There has been debates about whether the Islamic face veil should be banned in countries. The arguments that governments of countries that have banned the Muslim face veil (France, Syria, Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium) argue that the full-face veil is oppressive, degrading towards women, and goes against values of each country. However, many Muslim women believe otherwise and strongly disagree with the banning of the veil. I strongly believe that the Islamic face veil should not be banned because it is a complete violation of religious and expressive freedom and forces them to conform to an alternative culture.
France decided to ban the Islamic face-veil in public organizations: schools, hospitals, government offices, and even on public transportation (BBC News). By performing this action, Muslim women would have to abandon their veils when engaging with these public organizations to conform to France's culture. France also decided to restrict and refuse residence cards to anyone with a radical religious practice(BBC News). This means that if a person takes place in radical practices of their religion, that person can not reside in France.These situations targets only the women who wear the full face veil which makes the women who wear the veils feel singled out. France fails to realize that Muslim women choose to wear the veil because they rather not expose their bodies to the eyes of other people (The Peninsula).
France does not see that Muslim women who participate in wearing the Muslim face veil feels more liberated rather than oppressed. People who do not approve of the Islamic face veil often believe that since the Muslims' religion does not require them to wear the veil, and this is true.However, the people who do not agree with people However, full face veil wearers strongly disagrees because when they wear their veil, they feel more liberated and feel obligated to freedom of expression. According to the critics that agree on the ban, the veil not only oppresses women, but it also establishes a barrier between the people who wear traditional dress and the rest of the society. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said earlier this year that the full veil, such as the niqab or the burqa, "hurts the dignity of women and is not acceptable in French society" (Aljazeera).
In opposition to the critics' argument, Alveena Malik, a former faith adviser to the last Labour government , believes, Britain needs to take a different direction from others in Europe and to accept the veil as part of a modern British way of life(Ross). She also believes that the religious practice of the Islamic face veil should be a fundamental right. By giving Muslims the fundamental right of practicing their religion, it would give them the right to express their freedom and religion.If Britain decided to deprive the Muslims of their fundamental right like France did, then Britain would be trying to force the Muslims that participate in wearing the Islamic face veil to conform to their society like France as well. The government says that the reason for the ban on the Islamic face veil is because of security and the values or beliefs of the country in which the Muslims reside in. For instance: France says that the ban may cause France to be a target of terrorism.
If France is concerned about the security of the citizens and knows that banning the Islamic face veil would cause a potential problem of terrorism, it seems like France would not pass the ban on the Islamic face veil for the sake of France and the women who wear the full face veil. Even Muslim leaders fear that tensions would develop by the five to six million Muslims living in the environment of France, which is the biggest Islamic community in Europe (Aljazeera). Since France has banned the veil, there were boycotts upon the situation in France about the vote and the ban of the Islamic face veil.The ban prohibited Muslims from wearing the Muslim full face veil in public places. If a person was caught wearing the veil, that person would be fined $190 or be ordered to attend a ? citizenship class (Aljazeera).
This proves that the ban on the full face veil is very unfair and proves that the government is violating the freedom of expression and religion towards the Muslims. However, the decision of the ban has to deal with the President of France, President Sarkozy as well.President Sarkozy proposed the banning of the bill and he has had skepticism about whether it it was the right choice or not. Due to the decision of the banning by President Sarkozy, he started to receive harsh and cruel comments. He actually asked his Prime Minister to come up with a solution to the banning issue.
The presidents of the national assembly and senate had to ask him for time since this was such a critical issue: “This is a sensitive issue. We need time to come up with a solid text that everyone will agree on. President Sarkozy's decision to ban the Muslim full face veils coincides with the fact that the ban is in complete violation to the freedom of expression and religion is because the President's ban caused the authority of France to enforce the law crucially. In fact, Agnes Poirier explains that a woman, one who supported the niqab, was driving down the street and was fined 22 eruos by the gendarmerie for driving in a full veil that offered "too little visibility" ( Poirier).
Why should a person have to pay almost $200 for just expressing themselves? A person should not.There are debates upon the issue of the ban not only from the Muslims who wear the veil, but also by Christians. David Johnson wrote that all Christians should be against the banning of the full face veil because, from his point of view, France did not ban the veil for security reasons or women's equality rights. Instead, he believes that France is more concerned with electoral votes rather than what they claim to be concerned with. He also believes that all Christians should oppose the bill because the ban is discrimantory and offensive towards the Muslims.Johnson also explains that France also wants to strip Muslims of their citizenship if the full face veil is visible.
He questions the France law and asks, “If security is the issue, then why does the law explicitly exempt motorcycle helmets, carnival costumes, fencing gear, and the like? Furthermore, should a state whose motto includes the word liberty presume to tell people what to wear” (Johnson). The point that Johnson brings to the light is definitely in the category of violation of rights and conformity to what France only wants to see. France's ban on the full face veil is high unfair to the Muslims.The ban focuses more on forcing the Muslims to conform to the culture of France rather than actually enforing their freedom rights. The bill is discrimantory, offensive, and eliminates the rights of Muslims because they are different.
Yes, the full face veils like the burqa and the niqab are different and are not required of the Muslim's religion, but it is there choice whether or not they would like to wear it or not. France has to be able to be able to realize that since there country is open to freedom, they have to be able to accept differences within people and their differences in cultures.
