Muslim Hate of Western Dress
A Muslim girl has lost her three-year legal battle to wear full Islamic dress in class after the House of Lords upheld the headteacher's right to exclude pupils who refuse to comply with school uniform policy on religious grounds.
The law lords' ruling overturns an earlier decision that Shabina Begum's human rights had been violated when her school banned her from wearing a head-to-toe jilbab.
Ms Begum, 17, had argued that her religious convictions meant she must be allowed to wear full Islamic dress. Her counsel, Cherie Booth QC, told the court that the school uniform was no longer suitable for her because she had reached sexual maturity and it did not sufficiently protect her modesty.
But yesterday Lord Bingham, the senior law lord, said that the uniform had been adapted to meet the interests of Muslim culture and had been accepted by the majority of the local Islamic community.
Lord Bingham said that the school, Denbigh High School in Luton, Bedfordshire, was fully justified in its policy and so reversed the ruling by the Court of Appeal. "It had taken immense pains to devise a uniform policy which respected Muslim beliefs but did so in an inclusive, unthreatening and uncompetitive way," he said. He added: "It would, in my opinion, be irresponsible for any court, lacking the experience, background and detailed knowledge of the headteacher, staff and governors, to overrule their judgement on a matter as sensitive as this."
Ms Begum said after the judgment was handed down: "Obviously I am saddened and disappointed about this, but I am quite glad it is all over and I can move on now. I had to make a stand against this and I am just happy it is all over now. Even though I lost, I have made a stand. Many women will not speak up about what they want."
She had worn the shalwar kameez (trousers and tunic) and headscarf from the time she started at the school at the age of 12 until September 2002, when she announced that the rules of her religion required her in future to wear the head-to-toe jilbab .
Ms Begum was sent home to change. She did not return to the school and later enrolled at another school where the jilbab was permitted. She is now considering taking her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "This is a good judgment for schools. It shows that where a school is sensitive to local issues and has a good consultative process, its judgment will be upheld in law."
Begum's court battle
* September, 2002: Shabina Begum is sent home after she arrives at Denbigh High School, Luton, in the jilbab
* 13 February 2004: Papers are lodged at the Royal Courts of Justice in London asking for a judicial review of the decision to exclude her from school
* 23 February 2004: A judge finds that she does have an arguable case to seek judicial review
* 3 March 2004: Governors at Icknield High School in Luton decide to rescind their ban on Islamic headscarves
* 27 May 2004: A full hearing at the High Court is told the ban denies Ms Begum's right to practise her religious beliefs
* 15 June 2004: The High Court rules against Ms Begum and dismisses her application for a judicial review
* 20 December 2004: The legal row heads back to the Court of Appeal
* 2 March 2005: The Court of Appeal reverses the High Court ruling
* 25 August 2005: Ms Begum achieves five GCSE passes at another school, completing three years of study in one year
* 3 September 2005: A conference is held in London to mark International Hijab Solidarity Day
* 6 February 2006: Ms Begum's former school takes the case to the House of Lords
* 22 March 2006: Law lords overturn Appeal Court ruling
Islamic
Attire Debate Continues Around the World
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
April 06, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - A police union in New Zealand has called for a driving
ban on Muslim women wearing the all-encompassing burqa, adding fuel to a
widening debate over how Western societies should deal with the issue of strict
Islamic dress.
A row erupted after the small country's police force announced a new policy on
how to deal with drivers wearing the burqa -- head-to-toe apparel that
incorporates a head covering and veil (niqab) hiding the face apart from the
area around the eyes.
Officers were told that only female personnel should be involved in checking
such drivers' identities, given Islamic sensitivities. The policy was
established because of the growing number of Muslims behind the wheel and after
consultation with the Muslim community.
But the police union, the Police Association, declared that a person should not
be allowed to drive at all while wearing a burqa.
This was both for safety reasons and because criminals could wear the garb to
conceal their identity, said association President Greg O'Connor.
