Karachi airport, my colleague and I went on a day tour, the other participants of which were several Pakistani women donning the black garb like the one in the photo here]Food for thought on the subject of women, Muslim tradition, the West and the idea of banning the niqab could result in better understanding, or it could lead to more questions. Either way, learning is bound to happen, right? Excerpts:
William J. Bennett
To go after women donning their veils is to attack the problem at its weakest — and frankly, least important — link (again, when the veil is freely chosen). While Muslim women are being beaten, while honor killings are extant, and while mosques, universities, and madrassahs are fomenting actual terrorism, Muslim women assuming a dress code is not where our — or our allies’ — focus should be. Go after the men who do these things — that’s where the fight is.
I’m all for a terrorist profiling system for those that should receive extra scrutiny because they actually carry themselves, or look, like the enemy (including pat downs and further examinations of the suspicious) — but the entire female population of Islam cannot credibly be seen as the enemy, and those who assume the veil in Western societies may seem extreme, may be extreme, but if peaceful in belief and deed, they are not the enemy either. Indeed, it is a distraction from the real enemy to pick on what I assume a large percentage of these women are — seriously religious women who are not building bombs in their garages or study groups. To deny them the first right we boast, namely, the freedom to practice their religion peaceably, seems to me a good way to further radicalize them.* * *
Phyllis Chesler
Western democracies pride themselves on religious freedom and on the separation of religion and state. From this point of view, we are upholding our own most cherished values by allowing diverse expressions of faith. However, this may also prove to be our downfall. The veil in Muslim lands is imposed upon women whose religious training and opportunities for scholarship and ritual authority is practically nonexistent. The veil is no more freely chosen than is their religion, which neither women nor men are allowed to leave without risking exile or death. Muslim women in Muslim lands or in immigrant communities in the West might gain their only access to public attention and approval if and when they espouse a fundamentalist point of view, namely one that favors Islamic gender and religious apartheid and that upholds the view that women must be veiled.* * *
Andrew McCarthy
In the U.S., notwithstanding our veneration of both free expression and religious liberty, the regnant interpretation of the First Amendment holds that a religion-neutral law (i.e., one that does not expressly target a religion) is valid even if it happens to infringe on religious practices. The drug laws, for example, are valid even though that keeps peyote and cannabis away from sects which would use them in religious rites.
In terms of what the law can do, versus what a society should do, this gives clear guidance. For legitimate public purposes — e.g., testifying in court (where the fact finder must be able to make a discriminating appraisal of credibility which involves observing the witness’s demeanor), photographs for identification purposes (as on a driver’s license), inspection at a security checkpoint, etc. — the nikab would frustrate the public purpose. That public purpose is expressed in laws and rules that apply to everyone equally — they do not expressly target Muslims. Therefore, orders that the nikab be removed are proper. That doesn’t mean the nikab is illegal; the ban is situational.
More at National Review Online
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