By Abukar Sanei

Debate on veiling has recently been sparked by Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary, but now the Leader of the House of Commons, after he commented negatively on it. In addition, Tony Blair has followed Mr. Straw's comments and described veils as "a mark of separation." However, the leaders from the British Muslim community reacted against Mr. Straw's remarks, and issued a joint statement. The joint statement was published on the website of Muslim Council of Britain [MCB]. For instance, one of the points that they made in their statement was, " We recognize that Muslims hold different views regarding the veil, but we urge all members of the Muslim community to keep this debate within the realms of scholarly discussion amongst the people of knowledge and authority in the Muslim community." In fact, the degree of veiling in Islam has a minority position from the Muslim scholars, but the headscarf, which is an agreed upon issue from the scholars has been under attack for the last three years.

At the beginning of 2004, French MPs have overwhelmingly voted on a bill that bans the Muslims girls from wearing headscarves in public schools. Eventually, on Sep. 2004, this bill was inforced and became a law. The French government argued that their intention was, "to separate between the state and religion." However, someone must have a right to consider the French government's action as a violation of personal and freedom of religion. In addition, according to the BBC News, the Tunisian government has recently renewed an old "decree" that bans for wearing headscarves in "public places." Moreover, the Tunisian government has accused headscarves as "a political agenda" regardless the fact that headscarves are religious obligation that is found from the Islamic context. In the meantime, the Tunisian and prominent Muslim scholar, Sheikh Rashid al-Ganoushi, who lives in London, told the BBC News that "the state had no right to interfere with the personal choice." Sheikh al Ganoushi continued and asked, "Does it harm the state when a woman wears a headscarf or not?" However, despite the fact that the Tunisian government is insisting its action against headscarves, again, someone must have a right to consider this decision as a violation of personal and freedom of religion.

Furthermore, what I was baffled the most was an article that was written in the autumn of 2003. This article was published on Addis Tribune, and then some Somali websites. The author of the article was a man called Bashir Goth. It was a long article and entitled "Against the Saudization of Somaliland." Moreover, the entire article was a dedication for a Humanitarian worker, Dr. Annalena Tonelli, and Richard Eyeington the headmaster of Sheikh Secondary School and his wife, who were all slain in Somaliland. In fact, those people were helpful for those who needed help in Somaliland territories, and it was really sorrowful and unfortunate to hear their slain. However, my concern in that article was how Mr. Goth was campaigning against headscarves, and trying to change the Islamic identity of the Somali girls. For instance, veiling, which is a controversial issue within the Muslim scholars, and headscarf, which is a signal for modesty from Muslim women in general and Somali girls/women in particular, was part of the subject matter that Mr. Goth was discussing in his article. He used a reference from a Somali poet, who is called Abdillahi Abdi Shube. In this case, Mr. Shube's poem has nothing to do with Islam in general and the value of headscarves in particular. This is the poem that Mr. Goth used for his article:

“Shaydaan aanad arkayn,

oo shaambinaaya agtaada,

waa naag shaadhir hagoogan.”

This was really offensive for those women who practice veiling or headscarves, because they are absolutely not comparable to Devil, which is the worst creature on this universe. In addition, the same misconception that Mr. Shube used in his poem was again used by Mr. Goth, and here is a quote from his article, "Somali girls had traditionally braided their hair with such style that made foreigners sing their proverbial beauty and Islam lived in perfect amenity with it. Somalis recognized unmarried girls by their uncovered hair “guudley” and married women by their hair cover “gambooley”. There is a misleading here, but here is another quote, which is more clearer than the first, "The girl walking in the street without a headcover and wearing a big smile is not about flirting; it is about beauty of life." Well, whether Mr. Goth knows or not, when the Muslim girls walking in the street with headscarves, having a big smile and dealing everyone with respect is not only the beauty of life, but it combines the truth of Islam and the beauty of the Somali girls.

These are some of our current issues about veils and headscarves, but let's conclude by rejecting and correcting three misconceptions that may spread out, and people may think that they are true if they are repeated over and over. First, those girls that Mr. Goth calls "guudley," because they are not "married" yet, are required to wear headscarves according to the facts of Islamic teachings. The exception here is for those girls, who are not adults yet, even though it is recommended to train them for practicing this religious norm in order to cope with it by the time of their adulthood life. The second misconception that needs to be corrected is that "headscarves are used for political agendas." This is not true. There is no any association between headscarves and politics. In fact, those who wear headscarves are telling people that they are Muslims and abiding a command from their Creator. The third misconception is, "Muslim women are forced to wear headscarves." The reality is that wearing a headscarf is a choice that is only made by women. The best example that can be used here is that new converts, who used and still live in liberal societies choose to wear headscarves willingly, because it is what they have found in Islam. Therefore, the notion of "force" doesn't make any sense and it is fallacious as well. In fact, headscarf is a choice for those who show modesty, and above all, it is a gesture of piety to God.

Abukar Sanei

abukar12@yahoo.com