"We should learn from Europe and make sure that if people come to this country,
they have to integrate, and there's no better time and place than on the roads
driving because that affects us all," he told Radio New Zealand.
The country's Federation of Islamic Associations said Muslims were happy to
comply with police requests to identify themselves, but enforcing a driving ban
on burqa-wearers -- of whom there were few in New Zealand -- was excessive.
Although the Muslim proportion of the population has been growing steadily over
the past 25 years, Muslims still comprise less than 1 percent of the total.
Land Transport New Zealand, the government agency charged with promoting
transport safety, said that as long as drivers can drive safely, they can wear
what they please.
On the Islam Online website, fatwa scholars cite a prominent Muslim cleric as
saying that covering the entire body -- including the face and hands -- is a
"condition" in one school of Islamic jurisprudence and "recommended" in other
schools.
"If the law governing a given country requires uncovering the face of the woman
for genuine reasons, such as identification, the Muslim woman, like all other
women, abides by the law," they write.
Outlawed
The issue of Islamic dress has exercised authorities and stirred debate in a
number of countries.
The government of the Netherlands is considering whether a ban on wearing the
burqa in public would violate European human rights legislation after Dutch
lawmakers last December voted in favor of a ban.
Geert Wilders, an independent lawmaker who first proposed the move, described
the burqa as "medieval" and "hostile to women," while critics of the move called
it intolerant and racist.
Italy last July passed counter-terror legislation which, among other things,
strengthened penalties for a preexisting offense of trying to hide one's
features in public, whether with a burqa or niqab, or with a balaclava or ski
mask.
Back in New Zealand, a judge ruled early last year that Muslim women giving
evidence in a fraud case must take off their veils, although he allowed them to
be screened from public view while doing so.
Defense lawyers had argued that the court would be unable to assess the
witnesses' demeanor during their testimony if their faces were covered.
Earlier, one of the women had told the judge that she would rather kill herself
than reveal her face, prompting lawmaker Winston Peters to suggest she might be
better off living in a Muslim country.
"Most New Zealanders would be disturbed that a person prefers suicide to
complying with reasonable court rules was living in their midst," he said.
In 2004, France banned Muslim headscarves -- and other religious paraphernalia
-- in all public schools, sparking an angry reaction from many Muslims.
Singapore (15 percent Muslim) has also banned the wearing of Islamic attire in
public schools.
Even in predominantly Muslim Turkey, the government had instituted a ban in
schools, universities, public offices and parliament.
Some campaigners for women's rights have argued that enforcing a ban could
result in some Muslim men compelling their wives, sisters and daughters to halt
all public interaction, thus setting back the modest gains made by such women.
Security worries
In Australia, an independent lawmaker stoked a debate in 2002 when he said
Muslim women should not be allowed to wear traditional Islamic dress in public
places for security reasons.
Speaking a month after 88 Australians were killed in a terror attack in Bali,
Fred Nile warned that a terrorist could easily hide weapons or bombs beneath a
burqa.
It could also conceal the wearer's identity or even gender, he added, noting
that female Chechen terrorists involved in a 2002 hostage-taking in a Moscow
theater had hidden explosives beneath their traditional dress.
Writing just months after U.S.-forces toppled the Taliban regime after 9/11,
Middle East Quarterly editor Martin Kramer said that the ubiquitousness of
Islamic dress in Afghanistan was "probably the greatest asset of al Qaeda's
leaders who are still on the run.
"Afghanistan remains the perfect hideout because half of the people go about
their public business in disguised anonymity," he said.
Last October, wire services quoted an Afghan provincial police chief as saying a
Taliban commander suspected of armed attacks against coalition troops had tried
to evade capture by dressing in female Islamic attire. Afghan and U.S. forces
captured the man, named as Gafar, during a raid on a home in central
Afghanistan.
Palestinian terrorist chief Yasser Arafat was reported to have escaped Israeli
forces during an offensive after the 1967 Six Day War by crossing the Jordan
River disguised as a woman.
Accounts of the alleged incident do not record whether he was wearing
traditional Islamic dress.