Press Release
FRENCH NIQAB BAN DEMONSTRATES THE FAILINGS OF SECULARISM

On Monday April 11^th 2011, the French ban of the face veil will come into force. The new law criminalises the wearing of the niqab in all public places including on public transport, in parks, and in the streets. Any Muslim woman found wearing the face veil in public can now be forced to uncover and will either face a fine of 150 Euros or be required to take French citizenship classes on the supposed virtues of the country's secular republican values. Any husband or father found to have pressured their female family members into adopting the niqab could face a fine of 30,000 euros or a year in prison.

 This comes following a week where France's ruling UMP party organised a public forum in Paris regarding the negative influences of Islam on French society. Subjects for discussion included concerns regarding the serving of halal meat in school caféteria's, Muslim prayer sessions in French streets due to inadequate prayer facilities in mosques, and halal-only restaurants. On the eve of the debate, Claude Guéant, France's Interior Minister described the growing number of Muslims in France as a ‘problem'. Such comments, forums and this anti-niqab bill have been noted by many as UMP attempts to pander to the rising anti-immigration and xenophobic sectors of the French public by riding the racist anti-Islamic wave in order to choke-up Sarkozy's flagging electoral poll ratings in advance of the Presidential elections of 2012. They are cheap political stunts aimed at attracting back supporters of Marine Le Pen's far-right racist National Front who demonstrated a significant rise in popularity amongst voters in last month's local elections.

 Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, Central Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir commented, "As France cynically attempts to present itself as the liberator of Libya and Coté D'Ivoire from dictators, it simultaneously imposes dictatorial policies on Muslim women within its own borders, forcing them to discard their religious convictions. Under the absurd claim of women's liberation and choice, French laicité has in reality made Muslim women pariahs within French society for simply dressing modestly and confined them as prisoners to their homes due to their religious beliefs."

  "It is deplorable that French secularism views it as acceptable that Muslim women be used as bait by politicians to curry favour with racist voters. This electoral tool of trying to outstrip political opponents in racist rhetoric and playing Muslim and non-Muslim communities against one another for political mileage illustrates the opportunistic, corrosive nature of secular politics. It is all this that divides and alienates communities, not a piece of cloth. How can an ideology that views the instigation of prejudice against religious minorities as fair game in political rivalry ever lay claim to be a leading system by which to create cohesive, stable, and harmonious societies?"

  "This apartheid, divisive, misogynistic piece of legislation is pure unadulterated racism and coercive assimilation dressed up in security and women's rights concerns. It is clearly aimed at bullying Muslims into leaving their deeply held Islamic beliefs and to embrace secular liberal values against a backdrop of rising Islamicization of Muslim communities within Europe. Talk of integration is simply a smokescreen to attempt to ‘cleanse' French Muslims of any visible expressions of Islam. It is not the negative influence of Islam on French society that should be the topic of debate but secularism's lack of universality, its inability to accommodate rights for all, and the fast dwindling credibility of its claim to be the best system by which to organise the affairs of mankind."

  "Islam in contrast is a political ideology that abhors such racism, such opportunistic politics, and the targeting of minorities. It is a system that has a rich history of securing the rights of those of all faiths under the rule of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate". It is a way of life that does not suffer the fragility and insecurity of ideologies that feel the need to strip religious minorities of their beliefs in order to protect their own worships. At this time of intense pressure, we call the Muslim women of France, Europe, and the West to stand firm to their Islamic beliefs against these bully-boy fear tactics and modern day witch hunts aimed at coercing them away from their Islamic convictions."