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(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JULY 17 - A "luminous and liberated" veil, in the spirit of Islam's poetics, will cover but not hide, thanks to a light transparent structure, the Visconti Court of the Louvre Museum in Paris, in the right wing, to host the new museum of Islamic arts, to be established in 2010. ¿It is a political museum¿, as explained to ANSA by Rudy Ricciotti, of Italian origins, one of the two architects, with Mario Bellini from Milan, who designed the project, selected among 52 applicants. "In the sense that it recognises all the peoples in a lay state,...

It is known as the Veil and is described by its architects as a giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. The former French president Jacques Chirac saw it as one way to avert a clash of civilisations in the run-up to the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it the symbol of France's friendship with the Arab world. The Louvre's bold new Islamic art wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy yesterday , launching the museum's most daring project since IM Pei created the giant glass pyramid 20 years ago. The world's most visited museum will...

After 30 years of marriage, cynics might say most husbands and wives would have seen quite enough of each other, thank you very much. But not in the case of one Saudi Arabian man who managed to live with his wife for three decades without setting eyes on her face. Not that he had much choice about it. His 50-year-old wife followed the tradition of her native village near the south-western city of Khamis Mushayt and kept her features veiled at all times. Until one night last month, that is, when the husband was finally overcome by curiosity and tried...

DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge in Detroit has dismissed the case of a Muslim woman who sued a judge for demanding she remove her veil in court. The judge ruled Monday against Ginnnah (ZHIN'-nuh) Muhammad's claims that her rights to freedom of religion and court access were violated. Judge Paul Paruk (per-ROOK) requested she remove her veil during a 2006 hearing in the town of Hamtramck (ham-TRA'-mick). She was contesting a $3,000 charge from a rental-car company to repair a vehicle she said thieves had broken into.

OUTSPOKEN Muslim cleric Taj Din al-Hilali says the Bible "mandates" the wearing of the veil by Christian women. Writing in a new book, Sheik Hilali, who lost his job as mufti of Australia after comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, argues that the Bible and the Koran make similar demands of a woman's modesty. Sheik Hilali, who remains the head of Australia's largest mosque, in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Lakemba, says the purpose of the book is to show the commonalities of Islam with the Jewish and Christian faiths when it comes to women's modesty and clothing. In...

Keeping women veiled and walking three feet behind a man with no voice, vote, or murdering them before they have a chance to breathe, dooms the society they could have contributed to and condemns the men that perpetuate those philosophies. A 21st Century Society that punishes women by relegating them to a subservient role deserves neither the woman or the future they could have created. Whether it's Christianity, Islam, Catholocism, or Libertarians, Democrats, and Republicans, religions and political systems that attempt to keep women marginalized will ultimately fail. If the 21st Century is anything, it is the Woman's Century. The...

State-run television in the Maldives has been ordered not to employ women who cover their heads and to stop praising Palestinian suicide bombers, a government minister told AFP. The measures are part of a package of restrictions designed to stem a feared spread of militant Islam that could damage the Indian Ocean archipelago's status as a top destination for rich tourists. "We have instructed Television Maldives to stop hiring female anchors who wear headscarves and not show fully veiled women, even in news reports," Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed said in an interview late Tuesday. He said state-run television had also...

Priest gets a visit from 'hate crime' police for expressing his views on Muslim veil affairBy STEPHEN WRIGHT & TOM KELLY - More by this author » Last updated at 00:58am on 15th October 2007  John Hayes: 'Respect for Islam' Veil fight: Muslim schoolgirl Shabina Begum A priest has been interviewed by police on suspicion of inciting racial hatred for expressing his Christian views in his parish newsletter. Father John Hayes, 71, was quizzed for more than an hour after commenting on the case of a Muslim girl who went to court over her wish to wear a full...

No reader would be faulted for thinking that the title of this column is a spoof. After all, Reform Judaism, like liberal Christian denominations, is exquisitely sensitive to women's equality. Thus, Reform Judaism was the first major Jewish denomination to ordain women, and the first to have its seminaries discourage referring to God as "he." One would think, then, that the last thing the head of a movement devoted to women's equality would endorse is the covering of women's faces with a veil. This is one of the most dehumanizing and degrading practices that has ever been foisted on women....

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates-- The West believes that Islam oppresses women. But as a Muslim, descended from generations of Muslims, I have a different story to tell. It starts like this: You say, "The sea is salty." I say, "But it is blue and full of fish." I am not objective about Islam, and although I am considerably Westernized, I can never truly see it through Western eyes. I am in this religion. It is in me. And articulating the intimacy of faith and the experience of worship to a Western audience is a challenge and a discovery... Recently,...

