blog




  • Essay / Identity versus identification: the Naqib and women...

    As a multicultural society, Canada must by definition adopt attitudes and beliefs that are difficult to integrate into public society and/or held by a minority of the population. population. Our country's laws and services are not subject to any particular belief system, and when religious doctrine conflicts with these policies, every effort should be made to accommodate. However, if such an accommodation is not possible, it is dogma that must give way, and the Islamic custom of the niqab – which covers a woman's entire face except her eyes – is no exception. My position is not that Canadian (or any) women should be denied the right to dress as they wish, whether their motivation is religious or not, but that this right should be granted to special circumstances in which public safety and/or the reasonable right of identification are factors. Firstly, I would like to emphasize that within Islam itself, the niqab is not essential, but customary. Only a small minority of Muslims believe that covering the face is “fard”, that is to say obligatory (Akou, 1). Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, considered Egypt's imam and the greatest spiritual authority in Sunni Islam, said: "The niqab is a tradition, it has no connection with religion." (The Telegraph.) In 2009, the Canadian Muslim Congress called for a ban on the burqa and niqab (but not the hijab or headscarf), saying they had "no basis in Islam." Spokeswoman Farzana Hassan, in an article in the Globe & Mail, said that "covering one's face is concealing one's identity" and that public safety was a concern, since "...concealing one's identity is a common practice for criminals.” . She also suggested that the practice was more a part of Middle Eastern culture than the Islamic faith. If those with an opposing position... middle of article ...... Complementary Information and Research Service. No author. (October 7, 2009. Last updated August 23, 2012). A Muslim group wants to ban the burqa. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 18, 2014 from http://www.theglobeandmail.comCanedy, C. (June 27, 2002). Lifting the veil for photo ID is going too far, driver says. The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com. Blomfield, A. (October 5, 2009). Egypt removes the niqab from schools and colleges. The telegraph. Retrieved March 20, 2014 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk Akou, Heather Marie, "Head covering in the virtual Umma: the case of the niqab". Proceedings of the Textile Society of America Symposium, Article 3. 1.Bakht, Natasha. Veiled Objections: Facing Public Opposition to the Niqab (September 20, 2009). 1 & 81-82. Lori Beaman, ed., Reasonable Accommodation: Managing Religious Diversity. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2012.