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Timesonline
Niqabi, interrupted
Wearing my niqab is a choice freely made, for
spiritual reasons
Naima B.Robert
26-7-2009
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I put on my niqab, my face veil, each day before I leave the
house, without a second thought. I drape it over my face,
tie the ribbons at the back and adjust the opening over my
eyes to make sure my peripheral vision is not affected.
Had I a full-length mirror next to the front door, I
would be able to see what others see: a woman of
average height and build, covered in several layers
of fabric, a niqab, a jilbab, sometimes an abayah,
sometimes all black, other times blue or brown. A
Muslim woman in 'full veil'. A niqabi.
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But is that truly how people see me? When I walk
through the park with my little ones in tow, when I
reverse my car into a parking space, when I browse
the shelves in the frozen section, when I ask how to
best cook asparagus at a market stall, what do
people see? An oppressed woman? A nameless,
voiceless individual? A criminal? |
Hamasna: THIS is how the West
views Niqab! |
Well, if Mr Sarkozy and others like him have their way, I
suppose I will be a criminal, won't I? Never mind that "it's
a free country"; never mind that I made this choice from my
own free will, as did the vast majority of covered women of
my generation; never mind that I am, in every other respect,
an upstanding citizen who works hard as a mother, author and
magazine publisher, spends responsibly, recycles and tries
to eat seasonally and buy local produce!
- Yes, I cover my face, but I am still of this society. And,
as crazy as it might sound, I am human, a human being with
my own thoughts, feelings and opinions. I refuse to allow
those who cannot know my reality to paint me as a cardboard
cut-out, an oppressed, submissive, silenced relic of the
Dark Ages. I am not a stereotype and, God willing, I never
will be.
- But where are those who will listen? At the end of the
day, Muslim women have been saying for years that the hijab
et al are not oppressive, that we cover as an act of
faith, that this is a bonafide spiritual lifestyle choice.
But the debate rages on, ironically, largely to the
exclusion of the women who actually do cover their faces.
The focus on the niqab is, in my opinion, utterly misplaced.
Don't the French have anything better to do than tell Muslim
women how to dress? Don't our societies have bigger problems
than a relative handful of women choosing to cover their
faces out of religious conviction? The "burka issue" has
become a red herring: there are issues that Muslim women
face that are more pressing, more wide-reaching and,
essentially, more relevant than whether or not they should
be covering with a niqab, burqa or hijab.
- At the end of the day, all a ban will do is force Muslim
women who choose to cover to retreat even further - it is
not going to result in a mass "liberation" of Muslim women
from the veil. All women, covered or not, deserve the
opportunity to dress as they see fit, to be educated, to
work where they deem appropriate and run their lives in
accordance with their principles, as long as these choices
do not impinge on others' freedoms. And last time I looked,
being able to see a woman's hair, legs or face were not
rights granted alongside "liberté, egalité et fraternité".
As a Muslim woman living in the UK, I am so grateful for the
fact that my society does not force me to choose between
being a practising Muslim and an active member of society. I
have been able to study, to work, to establish a writing
career and run a magazine business, all while wearing a
niqaab. I think that that is a credit to British society, no
matter what the anti-multiculturalists may say, and I think
the French could learn some very valuable lessons from the
British approach.
- So, three cheers for those women who make the choice to
cover, in whatever way and still go out there every day. Go
out to brave the scorn and ridicule of those who think they
understand the burka better than those who actually wear it.
Go out to face the humiliating headlines. Go out to face the
taunts of schoolchildren. Go out to fight another day. Go
out to do their bit for society and the common good. Because
you never know, if Mr Sarkozy and his supporters have their
way, there could come a day when these women think twice
about going out there into a society that cannot bear the
way they look. And, who knows, I could be one of them.
And, while some would disagree, I think that would be a sad
day.
Na'ima B. Robert is the founding editor of “SISTERS” , a
magazine for Muslim women and author of 'From My Sisters'
Lips ', a look at the lives of British Muslim women who
cover
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