Magistrate walks out over Muslim woman's veil Last Updated: 1:27am BST 30/06/2007 A magistrate is facing an inquiry after refusing to deal with a defendant wearing a full Muslim veil, the Judiciary of England and Wales said yesterday. Ian Murray walked out of the case at Manchester magistrates' court yesterday because Zoobia Hussain, 32, of Crumpsall, Manchester, was covered by a hijab. Hussain's lawyer, Judith Hawkins, said her client was "shocked and distressed" and found Mr Murray's treatment of her "insensitive and unacceptable". Miss Hawkins said she would submit a formal written complaint to the court on Monday. When the...

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...

LUCKNOW, India -- Islamic leaders demanded the ruling coalition withdraw its candidate from India's presidential race on Tuesday after she said Muslim women should stop wearing their headscarves. Several Muslim leaders called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find a new candidate for the largely ceremonial post, accusing Pratibha Patil, a Hindu, of insulting Islam by suggesting the headscarf is primitive. Addressing a conference in the northwestern city of Udaipur over the weekend, Patil said women started wearing the headscarves in India to save themselves from 16th century Muslim invaders, and that it was time to drop what the practice,...

Forcing Maids to Wear Veil Najah Alosaimi, Arab News RIYADH, 3 June 2007 — The scene of a veiled maid walking with a Saudi family in public is a familiar one. It is also a normal scene when we consider how the veil and religion are closely associated with most Saudis. Veils constitute an important component of dress for many women in the Kingdom, where it is considered a sign of feminine modesty. Interestingly, non-Muslim maids that work for conservative Muslim families are also obliged by their sponsors to wear veils in public. However, these women are not required to...

ROME, MAY 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. Q: A friend of mine told me that according to the Scriptures a woman should cover her head in the presence of Our Lord (holy Eucharist/during Mass). In our churches this is not practiced. Can you please write and tell me as to how and when the practice of women covering their heads came to an end, or is it that we are doing something which is not proper? -- J.M., Doha, Qatar A: The Scripture text referred to is probably 1...

A bus company in Edinburgh has sparked anger over rules requiring drivers to ask Muslim women wearing the veil to show their faces. Religious groups and unions said the rules introduced by Lothian Buses to catch potential fare cheats were unnecessary. Passengers have been told to lift their veils or produce a passport or driving licence when boarding.

Aniya Arrested Over Article “Against Islam” By Will Jordan in Male' May 3, 2007 Aishath Aniya was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with an article she wrote criticising the wearing of the veil. She was apprehended by police at around 9:40am outside the offices of Minivan Daily newspaper as she parked her motorcycle. Aniya was lifted into the back of a police van and taken to Police Headquarters, before being transferred to the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs for questioning. She refused to answer questions without a lawyer present and arranged to return to the Supreme Council on Sunday...

A Malmö bus driver has been fired from his job following revelations that he stopped a woman from boarding his bus because she was wearing a niqab, a form of Islamic headdress that covers the face. The bus company, Arriva, has elected not to extend the driver's contract, suggesting that this was not an isolated incident. "What happened last week was the straw that broke the camel's back," spokesman Daniel Stjernfeldt told newspaper Punkt SE. The incident occurred last Tuesday morning when 'Leonora' boarded the number 35 bus on her usual route between the Rosengård housing estate and the city's...

IRAN: University Female Students Rebel Against Veil Tehran, 19 April (AKI) - Female students at Tehran Polytechnic University, where students protested against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a visit last December crying 'dictator go away' and throwing firecrackers, are staging a major protest against new regulations enabling police as of 21 April to arrest women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code. A group of 700 female students organized a rally on campus and signed a letter to the dean calling the new rules "an offence to the dignity of women" and accusing him of "wanting to extend...

Tehran, 19 April (AKI) - Female students at Tehran Polytechnic University, where students protested against Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a visit last December crying 'dictator go away' and throwing firecrackers, are staging a major protest against new regulations enabling police as of 21 April to arrest women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code. A group of 700 female students organized a rally on campus and signed a letter to the dean calling the new rules "an offence to the dignity of women" and accusing him of "wanting to extend to academia the sexual apartheid imposed by...

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's new female education minister refused to wear a veil as she took an oath when the OPEC oil producer's new government was sworn in on Monday, leading to protests by several Islamist parliamentarians. Nouriya al-Subaih defied calls by some deputies to cover her hair when taking the oath with the rest of the Gulf Arab country's cabinet. "The minister must comply with the provisions of sharia (Islamic law) approved by parliament. The government must uphold the law," said deputy Dhaifallah Buramia, who stood up in parliament until Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi told him to sit down. Another...

