Only recently, did we hear about a French journalist who called out Moroccan footballer, Nouhaila Benzina, and her choice of wearing hijab during the FIFA World Cup, as “regressive.” However, FIFA lifted the hijab ban in 2014.

The only thing regressive is going back to the days of colonialism and segregation, which people have fought so hard against and still find themselves battling to preserve. The 1960’s civil rights movement in America, for one, fought the segregated “Coloreds Only” signs on bathroom doors, school doors and hospital doors, among other public sectors. With the French government’s ruling on the “abaya ban” for students in state schools, perhaps this is heading toward or rather…heading backward: “Muslims Only?”

The abaya is a long-sleeved, ankle-length, loose-fitting dress so how does one know the difference between a normal maxi dress compared to an abaya? There’s only one way, really…the hijab. As long as a woman is wearing a modest dress with a hijab, she is scrutinized by the French Police.

According to sources including Al Jazeera, to enforce a ban on abayas in the classrooms of public schools, 14,000 educational personnel are expected to be trained by the end of the year and 300,000 by 2025. Meanwhile, Loubna Regui, President of the ELF-Muslim Students of France, tells Al Jazeera that the ban clearly targets immigrants and is “inherently racist.” She is not alone in that opinion; according to France24, Clementine Autain of the left-wing opposition France Unbowed Party, denounced the ban describing it as “policing of clothing,” “unconstitutional” and against the founding principles of France’s secular values; she goes on to say it is an “obsessive rejection of Muslims.” The founding principles that Autain refers to are part of a declaration at the top of the French Constitution: “The French Republic is indivisible, secular, democratic and social.”

Who was it that proposed this ban? Gabriel Attal is his name. He is a French politician of the Renaissance Party who served, since July, 2023, as Minister of National Education and Youth under Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

“When you enter a classroom, you should not be able to distinguish or identify the students’ religion by looking at them,” Attal told the TF1 television channel on Sunday, August 28, 2023. According to Attal, the abaya is “a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute.”

In response, The French Council of the Muslim Faith released a statement that the abaya is not a religious garment and that the government should not take it upon themselves to decide what is considered religious and what is not: “Unless all long dresses are banned altogether in schools, for students and teachers, regardless of their faith, it will be impossible to apply a measure specifically targeting the abaya without falling into the trap of discrimination and arbitrariness.”

Reuters, News18 and Al-Jazeera have quoted French sociologist, Agnes De Feo, who said, “It’s going to hurt Muslims in general. They will, once again, feel stigmatized. It’s really a shame because people will judge these young girls while it (the abaya) is a teenage expression without consequences.”

France is the first Western country to have started banning clothing and successfully so. It all began with the burkini, then the burqa, then hijab and now abaya. Other countries have followed in France’s footsteps including Switzerland and Germany. As of July 15, 2021, the Highest Court of the European Union banned hijab in the workplace; this means that an employer is legally permitted to dismiss any employee who has refused to remove the hijab when asked to do so.

“The abaya has no place in our schools, no more than religious symbols,” proclaimed Attal. “Schools must, at all costs, perhaps even more than any other institution, be protected from religious proselytism, from any embryo of communitarianism, or from the refusal of our most important common rules.”

Attal faces the challenge of distinguishing an abaya from a maxi dress, a risk of seeming discriminatory and breaking the four principles that the French Republic are expected to uphold and the misconception that an abaya is a religious garment when it is really a cultural one.

Sources:

–https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-ban-islamic-abaya-pupils-attempt-convert-islam/
https://twitter.com/CfcmOfficiel/status/1696098111645454444

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/world/europe/france-ban-abaya-robes-schools.html

https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230827-french-education-minister-announces-ban-on-islamic-abayas-in-schools

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/28/france-abaya-ban-how-far-will-clothes-police-go

About the Author:

Rumki Chowdhury is Editor of World Hijab Day Organization. Moreover, she is a professional editor and an award-winning published author and poet. She has an MA in English Literature from Queen Mary University of London, a BA in English Writing from William Paterson University of New Jersey and an English Subject Teaching Degree from Gävle Högskolan in Stockholm, Sweden. She speaks Bengali and Swedish fluently! She has years of experience in the media and publishing worlds. Rumki lives with her husband and their three daughters.

Instagram and Facebook @rumkitheauthor

Twitter @rumkichowdhury

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People ask me why do I wear Hijab, my simple answer is – one I want people to see my true beauty rather than focusing on false diminishing worldly beauty. Two – I don’t believe in showoff but prefer being a pearl hidden in a shell, lying deep down beneath the ocean. Three – hijaab is my identity, I can wear jazzy clothes but I chose to live a simple life for it showcases my religion/belief.

