of bs
Anonymous Coward
1- Its not for you nor for me to decided if she should contemplate other countries. its her husband’s and sons’ country, both have citizenship, its only natural for her to get one as well.
2-Kuwait do not give citizenship to no one.. Muslim, christians, americans french..etc. I don’t see how its hypocritical. besides, if this case was in Kuwait the women would”ve given the Kuwaiti nationality instantly, did you know that? Wives of Kuwaiti men are given the Kuwaiti nationality… Did you know that?
pumkinah yeah they’re hypocrites. Somehow nowadays its OK to be racists towards Muslims and sometimes discrimination is encouraged.
Intlxpatr your blog is amazing 🙂
Now, basically you’re saying the french are selective when it comes to decide what things will accept their frenchness? for example the colorful turbans are no threat to france but the the veils or burqas are?
How does this relate to denying girls education becoz of the veil?
You have no idea how racist they are. I’m gonna borrow a relative’s story now (sorry relative 🙂 ) Were you ever denied getting into a taxi coz of your veil? or coz someone with you was wearing a veil, well, this relative of mine have, and it doesn’t feel good to be the one discriminated against. This is exactly why i think those people are not called out often enough for their racial discrimination, coz some people, like you dear, are not aware of what we’re facing daily, even the gazes and stares, the slow service, the rudeness.. you have to wear an abaya and veil one day and walk somewhere in europe to really experience the hatred.
eshda3wa Thank You! Agreed with everything you said.
I can understand your outrage against being discriminated against. It is never fair, and I always feel outraged when it happens to me.
By the way… in France.. they do ban more than Hejab in schools
they ban Christians from wearing the cross, Jews from wearing Kippah… or any other religious signs! Its not just Hejab
and in Saudi, they have to be covered.. even the foreigners have no choice in that! its their dress code, and its respected and people are going with the Saudi laws.
It was once explained to me that they did not want the students to get in trouble and be judged for their appearance! Ya3ni basically no one should show any visible religious symbols -“ostensible” religious articles!
Ansam
1-Do they ban christians from wearing a veil when they’re getting married in city halls? They do with Muslims. Muslim girls are not allowed to wear their veils to city halls when getting married, they’re banned till they take off their veil and show their hair. Do you think they do this to Muslims coz they don’t want them to “get in trouble and be judged for their appearance” too?
2-Do they have Muslim schools? they have only one school in all of france and it is privately funded, by donations, the government pays nothing, yet they fund christian schools. They also have refused applications for more Muslim schools to be opened.
There are 7,000,000 Muslim in france. You can’t force them to disguise themselves, blend in, fit in, wear things that make them more like religionless people. We are born different and have different aspirations in life, you can’t take things so crucial to a women’s life, like the Hijab, away from her. She CHOSE to be covered, let her face the consequences, coz more often than not taking a person’s freedom away is more damaging than being judged by ignorant people.
OK read alqabas newspaper, 13 July Issue page 8… where reverend Emanuel Al Ghareeb discuss how they should change citizenship laws in Kuwait in regards to giving Kuwaiti Nationality to non Muslims!
In Kuwait the citizenship is granted to Arab Muslims only!
Yousef I am not saying what the French are doing is right or wrong, I am just saying that think from their prospective! I mean when non muslim women enter Saudi they do respect their law and cover up.. although its not their belief nor something they want to do
ansam … i just wanna say one thing if u were wearing hejab and ur in France and they forced u to cover ur hair what would u think?! think from our perspective from those young girls perspective! girls who choose to be Muslims and cover up not like us forced or born as Muslim! personally i respect those girls allot.. theela ele yestahlon el ajer mo a7na!
one more thing .. about people who worked in KSA they choose to work there and obey the rules.. they are not forced to live there and its been like this for ever.. ghir lma ykon nas me6areen yehajroon oo y3eshoon there.
7etta that muslim woman who was denied citizenship can go back to her country where its accepted… or any other country who will accept it 🙂
Ansam I need to answer all of your points according to how I (personally) see things.
1. Kuwait: In Kuwait we all know and most countries know that we’re a closed country, we don’t give people citizenships coz they lived here for a long time (whether its right or wrong is beside the point), These are the rules and there is no ambiguity when it comes to Kuwaiti citizenships, We/They apply the rules on everyone. So, if you tell me we’re as bad as france, I really can’t see how that statement is true.
2. Saudi: Saudi is considered as the religious land of all muslims, thus their veil customs is not derived out of “de-personify everybody so we can all hug and sing a long a happy tune of unity,” but becoz its a religious thing, something engraved in their laws, the muslim laws. If the vatican were to have such a law, I would’ve totally abided with no complaints whatsoever.
3. France:
3.1 Now with France, I think (o a3ootho billah min kilmat I 😛 ) they’re a nation willing to grant citizenships to those who qualify, YET, there are new laws and new rules popping up everyday against Muslims and other unwritten laws and obstacles which are paved for by the government, as if they want to make it hard, very hard for muslims to live there. I’m not talking about just this woman (who you and everybody in this discussion should respect her need, not want, but NEED to be regarded as a french) muslim woman) who has french kids from her french husband all living in france.
3.2 Now regarding the Jewish kippah, The kippah is not regarded as religiously obligatory the saw way muslim women regard their hijab. It’s a custom, tradition, something they were to religious event and some use them everyday, BUT they can take it off, wouldn’t make them in as bad a position as veiled muslim taking off her hijab. I just an article (yeah I kinda prepared to answer you lol) that in sports, they had this debate where what would they do if the rules of the game did not allow them to wear kippah while playing and they said if its against the rules of the game, then they can take it off and play the sport without it on.
3.3 Christians can always hide the cross under their clothes. (or they can go to any of the christian/catholic schools, there are plenty in france, a thing muslim women are unabel to do, yet.)
Note: I’m against any kind of oppression against religions, whatever the religion is, It goes against everything they’re trying to do to establish a cultural integration.
I do not have to make you what I believe is right… sa7? wala inta 🙂
Kil wa7ed o raya
I am not against my religion/background/people/whatever you wanna call it. Seems like I cant really explain to you how I see it! I do not see anything wrong with it! Kaifhom! Its their country!!! I see how some foreigners -such as Indians- are treated in our airport.. and I see racism right there! Its bad! A very respectful Indian with his wife, who hold a very high position in one of the companies here… was standing BY MISTAKE in the line for GCC citizens, he got shouted at and was ordered in a very humiliating way to change counters! I am 100% sure his degree, knowledge, experience….etc is much better than the immigration officer -who types on the pc with one finger!-
So when France refused to give citizenship to that lady, kaifhom! They may went too far with it, but let them be secular… arent we, here in Kuwait, becoming so?
Ansam I totally respect your opinion. We can always agree to disagree, nothing wrong with that. 🙂
Dear Ansam, I know it is too late to answer, maybe you’ll read this and maybe not
But I think that forcing people to WEAR something is not the same as forcing them to TAKE IT OFF
Being covered is considered a virtue everywhere, while showing flesh is disregarded and as I see things: humilating
I don’t care about the citizenship thing but I’m talking about the freedom the claim to respect