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Behind the veil

Logging in to the BBC Homepage this morning (15/10/06) the top news headline was "Veil teacher 'should be sacked'".  The story concerned a Muslim woman, Aishah Azmi, who has been suspended from her role as a classroom assistant at a Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, following her refusal to remove her veil when teaching her class. She had been asked remove it because of claims that children had difficulty in understanding her in English lessons - a claim that Ms Azmi denies, whilst clarifying that she will remove her veil, but not in front of male colleagues.

Fuel has been added to this debate by local government minister Phil Woolas, whose brief includes race relations, who told the Sunday Mirror that Ms Azmi "should be sacked. She has put herself in a position where she can't do her job... she is denying the right of children to a full education by insisting she wears the veil."  Ms Azmi claims that her veil has never caused problems with the children with whom she has a "brilliant relationship".

This come in a fortnight when veils have been much in the news.  Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw revealed that he considers the veil to be a "visible statement of separation and of difference" and that "wearing the full veil was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities [in his constituency] more difficult". He requests that Muslim women remove their veils when they come to one of his 'surgeries'.

Muslim reaction to Mr Straw's comments has been mixed.  Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said it was "astonishing" that Mr Straw should "selectively discriminate on the basis of religion", whilst Halima Hussain, from civil liberties group the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, asked BBC News 24: "Who is Jack Straw to comment on negative symbols within a religion that is not his own?"

Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain, however, said individual Muslim women could choose to remove part of their veil. "Even within the Muslim community, the scholars have different views on this. Our view is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided then it can be done." Dr Abdullah added, however, that covering hair remained "obligatory" for Muslim women. Chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams Dr Zaki Badawi said removal of the full veil was justified, as wearing it in the present climate might invite harm. Dr Badawi's ruling comes after a huge rise in faith hate crimes in London.

Why do Muslim women wear the veil?

So, how does one reach a considered judgement on this debate? I will freely admit that my knowledge is limited to the generalisation that Muslim women wear the veil 'for religious reasons'.  But what does that mean?  I decided to spent an hour trying to find out a bit more about why Muslim women wear a veil, and am happy to share what I have learned from this small piece of research.

The Koran, Islam's holy book, is treated by Muslims as the literal word of God.  It tells Muslims of both sexes to dress modestly: "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty......And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms...." (Quran 24:30,31).

So the veil, it seems, is about modesty. But in our secular western culture, which tends to promote more of an 'if you've got it, flaunt it' approach, the need for this may seem strange.  So why is modesty important to Muslims? Again the Koran states: "O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their bodies (when abroad) so that they should be known and not molested" (Quran 33:59).

So, to quote from the website IslamiCity: "This is the whole point, modesty is prescribed to protect women from molestation or simply, modesty is protection. Thus, the only purpose of the veil in Islam is protection. The Islamic veil, unlike the veil of the Christian tradition, is not a sign of man's authority over woman nor is it a sign of woman's subjection to man. The Islamic veil is only a sign of modesty with the purpose of protecting women, all women. The Islamic philosophy is that it is always better to be safe than sorry."

The Muslim Council of Britain provides a very clear dress code for women on their website, saying that "A bit of imagination would not go amiss in choosing the appropriate clothing and the right dress and right colour for the right occasion",  but that "modesty needs to be observed at all times."

The limited reading I have done suggested that male modesty means that the area from the navel to the knee should be covered.  For women, when in the presence of men other than their husbands or relations, they should cover everything except their face, hand and feet.

Which brings us to the two types of veil worn by Muslim women.  The Hijab is the most commonly worn, and is a scarf that covers their hair and neck. The Niqab (see left) is less common, and consists of covering up completely, including gloves and a veil for the face - leaving just a slit for the eyes, or covering them too with transparent material.

As shown by the comments of Dr Daud Abdullah (above), there is debate amongst Muslim scholars about whether or not the Niquab is obligatory, and it is not for me to try to draw any conclusions.  Indeed, my small amount of research suggests that religious and cultural traditions appear to vary across the Muslim world.

So where does that leave us?

Firstly, two personal observations.  Having heard Aishah Azmi on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday, I can only observe that she spoke eloquently, with courage, and with dignity.  She was wearing her veil while being interviewed, and yet I understood every word. 

With regard to Jack Straw's suggestion that wearing the veil makes relationships between communities more difficult, I think he has the right to make the observation, and has started a useful debate.  Perhaps, however, in the interests of good community relationships some non-Muslims could become a little more modest in their behaviour and dress. As one small example, far more divisive than the veil, are some of the slogans - bordering on the obscene - that can be seen on T-shirts in the name of 'humour'. Perhaps Mr Straw should be equally concerned about these? If we are looking for things that may divide us, we would do well to look beyond the veil.

My only real conclusion from this short exercise is that none of this is easy.  21st century Britain isn't easy. This a multi-cultural society. It's advanced citizenship. If we're going to make it work we have to really want it. That's why we need ordinary men and women of goodwill, from all faiths and none, to keep talking to each other and trying to understand.  With mutual respect and determination we will find a way.

With blessings from all of us at St. Andrew's.

Adrian

Webmaster

NOTE: I am the webmaster of St. Andrew's Church, not clergy or a reader.  I write as 'a man in a pew' and so you should not assume that I necessarily know what I'm talking about, or that what I say reflects the views of other people in our church. To read previous weeks' FWIWs please click here.

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/

              http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/w_islam/veil.htm

              http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/spot_full_story.asp?service_id=663

              http://www.mcb.org.uk/faq/faq3.php?category=Muslim Dress