Assumptions: People look at me with an amaze in their eyes ( good/bad/strange/old fashioned/alien from other planet/oppressed/yeah terrorist too). No, apart from the first point mentioned none of them are correct. I love being fashionable and I’m very much aliened with the current fashion trends. No, I’m not oppressed and no one enforced hijab on me, but I chose it cause I love it. Do not know about alien from other planet but would like to be considered as an angel. (Joking)

Experiences: I have observed the security team checking my bag twice for me just wearing the hijaab, but I have always observed patience with them thinking one day they will realize and will treat me normally. If compared before and after Hijaab, I have seen flirty men don’t stare at me anymore, many changed their perspective. I have noticed respect in many stares and everyone demands respect.

God: Beyond being everything said, it’s a sign of my submission to my Master/Lord. I’m in love with my creator for thy has created the good, the bad and then guided His creation to protect themselves and others from the evil start – the start could be a single gaze. No this is not an introvert thought but a deep subject to explore. I have experienced and would say hijab is a shield that covers from lustful gaze:

“O Prophet! Say to your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers that: they should let down upon themselves their jalabib.” [Quran 33:59]

“…and not display their beauty except what is apparent, and they should place their khumur over their bosoms…” [Quran 23:31]

Hijab is necessary not just restricted to clothing but one should observe hijab in the way you communicate, choice of words, and observe hijab in your actions.

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I am me
This hijab shall always be a part of my identity
whether you like it or would rather rip it off my head
I’ll wear it anyway whenever I want even at night in bed

I have difficulties in life
just as any other person man, daughter, son or wife
My hijab isn’t a problem hon
I got 99 names to call Him upon
It is an opportunity to come closer to Him, my God
It is a way of expressing my love I don’t find that odd
if you been send out on a quest be patient and do your very best
and put your trust in Him whenever you get a test
This is the way I hope to free my soul of ego
I cover up to let the vanity of ‘me’ go

I wear them in all patterns, colors, and fabrics
I wear them in all styles
Whether going out for dinner or sporting at aerobics

If you think I’m being dumb, oppressed and thinking l don’t have confidence
It tells more about your insecurity and your intelligence
I know I’m being smart
I know what to do because I’m following my heart

Happy world hijab day to all you ladies whether you wear it or not
I’m not discriminating because you first should wear it in your heart
Don’t forget it is a lifestyle and attitude
live your own life just as you would
like in times of low and altitude
Wear it classy and chique
Your covering so don’t reveal too much and stay mystique
but don’t forget you are always unique.

Lots of love,

Faylasoufia S.
Sanae Ben Abdelouahab
[Actress in the Theaterplay ‘The Hijabi monologues’ in the Netherlands, it is a play which blows away all the stereotypes aspects of being an Europian born Hijabi (which is very rare for a hijabi to be an actress)]

The post 50 shades of hijab appeared first on World Hijab Day.

I used to be a school teacher. A friend from Malaysia once asked me that why don’t most of the Muslim women in our country (Myanmar), who do not work for the government and mostly live within the Muslim community, wear hijab?

Actually, there are many Muslim women in Myanmar who wear hijab. But we have lived under socialist rule for almost three decades and are now passing a democratic transition. So, we are not yet ready to wear hijab but we do practice Islam and remain steadfast in its way.

Though some women would like to wear hijab but they don’t do so because of various reasons like their husbands would not allow them to,  they don’t want to distinguish themselves from the non-Muslims around, and they don’t want to leave the modern fashion.

But, what we have learned all our lives as minority Muslims is that no one but Allah is able to protect our dignity and properties.

It is most imperative for us, Muslims, to draw closer to Allah and gain His pleasure. So, by explaining to the people around with different views and unsupportive husbands, and making them understand, let us together strive for increasing the number of Muslim women who wear hijab! Insha Allah (God-Willingly)!

The post Cultural confusion in Muslim minorities appeared first on World Hijab Day.

I was always “scared” to wear Hijab. Worried about what friends, family and co-workers would say played a big role in my decision. I have a fellow revert friend whose been my best friend for years and she reminded me that on the day of Judgement we would have to answer to Allah (Swt) for ourselves, none of those friends, family members or co-workers would be with us. What would my excuse then be for not wearing hijab? I was scared? But how could I NOT be scared of my Creator? This opened my eyes, gave me a wake-up call. The day I started wearing hijab, I felt confident, free, not preyed upon like a piece of meat. Even though I live in a small town where people aren’t used to seeing reverts and especially wearing hijab, I was afraid of the comments I would get but, surprisingly I’ve been told I look beautiful. Of course, I get the odd look or two but I now wear my hijab with pride and I wouldn’t take it off for anybody! Alhamdulilah (Praise be to Allah), I am so blessed to be a Muslim!

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