Schoolgirl Revives UK Veil Debate

Sajid Iqbal —

salaam

just when u thought the niqab debate was dieing down.... we have a father to thank who demands his daughter is allowed to wear the niqab at school...
some ppl are just stupid....
they're trying to ban niqab in public and this guy expects school to let his daughter to wear it in school!!!!!! and now obviously media will latch on to this story and the debate will be ban niqabs, jilbaabs, hijabs in school....
why do muslims have to take it too far?????????
you wanna wear niqab then dont go to that school. they dont have to let you wear it. there are no special rules for muslims. 99% of muslims are ok without it...but now we have these 'super muslims' who make life a pain for the rest of us...
this is the shabina begum saga all again but this time its worse, and unecessary... but no doubt muslims will defend them COS THEY'RE MUSLIMS, HUMAN RIGHTS AN DALL THAT MALARKI!!!
but its Islam and Muslims that get abused and insulted on the way...
arghhhhhhhhh!!!!!

[b]Schoolgirl Revives UK Veil Debate[/b]

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

Britain's heated debate over face-veil is crawling back into the limelight with a Muslim father seeking a court review for a school's decision to ban his kid from covering her face, a case that is lacking support from fellow Muslims, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, January 23.

"The school feels it would be inappropriate to allow the veil because it could bring difficulties interacting with the girl," said a source close to the school.

The Pakistani-born father of the 12-year-old pupil has resorted to the High Court in London to sue the school in the Buckinghamshire County.

Three elder sisters of the girl used to attend the same school wearing the face-veil, albeit under a different headmaster.

Muslims students, the majority of the school's students, are allowed to wear hijab.

The Buckinghamshire Council responsible for the county's schools is reluctant to back the school in the legal battle.

"With 250 other schools in the area and severe cuts to the social care budget, it would be inappropriate to spend taxpayers' money on this," said a council source.

The face-veil debate was thrust into the spotlight after former foreign secretary and incumbent leader of the House of Common Jack Straw revealed asking Muslim women visiting his constituency office to show their faces.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has since described veil as a "mark of separation," was reportedly mulling a face-veil ban in public institutions, including schools.

Aishah Azmi, a 24-year-old Muslim teacher in Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, was recently sacked over covering her face.

The young woman had expressed willingness to remove her veil in front of children - but not when male colleagues were present.

Unnecessary

Conservative MP Paul Goodman has criticized Buckinghamshire Council's stance.

"I believe that the Department for Education and Buckinghamshire County Council should support the school in principle, and should work together to help fund this court case," he said.

The Muslim community in southeastern county of England said the case had blown out of proportion.

"Muslims should be able to practice whatever they want within the constraints of the law," Mohammed Khaliel, a local community leader, told The Mail.

"But within the large Muslim community in the town, nearly 20,000 people, there is surprise about this."

Local Muslims say they do not prefer their girls wear the face-veil, though they have every right to do so.

"The father involved is well-respected, and is a good Muslim, but his is the only family that wants their daughter to wear this veil to school," Khaliel averred.

The Muslim Council of Britain also weighed in the case, saying the face-veil is unnecessary in schools, according to the newspaper.

The Muslim umbrella body said the Buckinghamshire school's policy of allowing the hijab is "quite sufficient to meet Islamic requirements".

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

As for the face veil, the majority of Muslim scholars believe that a woman is not obliged to cover her face or hands.

Scholars, however, believe that it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil.

Forum

momin — Sun, 4 Feb 2007 - 05:39

whatever the case is, let me tell you reason why they want to ban the veil. they hate Niqaab because it's a testimony that their ways of nudity and promiscuity (which are the norm for western women) are not freedom/liberation to the Muslim woman, a Muslim woman wearing the Niqaab of her own freewill in their own so called "free country" is a smack on their faces when they say Muslim women in Afghanistan and Pakistan are opressed and need liberating.

I guess religious discrimination is acceptable against Muslims now, it'll become the norm.

Thier plan is to distance children from other people at a young age so that when they grow up they become narrow minded and intolerant. Funny how some teachers wear skirts and tight blouses and are accepted, but if someone wants to cover herself then it becomes the issue. Then again if you look at the way some of the parents dress or allow thier kids to dress its not suprising

MuslimSister — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 - 23:30

Muslims to pay school's legal fight to uphold niqab ban

A Muslim group has offered to help fund a school's legal battle over its refusal to let a pupil wear the niqab in class

In an unprecedented move, the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford (Meco) has written to the head teacher to say it is prepared to contribute to a fighting fund.

Taj Hargey, Meco's chairman, said he was also willing to organise a campaign among Muslims nationally to resist "this largely Saudi-driven campaign to make the niqab a compulsory requirement for Muslim women".

Dr Hargey's offer comes as the school, which cannot be identified because of a court order, faces the prospect of an expensive legal fight without any backing.

Buckinghamshire county council, the local authority for the school, is unwilling to underwrite a challenge which it believes could cost as much as £500,000.

A court on Thursday is due to decide whether the school's decision not to allow the pupil, aged 12, to wear the veil should go to a full judicial review. The school, which already allows girls to wear head scarves called hijabs, drew the line at the niqab, which covers the whole face except the eyes.

It is insisting that the family accepts the uniform policy but the father has been given legal aid to fight a human rights case.

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=WJNQNXBX4CACPQFIQ…]

Check out some of the comments above too.

yashmaki — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 - 10:38

do u know who Meco are look up their beliefs online they are no authoritative voice for muslims, theyre a disgrace. The head of this pathetic org was on talksport not long ago saying all sorts of garbage about muslim sisters. of course they loved him coz he was apparently a "moderate modernist" Words i have for him cannot be repeated here, ill leave it at that.

So called scholar Dr hajji mocked the niqab and laughed with the presenter as they called sisters who wear them ninja turtles. So its no surprise he's funding this school, no muslim org would take his money, not even for charity.

*DUST* — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 - 18:23

[quote="yashmaki"]do u know who Meco are look up their beliefs online they are no authoritative voice for muslims, theyre a disgrace. The head of this pathetic org was on talksport not long ago saying all sorts of garbage about muslim sisters. of course they loved him coz he was apparently a "moderate modernist" Words i have for him cannot be repeated here, ill leave it at that.

So called scholar Dr hajji mocked the niqab and laughed with the presenter as they called sisters who wear them ninja turtles. So its no surprise he's funding this school, no muslim org would take his money, not even for charity.[/quote]
disgrace is not the word sis... :roll:

*DUST* — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 - 01:46

[quote="TheRevivalEditor"]School head explains niqab ban
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6353601.stm[/quote]
thanx for posting that up Ed.

[quote]"As a girls' school for over 100 years, we are very conscious of our duty to educate girls to regard themselves as equals to men and to gain the self-confidence to live and work in British and international society on the same level as men," she said.[/quote] i.e. the niqab puts women below men... :roll: