Imam of Drancy Mosque in Paris Speaks Against Niqab: 'We Have Become a Religion of Extremism

Hassan Chalghoumi, Imam of the Drancy Mosque in Paris, Speaks Against the Niqab: 'We Have Become a Religion of Extremism, Which Denies Women Their Rights'

Following are excerpts from an interview with Hassan Chalghoumi, imam of the Drancy Mosque in Paris, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on January 21, 2011.

To read the full report, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2775.htm.

Interviewer: "Some women wear mini-skirts or shorts out on the streets, so why is there such an uproar because other women want to wear the niqab, especially since the issue has been exploited by some to threaten France…?"

Hassan Chalghoumi: "The niqab does not pertain to individual liberties. There are well-known groups behind the niqab. Normal, moderate religious women do not wear the niqab. Certain movements spur women to wear the niqab. This is not an individual thing. I am talking about France.

"Second, what is our role, as Muslims, in this country? Is it to present the tolerance and openness of Islam, or something else? If a certain sister wants religious freedom, and wants to demonstrate her religious sentiments and her closeness to Allah, she can do good deeds, like helping her neighbors, helping children with learning difficulties, helping needy families, helping the elderly who can’t walk… This is the tolerance of Islam. This is what we should demonstrate.

"But to wear a piece of cloth on her face, terrifying others? The French are scared. We should consider the perspective of the others. They view us with disgust. Unfortunately, we have become a religion of extremism, which denies women their rights. I don’t understand how a woman [with a niqab] can possibly work. How can she complete her studies? How can she coexist with others?"

Hassan Chalghoumi: "The Arab world is one thing, and France is another. We respect the people, their sentiments, and the way they view us. We should understand our priorities. I think that our priorities are to protect our generation, to teach our youth, and to protect them from moral bankruptcy, and from extremism and wrong interpretation of Islam."

If a certain sister wants religious freedom, and wants to demonstrate her religious sentiments and her closeness to Allah, she can do good deeds, like helping her neighbors, helping children with learning difficulties, helping needy families, helping the elderly who can’t walk… This is the tolerance of Islam.

All nice, warm, and fuzzy. What about a sister who wants to exercise her religious freedom by converting to another religion (say ... Christianity)?
If the moderate Imam accepts that - I'll give him credit. I admit he's taking a brave stance just talking about clothing and noting that its important to respect the host country ... but if he just leaves it at clothing and other superficial effects - he's not really preaching change but deception.

Give the guy a break. He seems to be on the right track. He cannot comment on every issue under the sun in a few paragraphs. This was enough to get him to start looking over his shoulder for the time being. Lets accept we might have some allies and hope it might lead to more, but with our eyes wide open.

I just take this as a very mild encouragement.
Maybe I'm not all that enthralled about dress code policies. If I were a muslim adhering to the principle of the hadiths and taqiya -- I'd trump these kinds of concessions ('you can trust us, we're fighting the radical elements to get rid of this black curtain dress') while maintaining the real core of my cult ('we'll kill you if you leave, and if you don't join us we'll kill you').
This just seems like a distraction to me. Ignoring the core issues is not refusing to comment on 'every issue under the Sun'. Its ignoring the core problem. I agree, keep your eyes wide open.

I don’t disagree with your other points, but those issues are really the purview of minority radicals in Islam. Most Muslims are ordinary and middle of the road in their views. They go to work, eat, sleep without dreaming of jihad or overthrowing the West.

The niqab is the outward sign of radical Islam. It is literally the face of radicalism. It is anti-woman and thus anti-West. It is the lever used to force Sharia on the West through the abuse of our tolerance.

At a hospital near me there is a receptionist who wears the niqab. All the staff must wear a name badge with a photo. Her photo has her in a niqab. It is absurd.

Start by banning the niqab and you end radical Islam. Islamists hate women. Once they lose hold of their women it is all over.

The ideal thing is that it brings the Left into the picture by letting the Right lead on women’s rights. It’s win-win for us.

You avoid the 1st Amendment issue by simply citing it for security purposes she must expose her face. It’s that simple.

Good logical analysis on your post 15. I appreciate it.
I still lean in calling the niqab a 'superficial' issue that dodges the real meat of the problem: the koran and hadiths. And although I agree with you, most muslims (all that I know) are gentle and well-mannered folks -- there is the underlying problem that their professed religion is based on books that tell them not to be gentle and well-mannered to non-believers. Thank God they don't follow their religion -- but you have to always wonder if they are ticking time-bombs that are just waiting for their inner-jihadist to get released (i.e., 'getting that old time religion').

But your points are well argued and you could be right. Ban the Niqab - and create the wedge to out the fervent radicals. I agree this would be at least a step in the right direction.

The victories against “social” Islam will be fought by Muslim feminists. There is a real bias in Islam toward the latest and most violently aggressive Hadiths. Much of the Koran is subject to feminist and “liberal” critique. A lot of it is mistranslated, so they say, to the benefit of misogynists. Go get em girls!

While it is true that the Koran has its violence and aggression it is open to interpretation. That interpretation is the wedge between the radicals and the other 99% of Muslims who simply follow the religion of their parents, grandparents and culture.

My feeling is that the upheaval in the Islamic world is a blessing. Certainly revolutions don’t end very well, but unless you get serious despotism like in Syria, the rebels don’t go away. They haven’t in Iran.

Here’s a good article on it by Thomas Friedman: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11062/1129231-109.stm

What’s happening is the West is engaging Islam and Islam is moving out of the 14th century. Is there a real danger? Yes, but it comes from a small group of dedicated radicals who are essentially serial murderers awaiting the “nirvana” of the Caliphate. Like the Baader-Meinhof gang they are vicious and dangerous and they also share the same or similar ideologies and funding sources.

You’ll have trouble dismantling their funding sources. There will always be millions in illicit funds floating around and the Islamists, for all their pious talk, are willing to deal with anyone for a buck - sex slavers, drug dealers, etc.

You can kill them and our current policy of chopping off the head is very effective, but it doesn’t stop the movement or the “infection” so to speak. What does is intellectual defeat. Bush got it and potentially the Obama administration may as well, at least the US military does.

If you can get some semblance of republicanism in the Muslim world - Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran and Iraq have high chances, the others that are very serious dictatorships have the lowest because there is an enormous power vacuum and no intellectual history of liberty through Islam - you kill the radicals. You’ve just proved the Islamists wrong - you don’t need a caliphate to be a good Muslim and once you get some liberty and money in your pocket it takes a real calamity to put you back on the “plantation”.

The nation-building method is expensive, long and bloody. So what is the alternative?

Kill them in the West by banning the burka (niqab really, the burka is just a very modest dress). If France bans the niqab you free their women. The radicals either surrender on this fundamentalist issue or they leave. It is a win-win despite the risk of taqiyya or kitman. It’s really hard to live a double life with a wife and family that is rapidly being westernized. Can you imagine what an Islamist faces with a teen daughter in the west?

In the US we can make it a civil rights issue or a security issue or both and essentially ban the niqab in public. The key is you ruin the radicals locus of control - the woman and by default the family. You’ll never relieve the world of Islamic radicals, but you can alienate them from normal Muslims...plus ruin their day. ;-]

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