War on Islamic Hijab in France

"The hijab protects me." In short, Leila expressed her adherence to the teachings of her religion, putting before her eyes—at seventeen springs old—all the costs resulting from a phrase that willpower transformed into a stance. She then rejected any discussions regarding her stance, saying: "Wearing the hijab was ordained by Allah French secularism policy and Muslim hijab in schools, and we do not hold the authority to alter Allah's commands."

The storm erupted fierce and blatant, laden with all malice, distortions, definitions, and hostilities—both visible and hidden—toward this religion and those who adhere to it. Thus, it presented an opportunity in France for anyone who likes to fish in troubled waters.

Those seeking political and economic interests rushed to link adherence to values to low economic conditions.

Even those who are superficially fair-minded do not lack diseased motives in their fairness, such as: the fear of transferring the problem from one place to another, the fear of spreading contagion, or treating the matter as a passing summer cloud experienced by the girl during adolescence, as stated by one of the headmasters: "What benefit is gained from stopping a passing spiritual movement of a teenage student?!"

However, the most dangerous matter is the distortion of the rulings of Islamic Sharia on the tongues of some officials who pretend to search the Quran for the rulings governing these phenomena.

Others feel indebted to public opinion to provide a convincing justification for expulsion measures, and after searching and probing, they throw down their winning card: "The hijab exposes the student to sweat during cooking class!" Yet, that card comes only to expose what was hidden within their souls.

Muslims in France Required to Have an Islam That Dissolves into Secularism

The summary is that Muslims in France are required to have an Islam that dissolves into secularism just as the Arabic language dissolved into the French language, just as modest dress dissolved into revealing attire, and just as conservative behavior dissolved into degraded behavior—a complete dissolution that represents the desired image for an Islam whereof nothing remains except burial rites for the dead, Eid prayers, and fasting Ramadan. The efforts currently being made aim to emerge from doctrinal differences toward solutions that give birth to a "French-style Islam"—those are the goals of "modernizing Islam" in France!

The Translator

Three years have passed since a socio-political storm swept across the Mediterranean regions, caused by the ban on three Muslim female students from wearing the Islamic hijab in classrooms across French schools. Have any changes occurred in the positions of officials during this period?

In a school in the suburbs of the French city of Lyon, located in a neighborhood where Muslims constitute 78%, a student pushed open the principal's door and surprised him by requesting the meat invoices for meals served to students to verify whether they were slaughtered according to Islamic Sharia or not. The principal says: "I feel it is my duty to offer pork-free meals and respect the month of Ramadan, but I will not submit to this kind of threat."

The decisive stance of administrations against student requests of a religious nature has become a phenomenon spreading across most French schools. The headmaster of Voltaire High School in Paris severely reprimanded a Muslim female student who expressed disgust at a fork used sequentially to cut pork and beef intended for Muslim students.

What poses a major problem for school administrations is the repeated request to designate specific places for prayer and religious activity. It is true that the 1905 law separated church and state while allowing religious chaplains to exist in public secondary institutions funded by the general budget—and the presence of 3,000 Catholic chaplains in France confirms that after a century of secularism, the Church did not yield entirely to the law separating religion and state—yet Muslims do not benefit sufficiently from this law, even though their requests are considered more organized. One principal said: "A group of students asked me to vacate a hall to perform prayers five times a day, which would cause chaos in the class schedule; however, when I searched the Quran, I found that two prayers a day—one in the morning and another in the evening—are sufficient for an individual to be a good Muslim, so I rejected the request!"

Meanwhile, Jewish students pose a significant burden on schools, as they decide their weekly day off on Saturday, prompting educational administrations to issue recommendations against conducting any exams on Saturdays. Strangely, this decision met with great approval among teachers, as out of 170 teachers, only 3 rejected it, and among 500 Jewish students, only ten were affected!

Explicit Hostility

If crosses worn around the necks of Christians and skullcaps placed on the heads of Jews pose no problem at all, why does the Islamic hijab trigger reactions that reflect explicit hostility? And why do schools that accepted it yesterday hesitate today for fear of being accused of laxity?

One teacher says in this regard: "Wearing the Islamic hijab reintroduces the rule of modesty through overt religious means, even though there should be no religious signs in public places. The hijab is a cultural symbol distinct from wearing a cross around the neck. All students are equal and discrimination between them is prohibited. It is very unfortunate that the school no longer defends values; we live in an era of cultural conformity, and here we have nothing before us except uncertain theories."

The director of an institute justifies his expulsion of four female students—despite their academic excellence—by stating: "Wearing the hijab exposes female students to numerous risks in physical education classes and in cooking classes, where the probability of the hijab catching fire is very high, which would harm the student."

The National Institute of Education has become a refuge for many rejected female students despite its exorbitant costs. Yet even its administration fears the "spread of contagion," in the words of the institute's director, which is why he is forced to expel students from time to time!

Although constitutional legal clauses guarantee freedom of belief, and despite the Human Rights Committee voting in favor of the female students, all these decisions were ignored, and internal regulations for each individual became the benchmark for their actions; thus, rulings on female students take a moody rather than a legal form.

However, the matter is not devoid of fairness at times. In fact, even the division within the secular front—where one of its directions adopts the principle of granting freedom of belief—sometimes gives justice to the Muslim female student. One official says: "If the student causes no disruption and regularly attends all classes, there is no reason to expel her, because the secular school is obligated to accept all students regardless of their religions. I see no reason for Muslims to give up part of their culture in exchange for obtaining their rights."

An academic official confirms: "As long as the student responds to the request to remove the hijab inside the classroom, it is fine. Since she attends all classes, we see no reason to expel her, even if co-ed swimming classes sometimes cause some objections, because the expulsion process is merely transferring the problem from one place to another."

Islam in France arrived with the arrival of immigrants—especially North Africans—and was known for a great deal of flexibility and interaction with civilizations to an extent that reaches exaggerated limits among the youth who represent the largest segment. As for the Islam of the more orthodox minorities, they view wearing the hijab as compliance with a prophetic Hadith, and it also represents a type of guarantee preventing the girl from straying from her traditions threatened with dissolution in French society. However, the hijab phenomenon appears in areas where the standard of living for expatriates is very low.

Political Pressures

With the decentralization of secularism in educational institutions, the latter find themselves at the heart of local political stakes regarding immigration, subject to pressures from political parties and Islamic associations that protect veiled girls. Among these associations is the "Amal" Association, affiliated with the National Federation of Muslims of France, which refused to join the Islamic association formed by the municipality. Resolving these disputes may result in a "French-style Islam."

Some attribute the phenomenon to the stances of the French government, according to the words of the president of the North African Women's Association, Halima Boumedienne: "The French government's appearance of rigidity leaves room for a return to fundamentals. In this case, the economic hardships experienced by expatriate Muslim families, as well as the difficulty of accessing political life and establishing parties, have made these expatriates prey to Islamic currents. In any case, it is necessary to escape political control and seek the interest of the female students."

True, these girls should not have to pay the costs of the secular crisis; however, Islam in France does not date back two hundred years like Judaism, nor to a century of separation between church and state, nor even to fifty years of secular social activity. Therefore, it was inevitable to be exposed to republican insults in which, nevertheless, modernizing religion is not prevented.

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Published in Issue 1006 of Al-Mugtama Magazine — Tuesday, July 7, 1992