A Muslim woman who said her religious and civil rights were violated is suing a judge. Ginnah Muhammad filed the suit Wednesday in federal court. The suit claims Hamtramck Judge Paul Paruk's request that she remove her veil -- and the dismissal of her small-claims case when she didn't -- was unconstitutional based on her right to practice her religion. Muhammad wore a scarf and veil that leaves only the eyes visible during the October hearing. Paruk told Muhammad he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave a choice: take off the veil while testifying or...

MUSLIM women will have to make sure their face is fully visible when they have a photograph taken for the government's new access card. The proposed system will replace the Medicare card and be compulsory for any Australian who wants to access up to 16 other government health and welfare services. In its submission to a Senate inquiry examining the access card legislation, which is currently before parliament, the government provided examples of a how a photograph would be taken of a person wearing a headscarf.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl has failed in an attempted legal challenge to her school's ban on a full-face veil. Mr Justice Silber had been told that the girl's three older sisters had attended the same school and had worn the niqab with no problems. But the school, in Buckinghamshire, had told the girl it was not acceptable because teachers believed it would make communication and learning difficult. The judge has now rejected her lawyers' arguments for a judicial review. They said after the judgment that the family were "bitterly disappointed". They are considering making an appeal, but would have to make...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2 Police killer suspect fled Britain in a veil ANDREW NORFOLK • Most wanted man posed as sister to escape • Inquiry demanded into Heathrow security Comment Central: real freedom means Muslim women should be able to wear a veil A man who was being hunted for the murder of a policewoman is understood to have escaped from Britain by disguising himself as a veiled Muslim woman. Mustaf Jama, a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, assumed his sister’s identity — wearing the niqab and using her passport — to evade supposedly stringent checks at Heathrow,...

ITALY: MP RECEIVES DEATH THREATS OVER HER ANTI-VEIL BATTLE Rome, 10 Jan. (AKI) - Italian conservative MP Daniela Santanche has received death threats over her opposition to the Muslim veil, Italy's leading paper Corriere della Sera reported in a front-page article on Wednesday. Santanche reportedly received a letter in Arabic and English at her lower house office Tuesday night with pictures of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, murdered in 2004 by an Islamist fundamentalist for his movie Submission, which denounced violence on women in Muslim countries, and Dutch MP Hirsi Ali, the film's author, who has also received death threats....

Ramadan 2006 may well be remembered as the Ramadan of the veil. In remarks widely reported in the Arab press, former U.K. foreign secretary Jack Straw described the veil as "a visible statement of separation and difference"; in the ensuing controversy, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lent his support to Straw and made similar comments. In a related development, a teaching assistant in the U.K., Aisha Azmi, was suspended for refusing to remove her veil when teaching. However, the most divisive controversy erupted not in Europe, but in Tunisia, where the government launched a campaign to implement "Decree 108," first...

Muslims ask to worship at Cordoba More than a million of Spain's 44 million inhabitants are Muslims [GALLO/GETTY] Spanish Muslims have written to the Vatican to demand the right to worship at Cordoba Cathedral. Spain's Islamic Board wrote to Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, calling on him to grant them permission to worship in the cathedral, parts of which were built as a mosque during Spain's period of Islamic rule. The group said in their letter: "What we wanted was not to take over that holy place, but to create in it, together with you and other faiths, an ecumenical...

Man attacked over wife's veil comment By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - A man,whose wife made a passing comment about a Muslim woman's full face veil, suffered a broken nose and lost his front teeth after being attacked and headbutted by the woman's partner, police said on Sunday. The victim, a 46-year-old white man, was walking through Regent's Park with his wife, son and daughter when they passed another family, a Muslim man and his wife who was pushing a baby in a pushchair. "The victim's wife made a comment directed to her husband that she thought it must be...

VEILED women will be forced to reveal their identities at UK airports under a government plan to tighten security, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Home Office insiders last night confirmed that immigration officials will be ordered to impose their legal right to lift the veils of passengers after it emerged a suspected police killer may have escaped the UK dressed as a Muslim woman. But the plan has been attacked by unions, which claim it would impose intolerable demands on their members, particularly female officers who would be the only ones allowed to look under veils. Ministers have been forced...

A man who was being hunted for the murder of a policewoman is understood to have escaped from Britain by disguising himself as a veiled Muslim woman. Mustaf Jama, a prime suspect in the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, assumed his sister’s identity — wearing the niqab and using her passport — to evade supposedly stringent checks at Heathrow, according to police sources. The use of the niqab, which leaves only a narrow slit for the eyes, highlights flaws in British airport security. At the time, Jama was Britain’s most wanted man, while Heathrow was on a heightened state...

