Non-Muslim Women Being Forced To Wear Veil In Britain

From the Daily Mail:

Women police officers are being issued with headscarves to wear when they visit a mosque.

They are expected to put the scarfs on shortly before they enter the mosque, in keeping with Islamic custom.

There are two versions - one matches the black of a police officer's uniform, while another goes with the blue uniforms worn by community support officers.

The headscarves are being given out by Avon and Somerset Police, and have the force's emblem sewn on.

They have already been given to seven officers, including Assistant Chief Constable Jackie Roberts, and eight community support officers who work with Muslim groups in the area.

Mrs Roberts said: 'It recognises and respects the cultural and religious practices of our communities. This is a very positive addition to the uniform and one which I'm sure will be a welcome item for many of our officers.'

The force said the scarves, which cost £13, can be used in other religious settings as a mark of respect - for instance to cover the shoulders of a non-uniformed officer in a church.

Islamic custom expects women to cover their head inside a place of worship.

During an official visit last year, the Queen wore a headscarf to tour the crypt and caverns of an historic Islamic shrine in Turkey.

Rashad Azami, Imam and director of the Bath Islamic Society, said: 'It is highly pleasing to see that Avon and Somerset Constabulary is introducing specially designed head coverings for female officers.

There are two versions of the head covering - to match the black of a police officer's uniform and the blue of the police community support officer's uniform

'This will go a long way in encouraging a trustful relationship between the police and the Muslim community. The police have been working closely with the Muslim community for the last few years.

'We hope this step will further strengthen the mutual relationship.'

Avon and Somerset Police caused a race row two years ago when it rejected 186 white job applicants at the first stage of selection.

The force received 800 applications for 180 jobs and 'deselected' white males to increase ethnic diversity. Chief Constable Colin Port apologised.

This year, the fire service unveiled full-length skirts, hijab headscarves and long- sleeved shirts for Muslim women recruits to wear in fire stations and for events such as school trips.

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202540/Very-PC-police-force-issues-WPCs-Muslim-headscarves-complete-badge.html#ixzz0MV87ghR8

Sarkozy Says, Burqas Not Welcome In France

From the Astute Bloggers:

Sarkozy Takes on Muslims

Sarkozy says burqas not welcome in France


From the AP article Sarkozy states:

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement—I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

Sarkozy sees the power in standing up to Muslims, while Obama is pandering and apologizing. Sarkozy is smart and likes his new leadership position in the free world. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel is right there with him.

French Feminists attack Obama over Islamic veil

It takes feminists all the way from France to finally say what American feminists ought to have been saying for years.

Saturday, 06 June 2009
French feminists attacked US President Barack Obama's defence of the Islamic veil yesterday, accusing him of dealing a blow to the rights of millions of women in order to appease religious sentiment.

Obama was due to arrive in Paris later in the day, after a Middle East tour in which he gave a speech in which he accused countries like France of hiding "hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism."

France bans girls and young women from wearing Muslim headscarves in state schools, and women's rights campaigners here see its widespread and sometimes compulsory use in the Islamic world as an abuse of women's rights.

One French women's rights group, Ni Putes Ni Soumises ("Neither whores, nor submissives"), said: "Reducing the dialogue between civilisations to a dialogue between religions is once again to instrumentalise women.

"By attacking secularism and defending the veil, the President of the United States [...] has hurt the struggle of millions of women, some of whom pay with their lives every day to escape fundamentalist violence," it said.

Anne Saugier, president of the International Women's Rights League that was founded by Simone de Beauvoir, accused Obama of seeking to reconcile the United States with Muslims "on the backs of women."

"What a slap in the face for those women in Algeria, Iran and Afghanistan who died in atrocious conditions for having refused to wear what they consider the most radical sign of their oppression and segregation," she said.

Wearing some variety of headdress – whether a scarf over the hair, a veil or face mask or a full length "burqua" – is compulsory in some Muslim majority countries and common among Muslim communities in others.

It is considered by some a sign of women's subjugation and repression, and banned in some public institutions in some countries, but in his speech in Cairo on Thursday, Obama went out of his way to defend it on three occasions.

"It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear," he said.»

Muslim-owned shop bans customers wearing veils
Telegraph

A Muslim-owned jewellery shop has decided to ban customers wearing veils after being targeted by robbers disguised as Islamic women.

Everyone entering ATAA Jewellers in Glasgow must reveal their faces under planned new rules to protect staff from further attacks.

The store owners decided to act after two Asian men wearing traditional Muslim women's clothes – including niqab veils – made away with thousands of pounds worth of jewellery earlier this month.

