“Quebec bans niqab for public services with neutrality law”
My response to a query from Saad Shafquat in a Facebook Post
After quoting Quebec Bans Niqab for Public Services Saad Shafqat had queried in his Facebook post “I’m wondering if this will prompt some of the niqab-wearers to relocate to a Muslim-majority country.”
To this I had replied “The Holy Quran does not prescribe any dress code for us. It ordains strictly to both the genders to look at each other with decency and respect and to stay miles away from indecency and promiscuity. Period.”
Saad Shafqat responded “Khalid Mitha sir then what is the possible motivation for niqab-wearers, if it’s not the holy word? Who or what are they trying to emulate? It is obvious that a niqab-wearer feels she is a better Muslim than others. There must be some compelling logic behind it.” Here is my reaction.
Sure, they all have some; not “compelling logic” but some plausible and satisfactory explanation for their beliefs and practices.This is true for the whole spectrum of different, diverse, conflicting and contradictory views, beliefs and practices that we Muslims cherish starting form the insistence on beard and exposing the knuckles to covering the head, to wrapping the face, to full body burqua, to complete segregation of genders, to the husband being the master and dominant (hakim and musallat) over wives, to prohibition of music and photography, to controversy about Shabe Bara’t, to the squabbling between the Deobandis and Barelvees and lastly of course to the violent and disgusting route and direction of the Taliban, Al Qaeeda snd ISIS. All of them have some “compelling logic”, to use your term from the sources of Islam to support their view point. It is up to you and me to look into this material, think and ponder and then decide the right path for oneself.
Niqaab certainly has been proposed in the Fiqh of all the Four Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence. The women, therein are commanded to stay in-doors for all their activities. No interaction with non-mehrem men; total segregation. Perchance they have to go out for “unavoidable” reasons, they are required to have a full body burqua. A satisfactory and meaningful discussion of Niqaab and Hijaab is beyond a Facebook Chat. It needs much more space. If you are interested and have time for it I have discussed this problem in two articles Hijaab: The Shari'ah Version v/s the late Twentieth Century Variant