Veil-wearing Muslim woman backs out of Channel 4 alternative to Queen's message By Richard Alleyne Last Updated: 1:41am GMT 16/12/2006 A muslim woman who was due to deliver Channel 4's alternative Christmas message wearing a full veil backed out yesterday after criticism from inside and outside her community. Khadija Ravat has worn the full veil since she got married Earlier this month, Khadija Ravat agreed to front the six-minute slot that is broadcast as the Queen delivers her own thoughts on Christmas Day. She said she wanted to argue that women should have the right to cover their faces if...

A veiled Muslim woman will deliver this year's alternative Christmas speech on Channel 4, the broadcaster has said. Khadija, a Zimbabwean-born British citizen who has been wearing the full veil - or niqab - for 10 years, has been given the slot. The message will reflect a year in which the wearing of religious clothing and symbols have "dominated the news agenda", said a Channel 4 spokesman. A counterpoint to the Queen's Christmas speech first appeared on C4 in 1993. The spokesman added that the specific contents of the message would be released closer to Christmas Day.

School sacks woman after veil row  Ms Azmi's lawyers said they were unaware of the decision to sack her A Muslim classroom assistant suspended by a school for wearing a veil in lessons has been sacked.Aishah Azmi, 23, was asked to remove the veil after the Church of England school in Dewsbury, West Yorks, said pupils found it hard to understand her. Last month, an employment tribunal ruled Mrs Azmi had not been discriminated against, but awarded her £1,100 for "injury to feelings". Kirklees Council confirmed the teaching assistant had been dismissed. A spokesman said a staffing dismissals committee...

THE HAGUE -- The Dutch government announced plans yesterday for legislation banning full-length veils in public places and other clothing that covers the face -- putting the Netherlands at the forefront of a general European hardening toward Muslim minorities. The Netherlands, once considered one of Europe's most welcoming nations for immigrants and asylum seekers, is deeply divided over moves by the government to stem the tide of new arrivals and compel immigrants to assimilate into Dutch society. "From a security standpoint, people should always be recognizable, and from the standpoint of integration, we think people should be able to communicate...

Dutch Muslims have hit out at a proposed government ban of face veils, saying it was over the top, ill-conceived and infringed religious rights. On Friday the Dutch cabinet said it was proposing a bill banning clothing that covers the face in public, targeting in particular Muslim woman wearing the burqa or niqab. The burqa is an Islamic veil covering the entire face and body and a mesh screen to see through, while the niqab is a veil covering the face but leaving the eye area clear. The garments are worn by a few dozen women in the Netherlands. Rita...

One of the Church of England's most senior figures today risks a row with the Muslim community by suggesting that Islamic women should not wear veils in public.In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Mail, Dr John Sentamu warns that 'no minority' should impose its beliefs on the rest of society and that the veil causes Muslim women to 'stick out'. The Archbishop of York - who ranks second in the Church's hierarchy - also says the BBC is biased against Christians because Anglicans don't threaten to 'bomb' the corporation. And in a strongly-worded analysis of the state of modern...

THE Dutch government has announced that it would seek a way of banning the wearing of burqas and other Muslim face veils in public places, possibly becoming the first European country to impose such a ruling. The announcement comes at a time when the debate on such veils and whether they prevent Muslims from integrating has gathered momentum across Europe and drawn comments from leaders such as Britain's Tony Blair and Italy's Romano Prodi. Last December Dutch lawmakers voted in favour of a proposal by far-right politician Geert Wilders to outlaw face-coverings, partly on security grounds, and asked Immigration Minister...

Legal advisers and solicitors may wear the Islamic veil in court unless it interferes with the "interests of justice", judges have been told. The judiciary were told to use their discretion to interpret the temporary guidance, which covers all courts. The advice was issued by immigration tribunals chief Mr Justice Hodge after a case had to be halted when a legal adviser refused to remove her veil. The Lord Chief Justice said full rules on the veils issue were being drawn up. Case adjourned Earlier this week it emerged legal adviser Shabnam Mughal had refused to remove her headwear during...

Lawyer refuses to take off veil By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor Last Updated: 2:26am GMT 08/11/2006 A senior judge has been asked to decide whether female Muslim advocates may wear the veil in court. The question was referred to Mr Justice Hodge, president of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, by an immigration judge at Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, who had difficulty in hearing a veiled legal executive. Shabnam Mughal after her refusal to remove her veil Shabnam Mughal was dressed completely in black with a full-face veil leaving only her eyes visible. The judge, George Glossop, asked Miss Mughal on Monday if...

