Burqa Cross-Dressing Arrests

On Monday police in a village near Sidi Bibi in the southern province of Chtouka, arrested two men wearing burqas in public. At present there is no explanation of why the men were wearing female clothing

The police, who searched the house of the two men, found more burqas and ascertained that no women lived in the house. A judicial source said that the men wore the burqas so as not to be identified. A police investigation has begun by the Chtouka gendarmerie to determine the reasons why the two men had taken to wearing this Afghan style clothing in this region of Souss.

It is understood that the other villagers believed that the two men were actually women who covered themselves from head to foot out of modesty and respect for the precepts of Islam.

It is interesting that these arrests come on the heels of the government move to ban the sale and manufacture of the burqa in Morocco (see story here)

SHARE THIS!

Morocco Bans the Sale of Burqas

According to the news site lesiteinfo.com burqa producers and retailers have been issued written warnings to cease making and/or selling the garment. They have been further instructed to get rid of their burqa stock or convert it within 48 hours. If they fail to comply manufactures will risk confiscation of all their goods

Representatives of the Interior Ministry have visited markets and hand-delivered notices to inform both sellers and tailors to stop the production and sale of the burqa. In Morocco the term "burqa" is also used to describe the niqab

A photograph of the notice is also circulating on social media. It is said to have been sent by "El Basha", a representative of the Interior Ministry,

The note informs the tailor or merchant that... “following the observations of the authorities, we notice that you sell burqas – so, we are calling on you to get rid of the products of this outfit within 48 hours and to refrain from selling it in the future.”

A senior official at the Ministry of Interior was quoted by Moroccan news outlet Le360 as saying “We have taken measures to completely ban the import, manufacture and marketing of this garment in all cities and towns in the kingdom,”

Morocco is not alone in bringing in a burqa ban. A draft law has been written in Egypt, while Chad banned women from wearing the full-face veil following two suicide bomb attacks in June 2015. There are similar bans in parts of Cameroon and Niger as well as Congo-Brazzaville and the Gabon.

In Fez women told The View From Fez that they supported the ban. "I don't feel safe when I see someone wearing a burqa," said thirty-two year old Fatima Zahra, "You don't know if they are a salafist and that causes problems for me."

If the ban is implemented there will certainly be a negative reaction from fundamentalists. However, Morocco's police and security officers will be see it as a way of improving public security. Authorities have not formally explained this measure and have not said if the wearing of the burqa would be prohibited.

Another news site suggested that the restrictions might only apply to Casablanca, but security sources responded that it applied to the whole country

SHARE THIS!

The Burqa Ban - an update

In a follow-up to our recent story (France to ban burqa) about the move across Europe to ban the full-face Islamic veil, the burqa, from public spaces, there have been some developments, with a clear message coming from the British government. Despite the most recent poll, which showed that 67% of British voters want a burqa ban, the British government says it will not be following France's lead.

Britain's Immigration Minister Damian Green said forbidding women in the UK from wearing certain clothing would be "rather un-British". He said such a law would run contrary to the conventions of a "tolerant and mutually respectful society".

In an interview with the Telegraph newspaper, he said it would be "undesirable" for Westminster to vote on a burka ban, and that there was no prospect of the coalition government proposing such a bill. But his comments will upset some in the British community.

Meanwhile, though wearing of the burqa is not forbidden in Morocco or other moderate Muslim countries, there are some surprising moves. Of particular interest is Syria, where around 1200 teachers who wear burqas have been moved out of the classrooms and given other jobs that do not bring them into contact with students.

Full-face veils, or niqabs, symbolise a conservatism that, many moderate Muslims and minority groups here say, is not in keeping with local tradition.

Most of Syria’s Muslim women wear open-faced headscarves – frequently white – a stark contrast from the all-enveloping black niqab. But the niqab has become increasingly common, particularly in the northern city of Aleppo, fuelling concerns that ultra-conservative interpretations of Islam are spreading.

Now the ban has been extended. According to news reports "Minister of Higher Education, Ghyath Barakat, has given his directives that women wearing niqab would not be allowed to enter the Syrian universities,"

"The Minister has totally rejected this phenomena which contradicts with the academic values and traditional morals and ethics of the Syrian society," one source told CBS News, on condition his name would not be used.

"We will not leave our daughters a prey for extremist thoughts. The Syrians have always shown through history their awareness, understanding and the ability for confronting those bad habits," the source quoted Barakat, the Syrian Minister, as telling his top assistants.

