France has recently taken the bold step of cracking down on hardline Islam by proposing a $1,150 fine for women who wear the burqa in public, an Islamic dress comprised of the full veil and hijab. That penalty would be doubled for any men who force their wives or other female relatives to dress this way.
The proposed fine aims at protecting the dignity and security of women, and would apply to all people on the public street whose face is entirely covered, including public buildings. This follows recent comments by French president Nicolas Sarkozy that the veils are “not welcome” in secular countries such as France because it causes cultural isolation and alienation. President Sarkozy said the Burqa is a “sign of subservience and debasement that imprison women”.
The aim of the legislation is admirable, even if not entirely likely to succeed. And it has certainly generated a good deal of debate in other countries, including our own. The National Post editorial board recently ran a piece entitled Don’t ban the burka, arguing that banning the clothing would restrict the free will of women in our society, which goes against the foundations of our liberal country.
It’s true that the Burqa has no traditional basis in Islam, as noted by Islamic scholar Tarek Fatah. It is a recent importation of radical Wahhabist Islam from Saudi Arabia, the spread of which has traversed the Middle East, from Yemen and Egypt to Iran and Afghanistan, and in the past decade has even begun to infiltrate western nations.
It isn’t that I don’t support a ban on the burqa simply because of free will; after all, we restrict free will all the time, when that will is considered to be in contravention to the basic liberties of others. No, I don’t support a ban on the burqa because our society is not prepared for the full and inevitable confrontation with the ignorant and regressive doctrines of radical Islam that are sure to ensue.
Religious freedom is protected strongly in Canada under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There are cases in Canada routinely involving the Sikh religion, and often their firm beliefs supersede any regulations by safety authorities or legislation. If we were to impose a ban on the burqa, there would be immediate challenges in court that would take years, if not decades, to all sort out.
It is ironic to imagine Muslims using the free expressions protected in our society in order to wear a garment that symbolizes gender apartheid and slavery, but you have to expect that inevitability. Part of the reason the terrorists who infiltrate North America are able to succeed is that we are generous in our liberties and tolerance for various beliefs.
There’s also the problem of “official multiculturalism” in Canada, which protects the idea of diversity by law, and allows immigrants to shape Canada into their vision of what it should be, rather than the other way around. We don’t have any assimilation or conformity structures in Canada that even begins to challenge Muslims for wearing burqas, so how would one even begin to hand out fines for something entirely unenforceable?
No, banning the burqa is putting the cart before the horse. The first thing that western liberal nations must do is identify the strains of radicalization in Islam, which includes the burqa, and then create constitutional amendments which abolish radical forms of religion as not being in the spirit of religious freedom. The concept of a ban of the burqa, after all, isn’t going to affect us. It’s a means of saving Muslims from their own indoctrination, just as the state would intervene to protect someone who fell under the influence of a dangerous cult, or a person who decided to start wearing Nazi symbols in public.
You can’t just ban the symbols of hatred. You have to go to the root and sever the connection before it can grow.