Not long ago in the hospital in which I once worked, a young male nurse was asked by the administration to remove the ironmongery with which he had recently adorned his face and ears. He was outraged by this assault on his inalienable right to mutilate himself in any way that he chose, which he believed to be narrow-minded. He was, after all, the owner of his face and ears in fee simple; they were his to dispose of as he saw fit. As it happens, he was a decent and dedicated young man, albeit one with the bad taste...

   Full-face ... lawyer dressed in veil like this one    EXCLUSIVE  Trial halted over lawyer's veil By JOHN SCOTTNovember 07, 2006           AN immigration tribunal was halted yesterday after a lawyer twice refused a judge’s request to remove her veil.  Shabnam Mughal was dressed from head to foot in black with a full-face veil leaving just her eyes visible.Miss Mughal was acting for Sikh businessman Jagdev Singh in his appeal against the Home Office’s refusal to grant his nephew permission to visit the UK.She was asked to remove the veil by tribunal chairman George Glossop during...

The new look for Britain’s hospitalsTHIS is the latest look coming to our NHS hospitals – a burka-style gown for patients. Instead of standard issue clothing, women who want to cover up because of their faith are to be offered the striking turquoise garment. Although welcomed by doctors as a breakthrough to encourage Muslim women to seek treatment, critics last night said the move was "another example of political correctness". The "Inter-faith gown" is being piloted at Royal Preston Hospital after complaints from women that regulation dress was too revealing. Hospitals across the country are also being offered the £12...

A Muslim student has been prevented from getting on a bus because she would not remove her veil.The 22-year-old woman, who does not want to be identified, said yesterday that other passengers laughed when the driver refused to let her board. He said he took the action because without her lifting her veil he could not check her features against those on her bus pass. The student, who is studying at Manchester University, had been trying to board a No 59 bus in Oldham, Greater Manchester. She said the driver initially asked to see her pass. Having glanced at it,...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- A court in Istanbul on Wednesday acquitted a 92-year-old retired archaeologist who was tried for saying that Islamic-style head scarves date back more than 5,000 years -- several millennia before the birth of Islam -- and were worn by priestesses who initiated young men into sex.

A MUSLIM woman was prevented from getting on a bus in Greater Manchester because she would not remove her veil. The 22-year-old Manchester University student from Oldham says other passengers laughed when the driver refused to let her on because he could not check her identity with her bus pass. Now the driver's bosses at First Manchester are to meet with their trade association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), to seek advice on how to deal with the problem if other passengers with photo passes refuse to lift their veils. Advertisement your story continues below They say they have...

Unveiled women who get raped deserve it. That’s the pedagogy preached by the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, who recently sparked an international stir by pronouncing that women who do not veil themselves, and allow themselves to be “uncovered meat”, are at fault if they are raped. This is nothing new, of course, and it is somewhat mysterious why the Sheikh’s comments have caused any shock at all, since his view is legitimized by various Islamic texts and numerous social and legal Islamic structures. And that is why back in September 2004 in Denmark, al-Hilali’s Australian counterpart, the...

Ideas can be dangerous. I have learnt that the hard way. But I know that when it comes to freedom and human rights these precious ideas, so valued in the West, are worth fighting for. As a young Muslim woman, born in Somalia, I abandoned my family to avoid an arranged marriage to a distant cousin and fled to Holland. I was just 23 and I had no idea back then that my refusal to submit to a traditional Muslim woman’s life would come to dominate my whole career. So for me, the debate that is raging about the veil,...

THE Muslim teacher who insisted on wearing a veil in class has been following a fatwa issued personally to her by a Islamic cleric belonging to a hardline sect. Aishah Azmi found herself in the middle of a national row about integration when she took her school to an employment tribunal after it suspended her for refusing to remove the veil in class. Tony Blair joined the debate about the wearing of veils — opened by Jack Straw, the Commons leader — and supported the school’s actions. Azmi, 24, has maintained that her decision to wear the veil was driven...

Tunisia's headscarf controversy took on a new dimension when the Foreign Ministry closed its embassy in Qatar on Wednesday (October 25th) after the Tunisian government accused Al-Jazeera of favouring Tunisian fundamentalists on the issue. In an interview with the Doha-based satellite station on October 14th, Tunisian opposition figure Moncef Marzouki called for "civil disobedience, using peaceful means to impose rights and freedoms in Tunisia". The Foreign Ministry responded by accusing Al-Jazeera of waging "a hostile campaign aimed at harming Tunisia." Hédi M'henni, secretary general of the ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally, opened the headscarf debate at the start of Ramadan when...