The ban, which was not made public in state-run media, does not affect the hijab, or headscarf, which is favored by the vast majority of veiled Syrian women.

(Photo credit: Louai Beshara)

According to commentators, the partial ban on burqas in Syria may be a sign that the authorities are trying to reign in hardline Islamic sentiments.

The first clear sign of renewed government action against hardline sentiments came at the end of 2008, when tight new regulations were imposed on private Islamic schools. Those measures were introduced after a deadly bombing in Damascus was traced to a private Islamic institute in the city, one described by a former student as a haven of extremist doctrine.

France votes to ban the burqa

An Islamophobic pro-ban poster

The French decision to ban the burqa in public places has raised a heated debate far beyond Frances's frontiers. On one hand there are the civil libertarians who claim that liberté, égalité and fraternité no longer describes the country, while others (around 70% of the population) support the ban. This may well be a sign of things to come in other European countries. According to recent polls, 71% of Germans support a ban, 62% in the UK and 59% in Spain.

Back in April, when the Belgian Lower House voted overwhelmingly to ban the burqa, the law’s author, Daniel Bacquelaine, a Liberal, said a burqa is incompatible with basic security as everyone in public must be recognizable and clashes with the principles of an emancipated society that respects the rights of all.

In Belgium, local rules ban the burqa, but enforcement is spotty and the new law would outlaw it on a national level. Last year, the city of Brussels fined only 29 women - down from 33 in 2008 - for wearing a burqa—type dress.

In January, Denmark’s centre-right government called the burqa and the niqab out of step with Danish values. It held off on a ban after finding that only two or three women in Denmark, a nation of 5.5 million people, wear burqas and perhaps 200 wear niqabs.

French Values?

According to one French lawmaker who supported the law, it is a way to assert French values and help to better integrate Muslim communities into the national way of life.

She said being forced to wear the niqab or the burqa "amounts to being cut off from society and rejecting the very spirit of the French republic that is founded on a desire to live together. At a time where our societies are becoming more global and complex, the French people are pondering the future of their nation. Our responsibility is to show vigilance and reaffirm our commonly-shared values".

And the view from the street? "If a motorbike rider has to take his or her helmet off to enter a bank, then the same should hold for the burqa".

Researchers point out that while there are only 5 million or so Muslims living in France, only 1,900 are thought to have adopted the full burqa. Head scarves are far more common. However, another view suggests that as so few women among the French Muslim community, the new law is xenophobic and pandering to the far-right anti-immigrant vote. It is certainly a distraction from the economic problems besetting the country.

Tourists Targeted

The law, if passed by the upper house, as expected, will also apply to tourists visiting the country. One can expect a drop off of Saudi visitors. On the other hand, a travel agent told The View from Fez that a majority of Muslim female tourists swap their traditional clothes for Paris chic at the "drop of a burqa".

The Nekkaz Ploy

The French Government may find the law hard to enforce. Police have already expressed disquiet, saying the social implications of attempting to fine women in public could be problematic. And to add oil to the simmering fire, a French businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, is offering to pay the fines imposed on women who do not comply. It is a brave stance, and serves as a warning to governments that think they can punish people into social conformity. It is an intriguing 21st-century take on civil disobedience; in this case, he is encouraging people to flout the law with the promise that they won’t pay a price. Dissidents have found patrons before, but it is novel that an entire class of possible offenders, thanks to generous donors, may escape a law’s penalties. Mr. Nekkaz is essentially underwriting civil disobedience.

Mr. Nekkaz accepts the bill’s ban on the full-length burka and face-covering niqab in publicly run buildings; it’s the prospect of forbidding it on public streets that riles him: “a violation of constitutional principles,” he calls it. Mr. Nekkaz and his wife have put up €200,000 for the project, and he hopes to raise €800,000 more.

In a recent FT Harris Poll, when respondents were asked if they would support the burka ban if it were accompanied by a clampdown on wearing all religious icons such as the Christian crucifix and the Jewish cappel, only 22 per cent of French people said they supported such a move. In Britain, just 9 per cent of people said they would back such a move.

While the majority of French citizens feel burka is abhorrent and can trap a woman in a virtual prison. Banning it everywhere, however, will do little to emancipate women, and could force more of them into seclusion.

The View from Fez welcomes your comments on this issue.