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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Catholic schools only option for French Hijaabi's! |
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| Fozia |
| 12/19/03 at 17:49:59 |
| [slm] PARIS -- French Education Minister Luc Ferry said on RTL radio Thursday that a "very simple and very short" bill directed at banning head scarves in public schools could go to parliament as early as February. With both the governing right and the opposition Socialists supporting the measure, it will almost certainly pass. A ban on wearing head scarves in public schools will likely be in place by the new school year in September. President Jacques Chirac, in a nationally televised speech Wednesday, asked parliament to adopt a law instituting the ban. In his speech, he said the principle is "not negotiable." The measure, announced by President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday, has drawn protests from Muslims in France and across the world. But French religious leaders who had voiced concern before the speech were more positive after hearing it. France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, estimated at some 6 million, and there is concern that an assertive minority could threaten national cohesion in an increasingly diverse France. Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, initially opposed the ban, which he said would single out French Muslims of North African origin. After hearing Chirac speak, he urged young Muslims not to overreact. Amar Lasfar, head of the Lille-Sud mosque in northern France, predicted that a law "will create a citizen who has disdain for his country, feels excluded, unjustly aggressed, pushed aside. A law will solve nothing. It will amplify the problem," he said. Jacqueline Costa-Lascoux, a member of a presidential commission that studied the issue of whether secularism in France was under threat, said she expects to see more head scarves in the streets as a way for Muslims unhappy with the law to affirm their identity. The plan drew criticism from outside France. The US State Department voiced misgivings about the measure on Thursday. "All persons should be able to practice their religion and their beliefs peacefully without government interference as long as they are doing so without provocation and intimidation of others," said John Hanford, ambassador for international religious freedom. In Britain, junior foreign minister Mike O'Brien told a group of Muslim organizations the British were comfortable with people expressing their religion by wearing headscarves, crucifixes or skullcaps. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi of Iran said in Paris that it would "benefit only fundamentalists." In Washington, the State Department's ambassador at large for International Religious Freedom indicated it should not impinge on freedom of religion. "All persons should be able to practice their religion and their beliefs peacefully without government interference as long as they are doing so without provocation and intimidation of others in society," John Hanford said. Muslims girls who refuse to remove their head scarves will have few options if they go to school in France starting next fall: enroll in a private school, likely Roman Catholic, or drop out. French authorities believe most Muslim girls will comply with the law. Those who refuse could end up in private schools, which would not be covered by the legislation. That would mean they would most likely attend Catholic schools, which are partially funded by the state and make up the large majority of private schools in France. "It's a choice that risks being unavoidable in many cases," said Fouad Alaoui, head of the Union of Islamic Organizations of France. "There will be either girls who don't accept expulsion and they will take off their scarves .... or there will be those who don't take them off," Alaoui said in a telephone interview. "I will ask them to join private Catholic schools." Catholic schools represent some 95 percent of private schools in France, according to Gilles du Retail, spokesman for the Catholic Education headquarters. In some heavily Muslim areas, like Marseille or northern France, the Catholic schools have a Muslim student population of up to 70 percent, he said. There are only two private Muslim schools in France: a high school that opened this year in the northern city of Lille, and a junior high school outside Paris http://www.islamweb.net/web/misc.Article?vArticle=52871&thelang=E |
| Re: Catholic schools only option for French Hijaab |
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| deenb4dunya |
| 12/19/03 at 19:05:35 |
| Assalamu Alaikum, [quote]Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, initially opposed the ban, which he said would single out French Muslims of North African origin. After hearing Chirac speak, he urged young Muslims not to overreact.[/quote] WHAT?! Not to overreact? What did they pay him to off...? This is the leadership and vision you asked about Maliha... ::) [quote]In some heavily Muslim areas, like Marseille or northern France, the Catholic schools have a Muslim student population of up to 70 percent, he said. [/quote] That's funny... Man there are *tons* of Muslims in France... Any ideas of what we can do guys?? Wassalamu Alaikum, Mujahada [aka Deen :-)] |
| Re: Catholic schools only option for French Hijaab |
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| mujaahid4ever |
| 12/20/03 at 16:25:22 |
| Assalaamu-alaikum Warahmatulaahi Wabarakaatuhu I read the posts here on this issue with bewilderment....the muslims are in shock, they are bemused, they are hurt and confused....they seem lost....not sure where to turn and how to react to this new ruling, muslimahs are being asked to remove one of the most important requirements as a muslim, and yet we are lost? We dont know what to do? We dont know how to react? Is this how weak we have become? What happened to the fighting spirit, the faith, the adherence to the teachings of Allah (swt) no matter what? The simple reaction to this from the muslim women should be simple, that no matter what rulings and laws are passed, the Hijab will not come off....under no circumstances will the muslim women remove their hijabs. No ifs, no buts, no questioning, no other options to be sought, the Hijab stays. We want a return to Islaam amongst the youth, we want to spread the deen, yet when we come up against an obstacle such as this, we are confused and lost although we are supposed to be the people of strengh and faith. How would a non-muslim woman, who has looked upto muslim women as a source of strengh and inspiration, feel seeing her muslim sisters react the way they have? Where has the leadership gone from the women? To me, as a brother, i get a lot of strengh from the strengh the sisters show.....but in a time of crisis such as this we need the Muslim women to be strong and defiant towards those that choose to drag them away from islaam. Stand strong and adhere to the commands of Allah (swt). They have declared war on islaam and its up to us muslims to fight our fight, because noone else will come to our aid. We are an Ummah of 57 nations, 1.3 Billion people, yet we are reeling when our young sisters faith is challenged. Stand strong, defend Islaam and the womens right to wear a Hijab. Show the strengh of character the muslims have shown for so long. These people want to take us away from Islaam, show them its a battle they can never win. Walaikumasalaam Warahmatulaahi Wabarakaatuhu |
| Re: Catholic schools only option for French Hijaab |
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| amatullah |
| 12/21/03 at 13:36:53 |
| my understanding was that even in private schools no one can wear religous symbols? |
| Re: Catholic schools only option for French Hijaab |
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| ouch |
| 12/22/03 at 09:44:01 |
| [slm] That's a laugh! :( Catholic schools have always been antagonistic (to put it politely) to Muslim students practising their faith. The convent school I went to forbade girls from wearing anything that covered their legs e.g white slacks, thick stockings instead of itsy bitsy ankle socks, we had compulsory mass once a week, sang hymns and listened to Hail Marys in the assembly hall. I was nearly expelled once for giving out old shoes and slippers to the poor barefoot urchins who were herded into the school after regular hours, ostensibly for "educating the underpriveleged" but obviously to "harvest their souls." If Catholic schools are the only refuge of French Muslims wanting to educate their girls, may Allah help us all! |
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