Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Condemns French Parliamentary Report

LONDON -- The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat wishes to express its condemnation of the recommendations of a recent French Parliamentary Report, which called for a partial ban on Muslim women wearing veils.

According to the recommendations, any Muslim woman who attempted to flout the ban would be denied the relevant public service. Therefore, if the recommendations are adopted into law, then a country who wishes to represent itself as secular and tolerant would in fact be willing, for example, to deny health services to a woman in need of treatment because she chose to cover her face; and it would be willing to deny education to a female on the same grounds.

These are but just two examples of the potential consequences of such a ban. Islam has long been misrepresented as cruel and discriminatory, yet it is in France where such acts are being seriously contemplated. Indeed, many French politicians have openly stated that the proposed ban does not go far enough and that if they had their way they would criminalise the covering of the face and implement a full ban across society.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat believes that a person's choice of dress is a personal matter. Islam teaches modesty for both men and women but underlying all Islamic injunctions is the Qur'anic principle that 'There is no compulsion in religion'. Thus if a woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, chooses not to cover her head then that is her right, but on the other hand if a woman, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, chooses to cover her head or face then that too is her right and ought never to be interfered with. (...)