The pair, who were also carrying handbags, pretended to be interested in buying some items but attacked staff with pepper spray when cabinets were unlocked.

Now the Sadiq family who run the shop are planning to put up a sign informing customers that they cannot wear any headgear that covers the face.

Any Muslim women who are more comfortable in a niqab will be encouraged to telephone in advance to ensure that a female member of staff is present during their visit, to confirm their identities.

"It is our safety that matters as well at the end of the day," Rukhsana Sadiq told the BBC Asian Network. "God forbid anything like this happening to anyone else."

The family said they accepted the policy may offend some Muslims, but expect other businesses to take a similar approach. Criminals wearing Islamic veils have carried out at least one other robbery in the city.

Local councillor Hanzala Malik backed the plan. "I know in Scotland that banks will not allow their customers coming in with motorbike helmets, I don't see why it should be different for people wearing the Niqab. It is an issue about identifying people," he said.

The disguise potential of traditional Muslim women's dress has been exploited several times in recent years. July 21 bomber Yassin Omar donned a burka as he fled after the failed attacks, as did BBC journalist John Simpson to gain entry to Afghanistan during the 2001 invasion.

Woman in headscarf pulled out of line

Hear we go again.

CALIFORNIA, Md., March 10 (UPI) -- Officials at a Maryland credit union say a Muslim woman was pulled out of line and served in a backroom because her headscarf violated bank policy banning hats.

Kenza Shelby, who says she wears the headscarf for religious reasons, told The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) she was asked to get out of line Saturday and told she could be helped in a backroom at Navy Federal Credit Union in California, Md., a suburb of Washington.

Shelby, who said she has been a customer at Navy Federal for more than 10 years, said she was first pulled out of line last month, and when it happened again Saturday she told credit union employees: "No. I want to be served like everybody else."

Shelby, who operates a daycare center in her home, said she left the credit union and contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told the Post CAIR is concerned Shelby's experience "may be the tip of the iceberg."

"There's got to be a way to work it out so that this security concern does not lead to violations of constitutional rights," Cooper said.

Navy Federal Senior Vice President for Security Tom Lyons told the Post he could not discuss the specific case but he said the institution's ban on hats, hoods and sunglasses, implemented in December, is a response to an increase in robberies in 2008.

"We want to be able to clearly identify who you are and make sure the transaction is safe," Lyons said. "This is a policy that applies to everybody in the branch. She wasn't singled out. … We tried to accommodate her and help her with her transaction and move on."

Note to bank robbers: Wear the headscarf, skip Navy Federal Credit Union, for now. Something tells me the policy will change.

Beveiled Muslims Test Tolerance in Secular Britain

Photo courtesy of the International Herald Tribune
Women covering themselves up is objectionable to many British people, and is seen as a sign of subjugation. British women, along with their sisters in other Western countries, fought long and hard for their liberation and equal rights. They view the veil, especially the full veil, as a step back in time, as a step back to a bygone age. Wearing it is also seen as a clear sign that Muslims do not wish to integrate.

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - LONDON: Increasingly, Muslim women in Britain take their children to school and run errands covered head to toe in flowing black gowns that allow only a slit for their eyes.

Like little else, their appearance has unnerved Britons, testing the limits of tolerance in this stridently secular nation. Many veiled women say they are targets of abuse. At the same time, efforts are growing to place legal curbs on the full Muslim veil, known as the niqab.

The past year has seen numerous examples: A lawyer dressed in a niqab was told by an immigration judge that she could not represent a client because, he said, he could not hear her. A teacher wearing a niqab was told by a provincial school to go home. A student who was barred from wearing a niqab took her case to the courts, and lost. In fact, the British education authorities are proposing a ban on the niqab in schools altogether.

David Sexton, a columnist for The Evening Standard, wrote recently that Britain has been "too deferential" toward the veil. "I find such garb, in the context of a London street, first ridiculous and then directly offensive," he said.

Although the number of women wearing the niqab has increased in the past several years, only a tiny percentage of women among Britain's two million Muslims cover themselves completely. It is impossible to say how many exactly.

Some who wear the niqab, particularly younger women who have taken it up recently, concede that it is a frontal expression of Islamic identity, which they have embraced since Sept. 11, 2001, as a form of rebellion against the policies of the Blair government in Iraq and at home.

"For me it is not just a piece of clothing, it's an act of faith, it's solidarity," said a 24-year-old program scheduler at a broadcasting company in London, who would allow only her last name, Al Shaikh, to be printed, saying she wanted to protect her privacy. "9/11 was a wake-up call for young Muslims," she said. Head-to-toe Muslim veils test tolerance of secular Britain >>> By Jane Perlez

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)