The following excerpt is taken from an essay, "Michael Jackson and the Burqa", by Yamin Zakaria, a practicing Muslim in London:

“Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit -- for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.”

- President Obama

For the believers minimum level of clothing to be worn in public is prescribed by the divine revelation, whereas the secular and liberal societies the goalpost is constantly moving.  The recent comment made by Sarkozy raises this debate as to what should be the desired level of clothing enforced in society. 
 
His comments would have been taken more seriously, had he not concealed it behind the pretence of concern for the welfare of Muslims women. If that was the case, he could easily have found groups of Muslim women in his country to speak on the issue, especially who may have removed the Burqa after being forced to wear it in a liberal society like France. Of course, he could not come up with such evidence. Such pretentious speech of Sarkozy echoes the recent statement made by Barak Obama in Cairo: ‘We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.’ If Sarkozy is that concerned about the welfare of women, he could have started to tackle real issues like domestic violence or the seedy industry of prostitution and porn that runs into millions of Francs. Perhaps then, he might have been crowned by the Pope as the new mini-Emperor of France.
 
There are reasons why Sarkozy could not present the argument with a degree of honesty as elaborated by the following points: 
 
One of the fundamental values of a liberal secular society is personal freedom, the right of the women to choose, be it covering up with a Burqa or stripping down to a miniskirt with a low-cut top. Sarkozy’s attempt to deny this right of choice is inconsistent with his secular values. Furthermore, many would point to the underlying motive of a ‘man’ to oppose the right of a woman to wear modest clothing. Maybe this is why he is married to a former nude model!
 
It is implied by Sarkozy and the secular culture in general that replacing the modest clothes with attires that provokes the male sexual instinct is a sign of modernity and progression. If removing the clothes is a sign of progression, then why have any limitations at all in the first place.  Make the entire country a nudist camp. In short, the boundary drawn in a secular society is arbitrary, which in any case is constantly moving.
 
Sarkozy makes a flawed assumption about the cloth being forced upon the Muslims women. If it was Afghanistan or Saudi, one could assume that but surely not in liberal France.  A woman in Burqa is a confident woman sending a message that I am not available for any predatory male on heat! A woman like that can only be accessed with a dignified marital contract. For sure, such a woman is very intimidating for many men who prefer to have that ease of access.
 
Even the reference to the imposition of Burqa in places like Afghanistan and Saudi cannot be argued against, as every society enforces a certain code of dress. If the parents were not enforcing Burqa on their daughters perhaps, they would be enforcing the miniskirt, or some other dress code.
 
It is amusing that Sarkozy refers to the issue of dignity of women as if he is an expert to speak on the subject with his record of accomplishment! The Burqa does not degrade the woman, but the scanty dress designed to provoke the male interests is what degrades women, projecting them into sexual objects to be devoured by predatory men, like Sarkozy.  If you still doubt this point, try this simple test. Ask a group of women randomly picked, give them two choices, to strip in front of a crowd down to their undergarments or go fully covered, see which path would they choose?
 
Yamin Zakaria
UK, London
 
Copyright © Yamin Zakaria 2009

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