Syria Bans Niqaab in Universities

[admin]

Here is a guardian article on it found here
Syria bans niqab from universities
Regime fears face-covering Islamic veil poses threat to country's secular identity

Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country's universities to prevent what it sees as a threat to its secular identity, as similar moves in Europe spark cries of discrimination against Muslims.

The education ministry issued the ban on Sunday, according to a government official. The ban, which affects public and private universities, is only against the niqab – a full Islamic veil that reveals just a woman's eyes – not headscarves, which are far more commonly worn by Syrian women.

The billowing black robe known as a niqab is not widespread in Syria, although it has become more common recently – a move that has not gone unnoticed in a country governed by a secular, authoritarian regime.

"We have given directives to all universities to ban niqab-wearing women from registering," the government official said today.

The niqab "contradicts university ethics," he added, saying the government was seeking to protect its secular identity.

He also confirmed that hundreds of primary school teachers who were wearing the niqab at government-run schools were transferred last month to administrative jobs.

Syria is the latest country to weigh in on the veil, perhaps the most visible hallmark of conservative Islam. The wearing of veils has spread in other secular-leaning Arab countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, with Jordan's government trying to discourage it by playing up reports of robbers who wear veils as masks.

Turkey also bans Muslim headscarves in universities, with many critics saying attempts to allow them in schools amount to an attack on modern Turkey's secular laws.

European countries including France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands are considering bans on the grounds that the veils are degrading to women.

France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on wearing burqa-style Islamic veils on 13 July in an effort to define and protect French values, a move that angered many in the country's large Muslim community.

Opponents say such bans violate freedom of religion and will stigmatise all Muslims.

Duaa, a 19-year-old university student in Damascus, said she hopes to continue wearing her niqab to classes when the next term begins in Autumn despite the ban.

Otherwise, she said, she will not be able to study.

"The niqab is a religious obligation," said Duaa, who asked that her surname not be used because she was not comfortable speaking publicly on the issue. "I cannot go without it."

[admin]

I feel that this is an indication of how Islam is on the rise. If it was not becoming significant in society, they would leave them and would not go to all that administrative effort to ban it. So although it is bad news from one angle, it is good news from another angle.

It is only a matter of time before the same fitna comes here, but I get the feeling that it wont be so simple here (maybe!)

[admin]

assalaamu alaikum

Something further on the topic from Shaykh Google



WASHINGTON — Days before French lawmakers are due to vote on a bill that would make it illegal for Muslim women to wear full veils in public, a US poll has found that a majority of Europeans back such a ban while Americans reject it.



The French overwhelmingly endorse a ban on Muslim face coverings, also known as the burqa or the niqab, as do majorities in Britain, Germany and Spain, a survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project found.



More than eight in 10 people in France said they would approve of a ban on Muslim women wearing full veils in public, including in schools, hospitals and government offices, the survey, conducted over three weeks in April and May, found.



Just 17 percent of French people were opposed to a ban on the burqa.



Majorities in Germany (71 percent), Britain (62 percent) and Spain (59 percent) said they would support a burqa ban in their own countries.



But in the United States, the opposite was true, with two-thirds of Americans saying they were against a ban on full veils in public.



Opinions about banning Muslim women from wearing a full veil did not vary along gender lines in any of the five countries where the question was asked.



Pew asked 1,002 people in the United States, 750 each in Britain, France and Germany and 755 in Spain about how they felt about a burqa ban, as part of its Global Attitudes Survey.



France's lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, is due to vote on July 13 - the day before France's national holiday -- on whether to ban the burqa in public. The draft law will then go to the French Senate for its vote in September.



Under the bill, women could be fined 150 euros (190 dollars) if they are caught wearing a full veil in public places like streets, parks, public transport or shops.



Men who force their wives or daughters to wear the full veil would face stiffer penalties -- a fine of up to 30,000 euros and a year in jail.



A ban in France would affect a tiny minority of Muslim women, according to the French interior ministry, which estimates that about 1,900 women in France wear the full veil.



Similar laws are pending in Belgium and Spain, but the ban is particularly sensitive in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.