Iman Kurdi (Arab View)

There is a man in Britain who is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison yet could walk free if he agreed to do something we all do every day. Stephen Gough is known as the naked rambler.

Twice he has walked from Land’s End to John O’Groats – the two extremities of Britain – wearing nothing but socks and a pair of boots. And on both occasions and on numerous occasions since, he has been arrested and thrown in jail for appearing naked in public.

Every time he leaves jail, he is told he can be free if he puts some clothes on. But no sooner is he out of the gates of the jail that he strips naked again and is arrested for doing so. The result is that he has spent most of the last seven years in prison and might spend the rest of his life in prison unless he changes his mind and starts to wear clothes.

Why? Why would anyone choose to walk around naked? To most of us his lifestyle choice seems not only bizarre but insane. Gough claims he is making a stand for individual freedom. He should have the right to wear clothes or not, it is a matter of individual choice. The law disagrees, It is an offence to appear naked in public.

At the other end of the scale, it may soon become an offence to walk down the street entirely covered from head to toe. Not in Britain, but in neighbouring France. The covering could be any kind of clothing but is likely to be the black cloth that covers head, body and face known as the burqa. Sarkozy has made it clear that some kind of legislation will be implemented and has stated that the burqa “is not welcome in France.” And why is it not welcome? Because it runs “contrary to French values and contrary to French ideas of a woman’s dignity.”

This last word, ‘dignity’, is key. Politicians and commentators use it again and again on this matter. Take for instance Fadela Amara, the French Secretary of State for Urban Policies, a Muslim woman and a veteran feminist campaigner. She has stated that she is against the burqa because it diminishes the dignity of women. For her it is not a religious issue but a gender equality issue.  It is in order to protect the rights of women that the burqa is to be banned.

Why would any woman choose to walk around covered from head to toe? To most Europeans this lifestyle choice seems bizarre and though not necessarily insane, somewhat perverted and extreme. There is also the widespread belief that women do not do it out of free choice but out of coercion. Add to that the Niqab (veil) is in many ways the physical embodiment of a view of Muslim women as “oppressed and subjugated” and it is easy to see why it could be considered incompatible with French republican values. But banning it?

There are two immediate issues. The first concerns religious freedom. The second concerns implementation.Is stopping a woman from wearing a form of religious dress not an infringement of her right to practise her religion freely? For that to be the case wearing the burqa must be seen to be a religious requirement. If you consider a face veil to be part of a woman’s religious duty then yes. If you do not think that Islam requires women to cover their faces then no.

The parliamentary inquiry charged with examining the issue of the burqa in France is due to report next week. You can bet two things. The first is that it will report that conventional Muslim thinking does not recognise the covering of the face as part of a Muslim woman’s religious duty. The second is that wearing the burqa goes against French republican values and must 
therefore be banned.

But how do you implement such a ban? Is a woman who walks down the street wearing a burqa going to be thrown in jail for doing so? The first proposal, put forward by Jean-François Copé, the leader of the ruling parliamentary party, proposes a fine of 750 Euros for anyone who appears totally covered in a public place. Copé’s proposal is not only unworkable but also likely to be easily challenged either by the French constitutional court or by European Human Rights legislators.

In any case, the proposal is a political stance by Copé, eager to make a name for himself, and is unlikely to become law in its present form. What we are likely to see is first a parliamentary resolution stating that the burqa is incompatible with French values. This resolution would not have any legal binding, but it would pave the way for ensuing legislation banning the burqa in specific instances and specific settings. People should be free to dress as they please. It should have no importance to others whether a person chooses to wear a skirt or a pair of trousers, whether they choose to cover their hair with a scarf or a hat and their face with a veil or a mask à la Michael Jackson. But do you remember how Michael Jackson was branded a ‘whacko’ for hiding his face in public? Clothing is one thing, hiding your face is another. By doing so you withhold your identity and you place a screen between yourself and others. Why is a naked man so offensive? He may be free to do as he wishes except that in doing so he exposes us, the public, to his nudity, a sight which offends us.

Conversely, a woman may choose to cover herself up entirely as she walks down a French street, but her choice, if free choice it is, may be offensive to those who behold her. She may think she is upholding her dignity by covering her flesh from prying eyes, indeed personal dignity may be the very reason she chooses this form of dress, but to Western eyes it is the very opposite. Covering up her identity is equivalent to saying “I wish to be a blank, I do not want you to know anything about me except that I am a woman and I am a Muslim.”

It is a refusal to engage with others as well as a refusal to blend in with the prevailing culture. I don’t like the burqa and I would rather not see French Muslim women wearing it, but banning it is wrong. Whatever politicians say it is an attack on Muslims.

When Sarkozy says the burqa is not welcome in France, he is saying that a certain visible minority of Muslims are not welcome in France, and that is religious discrimination. Banning it will also encourage the further politicisation of a subject, which should be left well alone. It is giving ammunition to the extremists on both sides. Besides, at the end of the day, is a piece of black cloth really 
that offensive?

Iman Kurdi is an Arab writer based in Nice, France.