Religion has nothing to do with burka issue
Posted By Greg W. Friesen, Altona
Posted 28 days ago
Nowhere in the Qur’an are these facial coverings of women mentioned, nor in any of the other Muslim (religious) writings of the time. Burkas, Niqabs, and the issue of covering women’s faces is rather entirely a social one, an Arabic, rather than a Muslim issue.
To the Editor:
Re; “Don’t ban the burka in public”, page 4, Oct. 16 edition of The Red River Valley Echo.
Like the issue with Sikh’s in the RCMP and their headgear, it seems the clothing of people from other lands is in the news again. However, the facts as I understand them differ from the editor’s comments.
Burkas and niqabs are indeed being discussed by the Muslim Canadian Congress, but the comment about hijabs is unnecessary and a bit inflammatory. They were only mentioned very peripherally in the news and interviews I have seen and read, and rightly so; many of our own mothers and grandmothers wear a scarf on their heads, after all. There is nobody trying to ban the hijab.
You mention that religion is the crux of the issue. This is not the case. Nowhere in the Qur’an are these facial coverings of women mentioned, nor in any of the other Muslim (religious) writings of the time. Burkas, Niqabs, and the issue of covering women’s faces is rather entirely a social one, an Arabic, rather than a Muslim issue.
Many countries in the area have had the ‘tradition’ of covering their women’s faces (possessive grammar used purposely, for it is indeed mostly the men forcing ‘their women’ to cover up in public) for centuries. Don’t misunderstand me; I find the practice as incomprehensible as the next North American. However, it is not at all a religious issue. As such, it is not an intrusion on religious beliefs to ask that women not wear such clothing.
Both the burka and the niqab are about nothing more or less than jealous husbands thinking that their wives are too weak and untrustworthy to resist the temptation of being seen by other men. As such, I’d prefer not to see women being subjugated in such a way.
There are other reasons why it is just plain silly to have fully veiled people walking about, but the above is sufficient for me. Finally, lest anyone assume otherwise by what I’ve written, I’m neither Muslim nor Arab; I was born into a Mennonite family in Manitoba.
