Do Muslim immigrants have the right to wear headscarves?

If France allows veiled students, Saudis should allow foreign women wear bikini

ALGIERS - Kamal Sanjakdar

November 2003

Germany’s decision to force veiled Muslim girls out of public schools and Italy’s controversy over the hanging of crosses inside classrooms unveiled inherent intolerance among the nations that have long styled themselves as secular.

The European issue has been mostly felt in northern African Arab countries whose large expatriate communities living in Western European countries and still practicing their religious beliefs.

Yet behind the controversy hides a more complicated issue namely that of assimilation of foreign communities, which endorse religious beliefs different from that of the original residents.

Akhdaril Ahmadi, a sociologist graduate form the Algerian University, told Alternative that Muslim communities living in European countries should start asking themselves a series of questions.

“Is not the veil a major obstacle for assimilation and integration of Muslims in Europe? Is not the amalgamation of Muslim immigrants in their host countries a necessity for both them and the countries under question?” he said.

“Since the veil is even contested in countries with Muslim majority such as Lebanon, Turkey or Tunisia, one cannot but wonder about the meaning of allowing women to wear it in the West. Are Westerners expected to tolerate this exotic manifestation of religious affiliation in their countries?” he added.

According to Michael Midiron, a British tourist in Algeria, “wherever a person goes, he/she is certainly not obliged to deny or to neglect his/her beliefs. Yet, he/she has to respect the traditions and customs of the cultures he/she is settling in,” said Midiron.

“Since people of the East can never tolerate an American girl wearing a bikini on a Saudi beach, it seems normal for westerners not to accept veiled women in their public institutions,” he added.

Taking the matter from another perspective, the question of the Islamic veil in European schools raises questions about the degrees of tolerance in Europe at large.

“Everyone knows that extreme right-wing political parties have mushroomed in France, Belgium, Italy and Austria in the last decade. This was often accompanied by crimes and discrimination against immigrants,” said Ahmedi who lived for some years in a Paris suburb.

“Such xenophobic actions make people question the tolerance of some of the Europeans.

Would not Europe, the mother of secularism and human rights, be expected to be a little more tolerant toward its minority communities despite?”

Ahmadi added: “How come in some European countries gay marriages and consumption of soft drugs are legal while a veiled young girl attending public school is not?

“If the human race ever decides to encourage tolerance, integration and assimilation seem an integral part of such humane concept.”

Lebanon by far enjoys the most democratic system among Arab countries when it comes to freedom of expression and assembly.