Muslim Women Stripped From Wearing the Niqab in Universities

Muslim Women Stripped From Wearing the Niqab in Universities

Syria has officially banned students and teachers from wearing the niqab, which is the veil that reveals only the woman’s eyes. Turkey has banned the headscarves and France has given a grace period for these women to stop wearing both items of clothing. This situation can be looked at from two angles. The first angle is letting them wear the niqab, freely letting the women express their Muslim religion. How would you feel if you were a Christian and was told that no symbols that contain the cross are acceptable when out in public? These women are strong believers in their faith. Having the chance to live in London for some months and seeing how strong the Muslim culture is over there, I got a chance to get some questions answered on why they feel the need to go so deep into their religion, and wear the niqab. Women gave me the similar answer every time. They said that some people felt that it was because the men make them do it, but in actuality, they feel safe; having a sense of security by not showing any of the flesh. But then there is the other angle which included the bystanders, the non-Muslims as one would say. Living in the same area, I encountered the strangest and fanatical reasons of why people do agree with banning the niqab. The people seemed to always intertwine terrorism with the niqab. They felt threatened and didn’t like the fact that the only thing they could see was their eyes; like these Muslim women were hiding something, so they always kept an attentive eye on them. “Why can’t they wear regular clothes like us?” is the repeated sentence that one can hear if this issue is brought up around these bystanders. But then my thoughts enter this issue, wondering why this is such a big deal? That’s because the American way of doing things has then entered my head; separation of church and state. But all of a suddenly, I step off my block of ignorance and remember…everywhere isn’t America.