Posted on 06/21/2007 5:56:04 PM PDT by traumer
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Both are sheetheads..
“The grandparents of the current crop of Britons were made of sterner stuff. They would have handled this in short order. But after WWII everyone got so tolerant that they let millions of Moslems into the country and now are gobsmacked by what is happening.”
What on earth do you mean? I really can’t imagine my grandparents would have run out into the street and clubbed the b*ggers do death!
What would you have us do exactly? There are only two million muslims in the UK (we’re hardly overrun), and it’s not as though they’re having the best time of it lately.
Freepers keep banging on about how the British are weak and aren’t dealing with the situation. Would you kindly explain to me what it is exactly that America’s doing, that we’re not?
Oh, for your information, our grandparents would have reacted in the exact same way as we are now. The Brits don’t do panic - never have done.
Yeah, it was a wake-up, for them to take up arms and bring us down.
Not while I’m still breathing.
If she doesn’t want to get rude comments, why doesn’t she simply take off her head scarf when she’s not in church? Problem solved. It seems so basic.
I read that your wife covers her head even outside of church because of her lupus. If I had read the entire thread, I would have known that. But since I didn’t, I can only respond to posts as I read them, and that particular piece of information wasn’t in the post I responded to. However, this secular religious order has me interested, so I’m reading up on it.
It is her belief that wearing some kind of head covering is part of her vow to show obedience to God. Compared with that, the ignorant busybodies are merely an irritant.
I only brought this up to highlight the irrational, and often hateful remarks that people make these days at the site of a woman wearing something funny on her head. Granted, the original article was about a much stranger-looking covering that what my wife wears, but that just underscores how much people's response to my wife's headscarf is "much ado about nothing."
Obviously, if you don't share her religious beliefs, it could seem frivolous or silly. Why doesn't she just take the stupid thing off? Well, why do Orthodox Jews always have to have that "special meal" instead of a cheeseburger or a ham sandwich? Ultimately the answer is, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it."
Finally, since when did we completely abandon any expectation of common courtesy in this country? If you don't understand why someone is covering their head (or possibly their face), there are polite ways to approach them and ask about it. There's no need for someone to march up to a complete stranger and unload an unsolicited political lecture — especially when that lecture has no relevance to the recipient of the speech.
I think we might be.
Wearing the enemies flag for all to see defies common sense.
Since you've got the most solid opinion on the matter, I have to ask you something I've been dying to know:
What part of a blue scarf with gold letters that say, "I love Jesus" is the enemy flag? I haven't seen that one flying over Iran or anything.
“British Muslims for Secular Democracy.”
Click on this site for a parallel view:
How does she do on the tile grout lines, especially the corners?
I have no idea. I'll take your word for it. But I did specify in post #50 that I was unconcerned about women voluntarily wearing a hijab -- not their being forced to by Salafi fanatics.
The hijab is entirely different from the niqab or burqa because the face is uncovered, so there isn't the problem of identification, and it does not by itself offer the tent-like body covering which is a security problem for smuggling things (or for hiding male jihadists).
I was essentially saying that wearing the hijab was a political statement. Wearing a niqab is a security risk, though there were a few older Muslim communities (I’m thinking odf Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Ny)where you would occasionally see a few women wearing it. it was definately not common.
Nor would that Muslimette's ideology cause me to hinder or disparage any other woman who covers her hair with a hijab, a scarf, a wimple, a bonnet, a babushka, or any similar device. Some of my best friends are Hindu women who always wear saris or dupattas to keep their hair covered.
However, I would not support a Muslim woman in the post-9/11 West to be allowed wear a niqab or burqa, even if for the most innocent of reasons. The security risks are simply far too high.
... you would occasionally see a few women wearing it. it was definately not common.
I imagine that domestic terrorist cells would like it to become as commonplace as possible.
Most likely. The world has changed since my Brooklyn days..
For the record, I don’t doubt your wifes sincerity. I do doubt her common sense, or at least her awareness of the world as it is.
As her husband who loves her you owe it to her to convince her of her foolish behavior. I attended church for years with women who wore religous ‘caps’, but none wore them with an ‘in your face’ attitude.
After the next 9-11, if I were to see someone with a muslim head dress that says “I love Jesus” I would bet I’ve seen a muslim liar. Possibly one with a bomb strapped to her, and a ‘I Love Jesus’ to distract and confuse others while she gets into position. No aware person would want to be near her, and believe me, after the next 9-11 EVERYONE will be aware.
And, for the record, I appreciate the spirit in which you are offering your opinions and advice.
Neither of us are entirely unaware of the points you're making, although I think our viewpoints see a different degree of things. In her case, she is following a religious vow; as Christians, we must work to make the world how it should be, regardless of how it is.
1 Peter 3:14 (NSRV): But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated,
I get that. We get that. You know what? Everyone gets that. That includes fundamentalist Muslim terrorists. The 9/11 hijackers wore regular American clothes, they drank alcohol and they shaved their beards. No self-respecting fundamentalist Muslim man would do these things — unless he didn't want you to notice him.
Here's how it would actually work: the female would be more than a bomber, she'd be a bombshell. She'll be wearing a low-cut, tight shirt and a push-up bra. She'll have long hair, bleached blond, if possible, and a short skirt. She carry a Neiman Marcus bag, which she'll leave just to the side of a crowded area. After she leaves, she'll dial a cell phone number, and the phone in the bag will trigger the bomb, hurling shrapnel into innocent shoppers. Later, as the police are taking statements, you'll be telling them about the strange little woman you saw with the "I love Jesus" head scarf.
When the enemy knows what you're looking for, they won't look like it. That's common sense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.