MY DAUGHTER RETURNED to school this week after the summer holidays. She goes to a Muslim faith school; as such, her school uniform is a khimar (headscarf) and jilbab (loose-fitting, non-transparent, full-length outer garment).
As we went to school, I was reminded of the difficult situation of Muslim girls across France who on the same day would also be going to school. They would be facing a new law prohibiting the wearing of abayas at school.
‘What do you make of that?’ I asked my daughter.
‘The French really do not like Muslims, do they?’ she said.
‘It’s not surprising to be honest. Europe had a very negative experience with Christianity in the past and they decided that they could only progress if they left religion behind. They became secular which means that you can believe in God if you want but God should have no say in public life. Rather people should decide how to govern themselves and what values to hold. So, they have taken the position that all religious signs (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh etc.) should be taken away from the public space.
Add to that a history of colonialism where the leading European countries invaded and exploited other lands giving them a sense of superiority over the colonised peoples. That bias can still be felt by anyone who comes and lives in their country- there’s always a sense of being a second-class citizen.
The French on top of that are particularly arrogant as they feel that their way of life and culture (food, art, language etc.) are better than everyone else’s so they are more heavy-handed in their approach towards immigrants (a large proportion of whom are Muslims coming from post-Colonial North Africa) than other European nations.
So they take offence to the Islamic dress because it publicly represents that a Muslim woman (who is also usually from the formerly colonised) does not accept the secular liberal values that they fought so hard for in their history. Rather her reference point remains God.’
‘But don’t they believe that people are free to choose what they wear?’
‘That is all part of the inconsistency of a way of life built on human minds.
Yes, they keep telling everyone that they are free but as I’ve said before freedom is just an illusion.
For instance, they are all for women in Iran to rebel against their government and take off their hijab because that is their freedom to dress as they please but in France itself that freedom is denied.
Similarly, they talk about the state being secular and yet that same state recognises and celebrates Easter Monday, Ascension Day, All Saints Day, Assumption Day, and Christmas Day- all of which are national holidays.
They will allow freedom within certain limits that they set for you. They will define what is acceptable to wear and what is acceptable to think. And they will not tolerate anything else using the state to ban any debate and alternative thinking.
That should tell us how weak this way of life is. They say that you can believe in God if you want to or not. But for those who believe in God, will that belief not inform them how they see society should be organised? Rather than address such a fundamental question as the existence of God, secularism refuses to answer it and just asks you to ignore it.
Also, we need to be careful with freedom as our foundation for thinking. If we accept that the basis is freedom to wear the hijab, then inevitably that also means we must accept that a Muslim girl who does not want to wear the hijab but a miniskirt to school also has the freedom to do so. This obviously does not make sense. Instead, Muslims believe it is Allah alone who sets the halal and haram, right and wrong and it is the Believer’s test to submit to that Divine guidance.’
‘So, what can we do?’
‘We make dua that Allah keep the Muslims in France steadfast, to not compromise on their deen and that Allah makes a way out for them.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “There shall come upon the people a time in which the one who is patient upon his religion will be like the one holding onto a burning ember.” (Tirmidhi)
Every one of us is put through a test. If the situation becomes so difficult and they cannot practice the basics of the Deen then they will have to make the difficult decision to move to somewhere where they can practice.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ تَوَفَّىٰهُمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ ظَالِمِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا۟ فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوٓا۟ أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ ٱللَّهِ وَٰسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا۟ فِيهَا ۚ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ مَأْوَىٰهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَآءَتْ مَصِيرًا
When the angels seize the souls of those who have wronged themselves—scolding them: ‘What do you think you were doing?’ They will reply: ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angels will respond: ‘Was Allah’s earth not spacious enough for you to emigrate?’ It is they who will have Hell as their home—what an evil destination! (an-Nisa 97)
Of course, the whole world is engulfed by secularism including the Muslim world. It is just a question of degrees to what we can practice. These realities should make us realise that a Muslim will never really be at ease in any system other than an Islamic one. That realisation should inevitably require us collectively as an ummah (regardless of where we are) to support and work with urgency to re-establish the Islamic way of life.’
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