PARIS – As the debate rages on in the western European country on burka, a leading Muslim scholar has said that France’s efforts to ban the loose body-covering reflects growing self-doubts inside the society. "This is a society that has doubts about itself,” Tariq Ramadan told a parliamentary panel mulling a burka ban Wednesday, December 2, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“For me, this commission is born of a real self-doubt, and suddenly they're looking at one element, at the most extreme slice.
"The problem won't be solved like that."
A debate has been raging in France over burka since Communist MP Andre Gerin proposed a parliamentary probe into whether to ban the wearing.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has weighed in the controversy, saying the burka was "not welcome" in secular France.
The parliamentary panel has invited the Muslim scholar to a hearing on burka before formulating recommendations in a much-awaited report to be presented next month.
According to AFP, there are no figures on the number of women who wear the full-body covering in France -- and whether it is on the rise.
Muslim community leaders say that burka remains a rare exception among France's nearly seven million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Europe.
They have accused lawmakers of wasting time by focusing on a fringe phenomenon, warning that the move would stigmatize the Muslim minority.
Failure
Ramadan, a professor Islamic studies in at Oxford, said France was failing to address the real problems facing French Muslims by debating a burka ban.
"This debate surrounding the burka bothers me," said the Swiss-born scholar.
"Because in the end, this is not the question that needs to be raised.
"The real problem is that when you have a name that is a bit Arab-sounding, or Muslim by affiliation, you are not going to get a job or you are not going to get an apartment," he said.
The Paris-based anti-racism group SOS-Racism said recently that some French recruitment companies are applying racist policies and ethnic profiling in hiring, filtering out non-white candidates.
A 2007 UN fact-finding mission warned that France's ethnic minorities are trapped in social and economic "ghettos" because of an "insidious racism" tolerated by politicians.
Ramadan, who was chosen by the influential Foreign Policy magazine as one of the 100 top global thinkers in 2009, acknowledged that some women are forced to wear the head-to-toe garment.
"Clearly, there are men who put pressure on women — not just men, but the social context and social ghettoization that leads some women to wear the full-body garb,” he said.
"But a law (to ban it) is the wrong solution."
France was the country that sparked a heated debate across Europe over Muslim women hijab after it banned it in state schools in 2004.
While scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the niqab or burka, Hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women.
“All of this commotion over the burka does tell ordinary citizens that there is something wrong with Islam and leads to stigmatisation,” he said.
France’s burka debate came back to the fore this week after Switzerland voted in a referendum to ban minarets, putting Muslims’ place in Europe again in the headlines.
"Switzerland is going to open the way for (Europe's) relations with Islam for the next 50 years," he said.
"That's scary."
Source: IslamOnline
“For me, this commission is born of a real self-doubt, and suddenly they're looking at one element, at the most extreme slice.
"The problem won't be solved like that."
A debate has been raging in France over burka since Communist MP Andre Gerin proposed a parliamentary probe into whether to ban the wearing.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has weighed in the controversy, saying the burka was "not welcome" in secular France.
The parliamentary panel has invited the Muslim scholar to a hearing on burka before formulating recommendations in a much-awaited report to be presented next month.
According to AFP, there are no figures on the number of women who wear the full-body covering in France -- and whether it is on the rise.
Muslim community leaders say that burka remains a rare exception among France's nearly seven million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Europe.
They have accused lawmakers of wasting time by focusing on a fringe phenomenon, warning that the move would stigmatize the Muslim minority.
Failure
Ramadan, a professor Islamic studies in at Oxford, said France was failing to address the real problems facing French Muslims by debating a burka ban.
"This debate surrounding the burka bothers me," said the Swiss-born scholar.
"Because in the end, this is not the question that needs to be raised.
"The real problem is that when you have a name that is a bit Arab-sounding, or Muslim by affiliation, you are not going to get a job or you are not going to get an apartment," he said.
The Paris-based anti-racism group SOS-Racism said recently that some French recruitment companies are applying racist policies and ethnic profiling in hiring, filtering out non-white candidates.
A 2007 UN fact-finding mission warned that France's ethnic minorities are trapped in social and economic "ghettos" because of an "insidious racism" tolerated by politicians.
Ramadan, who was chosen by the influential Foreign Policy magazine as one of the 100 top global thinkers in 2009, acknowledged that some women are forced to wear the head-to-toe garment.
"Clearly, there are men who put pressure on women — not just men, but the social context and social ghettoization that leads some women to wear the full-body garb,” he said.
"But a law (to ban it) is the wrong solution."
France was the country that sparked a heated debate across Europe over Muslim women hijab after it banned it in state schools in 2004.
While scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the niqab or burka, Hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women.
“All of this commotion over the burka does tell ordinary citizens that there is something wrong with Islam and leads to stigmatisation,” he said.
France’s burka debate came back to the fore this week after Switzerland voted in a referendum to ban minarets, putting Muslims’ place in Europe again in the headlines.
"Switzerland is going to open the way for (Europe's) relations with Islam for the next 50 years," he said.
"That's scary."
Source: IslamOnline
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