Muslims ‘Unveiled’

In the past few weeks we have witnessed a spate of items in the news in the UK about Muslims and integration. In particular, these have involved the Muslim female dress-code and the issue of the veil. The veiling of Muslim women has always been a favourite topic of conversation in the West. Initially, in the days of Empire, the veil was used by European intellectuals and writers and artists as part of the attempt to exoticise and eroticise the image of the Muslim female, depicting them as veiled, mysterious ‘Eastern beauties’ hidden in purdah in the seraglios of lustful Muslim men! This fantasy image has thankfully disappeared from intelligent debate but it has been replaced by the image of Muslim Woman as Oppressed Female and the dress-code is seen as the proof of the pudding: Muslim women wear the veil, the veil is a symbol of female subordination and oppression, hence, the argument goes, Muslim women must be oppressed! That it is not only Muslim women who choose to veil themselves by covering their heads is often missed; that most who do dress in such a manner, do so voluntarily is also often not mentioned! That no one considers nuns or orthodox Jews or Amish females to be oppressed for wearing cloth on their heads is also conveniently forgotten.

Anyway, I do not wish to digress from my topic. This article is not meant as a defence of the veil, per se. Returning to the political mileage which the Veil has created in the UK, we will notice that it is just an extension of developments which have already occurred in the Continent: France infamously banning religious symbols in its public and civil spaces last year—in keeping with its fundamentalist secular values. Other European nations followed suit and it was inevitable that the storm would hit the UK sooner or later. It was sooner.

It began a few weeks ago when Mr. Reid, the Home Minister, suggested, to an audience of Muslim in the East End of London (“Brick Lane” territory!) that perhaps Muslim parents should keep an eye on their children and report any fundamentalist leanings. Though what he said, that Muslim parents should ensure that extremists due not lure their children into their Wahabist ideology (and he used the word Wahabi), was true, his manner of saying it with its Orwellian and Stasi undertones of parents spooking on children caused unease not only in the Muslim community but in liberal-minded Britons in general. Sadly, his sensible point was lost in the brouhaha which followed his delivery! Soon afterwards, Jack Straw, former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons, raised the ire of some Muslims by admitting that he asked his female Muslim constituents to remove their niqabs when they came to see him in his surgery. Personally, I find nothing offensive in that comment either. However, this statement of his caused a minor political storm and he fanned the flames by admitting that he would prefer it if Muslim women in the UK removed their niqabs completely. (The niqab is the piece of cloth which covers the face leaving only the eyes visible.) He did not mention removing the headscarf. Again, I think what he said makes sense as the niqab, apart from not being a mandatory requirement (fard or wajib) under Islamic Law, makes one stand out in a society such as the UK. This was followed this week by the story of the Muslim Teaching Assistant, Aisha Azim, who has been suspended by her school for refusing to take off her niqab in class. And now, some Conservative ministers have suggested she be sacked. To bring this tale right up to date, the Shadow Home Secretary, Mr. David Davis, has today accused some Muslims of not doing enough to integrate into mainstream society and of the dangers of creating ‘voluntary apartheid’. He writes, in the Telegraph (15 Oct 2006),

“What is important is the greater issue of social division. At the starkest level, we may be creating conditions in the recesses of our society that foster home-grown terrorism. The vast majority of British Muslims lead lives that are practically identical to the lives of everyone else living, working and playing in the same places. But we may be allowing the radicalisation of a few young Muslims.
At its very least, there is a growing feeling that the Muslim community is excessively sensitive to criticism, unwilling to engage in substantive debate. Much worse is the feeling of some Muslim leaders that as a community they should be protected from criticism, argument, parody, satire and all the other challenges that happen in a society that has free speech as its highest value….

…So the issues are very real. Are we going to find the compromises to preserve the freedoms, the tolerance, the give-and-take, that characterise the most open, vital and creative society in history? Or are we going to allow the splintering of loyalties, the division of communities, that will corrode the foundations of that society?

It will take compromises, but it will also take a determined signal about what we as a nation will and will not accept. It will require an understanding about what we mean by mutual respect and tolerance. Essentially, it is straightforward. I respect your religion, you respect mine, and we all respect our laws. That means that we respect the universality of our laws, with no special treatment for any one group…
What we should do, now, is to ensure that the debate moves on to territory that allows all British citizens to take full part in a society that has delivered, through its freedoms, one of the greatest nations on earth. And make sure it continues to be just that, for everyone.”

As a Muslim citizen of the UK, I have to say I agree with Mr. Davis’ comments. I am a (semi) practising Muslim but I am culturally very Anglicised--as are most of Britain’s Muslims and especially those under 30. I think that Muslims should be willing to adapt to the host culture as much as possible--as long as it does not go against the fundamental teachings of their faith (which is not difficult as traditional Islam is flexible and we have religious freedom here). The niqab is not mandatory according to traditional Islamic scholarship and by insisting on it, a minority of Muslims are doing themselves and Islam in Britain a disservice. I also think that any items of clothing which make you stand out from the mainstream should be avoided. Islamic dress code is all about modesty--a long skirt and a jumper can, with a headscarf, (for women) or traditional British trousers and blazer (for men) satisfy the religious requirements. All it requires is some application of common sense.

It is about time that Muslims in the UK, considered themselves Muslim Britons and not Pakistani Muslims or Indian Muslims or Arabs. To be fair, most of us already do, and it is only a small extremist bunch who refuse to fit in. To them, I say, if you want to live like that, emigrate. Meanwhile, I am sure that, as Tariq Ramadan so eloquently says, we are on the cusp of what will become a European Islam. Let us face the truth: we may have brown skin and be ethnically Indian or Pakistani or Algerian but culturally the majority of Muslims in Europe are about as far removed from people in those countries as their fellow Caucasian citizens! It is just a tiny group who refuse to integrate. I know that I feel more comfortable talking to a local Briton then when I go to Pakistan and have to mix with people there, to take one example.

Angus Roxburgh in his excellent book, “Preachers of Hate: The Rise by Stealth of the Far Right” concludes by listing three options that European Muslims face:

1. a multicultural society in which Muslims freely practise their religion, speak their own languages and keep their own cultures;
2. integration, by which they keep their distinct identity but become part of the ’host’ community;
3. assimilation, by which they lose all traces of of their original identity, including even their religion, and become indistinguishable from their ’host’ nation, apart from the colour of their skin.

I believe that we should aim for Option 2. The liberal dream of a multicultural paradise, i.e. Option 1, is no longer feasible and the hosts are rejecting it. This is what these latest outbursts have suggested and there will be more to come. The Muslims, unless they become integrated, face either Option 3 or, even worse, the same fate as that of our Semitic cousins—the Jews.

Otherwise, if some Muslims insist on dressing and living as if they were living in Saudi Arabia (then I do fear that apartheid ghettoes could become the reality and the waters of the River Tiber may well, after all, flow with ’Saracen’ blood.