Niqab ban - The tyranny of political racism
By Shahina Siddiqui
I have been reading in horror and sometimes with nervous laughter the many tirades against the face veil that a tiny number of Canadian Muslim women wear in public. The arguments against the niqab range all the way from the despicable to the ridiculous. Read the blogs or comments in major national and local papers in Canada and you would think that we live in the most bigoted, intolerant nation in the world. Of course that is not the case and I am encouraged by the voices of reason however fewer and far between.
As a Muslim woman and spiritual counsellor I see the pain ,anguish and the sheer paralyzing fear that Muslim Canadian women are feeling. We have been dismissed, stigmatized and relegated to the position of a sub citizen. As one young woman stated to me “I do not wear a veil but this attack is very personal, under the guise of “empowering” us they have totally shredded our confidence.” What people are wilfully ignoring is that Muslim women are human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity regardless of whether we agree with their choices or not.
We must ask why is this woman in Quebec, a mother of three being put through this agonizing public lynching for exercising her right as she understands it, to practice her religion as she sees fit and why is she being accosted for exercising her right to file a grievance through a government agency.
Imagine what her children must be feeling to see their mother denied the right to an education, not for any crime she has committed but for the way she dresses. The pain we have inflicted on this family is unforgiveable. Furthermore we should be ashamed on how we have been bullying and demonizing this woman in particular and Muslim women in general almost on a regular basis. It is almost as if Canada has declared war on its Muslim women. Now we have Bill 94 in the Quebec legislature essentially barring veiled women from public services.
In Canada all citizens have the right to personal freedom that does not infringe on another’s right. However when it comes to Muslim women we have convinced ourselves that she is a victim of her husband’s dominance and so we do not believe her when she says “this is my choice.” What a cunning circular web we weave. First we discredit her as an intellectual being, ridicule her as a free thinking human being, demonize her for practicing her faith and then smugly claim to be emancipating her.
As for the argument that some women are forced by their male guardians to wear the niqab, I am sure there are such cases. However the solution being offered by some to ban the niqab is to banish these women to a life of house arrest. The Canadian response should be to respectfully empower them through social interaction and education.
The claim that to teach language the teacher needs to see her mouth is to state that blind people cannot teach or learn language and that the on-line language classes are bogus. If the issue is pronunciation, then guess what, we all have an accent. Ask someone from France if they approve of Quebec French.
As per the issues regarding veil being a security threat, well how many niqab trotting women have held up banks? Note should be taken that women who wear niqab are also obligated for necessity and security and identification purposes to remove their niqab, and they do. Does a class room setting pose such a necessity is an issue that could be mediated with the help of Muslim community leaders and the student as part of the solution. Rather the school and Quebec politicians chose to turn this into a fight against “us” and “them.” Why?
Unfortunately the frenzy around this whole issue is taking on Islamophobic undertones. The holier than thou slogans being chanted by so called pure Canadians of “our values are better then there’s “ has serious social consequences. What law gives us the right to impose our biases, transfer our ignorance and juxtapose our fears on these women? Furthermore the argument based on comparisons being drawn between some Muslim countries and Canada is also a red herring. Do we really want to model Canada based on the standards of human rights in Egypt or Afghanistan? We claim to be better than the Taliban because we are not forcing women on what to wear and so we would rather tell them what not to wear. What hypocrisy!
Frankly this outrage is not about a piece of cloth on my face or head, it is about what I believe and the life style I have chosen. It is about my rejection to being exploited for my physiology, my refusal to fit in a frame society imposes on me and my courage to demand my right as a Canadian. For this we are being punished by depriving us of our basic human right to choose.
Unfortunately it is becoming socially acceptable to belittle Muslim women to treat them as subhuman and to make political gains at their expense, but this is not something to be proud of or to celebrate. Au contraire it is time to mourn the Canada we may be losing
Shahina Siddiqui
President/Executive Director
Islamic Social Services Association Inc.-Canada
416 McDermot Ave.
Winnipeg Manitoba
Canada
R3A-0A9
(Phone) 204-944-1560
(Fax) 204-944-8712
Toll free phone line 1-866-239-ISSA
ssiddiqui@issaservices.com
info@mail.issaservices.com
www.issaservices.com
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