Paris, January 27: A prominent French imams group is backing a ban on face-veil for doing disservice to the interests of the Muslim minority in the country, but the group’s stance drew rebuke from other Muslim leaders.
“We support any law that bans the wearing of face veil in France,” Hassan Chalghoumi, Chairman of the Conference of French Imams, told.
A parliamentary commission is due to publish much-awaited recommendations next Tuesday about banning face-veils in public.
The daily Le Figaro said Friday that lawmakers have decided the face-veil would not be allowed in public buildings such as hospitals and schools or on public transport services, but remain hesitant to recommend a blanket ban.
The imam group, launched only last year, says it fully supports a legal ban, basing their stance on the opinion of the majority of Muslim scholars who agree that a woman is not obliged to cover her entire face.
Chalghoumi says face-veils are now being exploited as weapons “to tarnish” Muslim minorities in France and the West in general.
“Amid the silence of most of the Muslim organizations in France, we took such decision to end defaming campaigns against Islam and Muslim,” said the Tunisian-born Drancy imam.
“Because of that attire, the image of Muslims has been getting worse in the media and public opinion.
“We witnessed an increase in the hate attacks against mosques and hijab-clad women, because of attire that has nothing to do with religious obligations.”
While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil.
Scholars believe it is up to women to decide whether to take on the veil or burka, a loose outfit covering the whole body from head to toe and wore by some Muslim women.
Fanning Fire
The group’s position, however, drew immediate rebuke from prominent Muslim leaders in the European country.
Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the official French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), rejects any legal ban as a violation for Muslims’ religious freedom rights.
France is home to some seven million Muslims, the biggest Muslim minority in Western Europe.
“Such a call would only help Islamophobia rather than suppress it,” agrees Fouad Alaoui, President of the French Union of Islamic Organizations (l’UOIF).
The l’UOIF has voiced strong opposition to a face-veil ban bill and attended three sessions of the parliamentary commission discussing the ban.
“We made it clear that face-veiled woman have to identify themselves in public means of transport for security and administrative necessities,” Alaoui told.
But, he believes, banning face-veils in public mixes between personal freedoms and other considerations.
They believe that the imams’ call would add fuel to an already raging fire.
“It would lead to strengthening the far-right and Islam-bashing in France.”
-Agencies