France’s War on Burqa
There is an ongoing debate in most Western countries about whether or not they should allow Muslim women to wear the Burqas in public. The most intense debate is going on in France where there is a parliamentary commission that is holding six months of hearing to decide whether or not a law banning Muslim women from wearing the Burqa in public should be enacted. The French minister Eric Besson proposed a debate on French “national identity” and said that it should not include the Burqa. This is a shocking statement particularly considering that Eric Besson is the immigration minister. Immigration departments in most Western nations including the United States are normally very pro-immigration and are very sympathetic to the plight of the immigrants. It is very unfortunate that many countries in Europe particularly France (which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe) have started picking on the immigrants as the scapegoats for many of the problems facing the country.
The Burqa is a traditional dress worn by women in many parts of the world for thousands of years. It predates Islam. The early Christians who lived in the cities and the surrounding deserts of the Middle East wore dresses similar to what is worn by men and women in the region today. Jesus Christ in many traditions is always shown wearing the robe. In fact in the Bible (John 19:23-24) says the following about the robe worn by Jesus Christ: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and divided them into four parts, to ever soldier a part and the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven whole from the top down …”
Even today most of the Christian priests continue to wear the robe. In some sects these robes are worn all the time and in others they wear it during important functions or during the mass. Almost all Christian monks also wear the robe. There is also tremendous similarity between the robe worn by Christian nuns and the Burqa worn by Muslim women. Muslim women today follow the directive of Islam when it comes to covering the head more so than any other religion. But this does not mean that Islam is the only religion that has such directives. In the Bible (Corinthians 11:3-10) says the following: “But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered, disgraces his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is the same as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shaven. But if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. A man indeed ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. For man was not created for woman, but woman for man. This is why the woman ought to have a sign of authority over her head, because of the angels”.
Very few Christian women in the West follow this tradition anymore. But many in the East still do (drive along NH-47 in Kerala on a Sunday morning. You will see hundreds of Christian women covering their head and or wearing a veil and going to mass). Very many churches have an image or statue of Mary wearing a veil also. But unfortunately today the veil and the Burqa have become synonymous with Islam and suppression. Many Muslim women wear the Burqa because they want to be modest. They also wear it on their own free will. But many non-Muslims do not see it that way. Many individuals like Eric Bessona and their likes use words like French Values, French Identity and Culture to mask what they are really trying to do. They want to strip the immigrant communities of their individual cultural identities and create societies that are uniform and confirm to the “French culture”(having been to France a few times I can assure you that like any old culture very few French actually agree on what French identity or culture is. It means different things to different people). Whatever happened to the French national motto of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity?
Related posts:
- Ban the Burqa or Ban the Sena
- Kerala Lawyer Wants Change in Dress Code
- Saint Thomas the Apostle of India
- Lord Venkateswara Temple: Discrimination on the basis of Clothing
- White Christmas & Black Nativity
Category: Culture & Religion