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Liberal imam risks death by backing ban on burkas
Mob of 80 Muslims attack Hassen Chalghoumi’s mosque in Paris suburb
Should the burka be banned from French society? It’s a contentious issue, and in some cases a dangerous one, too, as Hassen Chalghoumi discovered this week.
Chalghoumi, at 36 one of the younger and certainly one of the most liberal imams in France, told Le Parisien last week that he supported "a legal ban of the burka, which has no place in France, a country where women have been voting since 1945".
The imam, whose mosque is in Drancy, a north-eastern suburb of Paris, also criticised those Muslims who advocated the wearing of the burka, saying they "belong to a tiny minority tradition reflecting an ideology that undermines the Muslim religion. The burka is a prison for women, a tool of sexist domination and Islamist indoctrination.”
The Tunisian-born Chalghoumi, who is a naturalised French citizen and proud of it, told the paper: "Having French nationality means wanting to take part in society, at school, at work. But with a bit of cloth over their faces, what can these women share with us? If they want to wear the veil, they can go to a country where it's the tradition, like Saudi Arabia."
Chalghoumi’s comments were designed to provoke discussion among the Muslim community in France, but a small minority of radicals considered his pronouncements so insulting that on Monday evening they stormed Chalghoumi’s mosque and threatened to kill him.
He was chairing a meeting of the Conference of Imams, a body established in 2009 to promote better relations between France’s faiths, particularly Jews and Muslims, when a mob of 80 men forced their way into the building. There was a brief scuffle between the two groups, ending in a handful of invaders grabbing the microphone. "They started to cry Allah Akbar and God is great," recounted Chalghoumi. "Then they insulted me, my mosque, the Jewish community and the [French] Republic. They left after an hour and a half."
According to a member of the Conference of Imams, the mob condemned Chalghoumi as an apostate and threatened him with "liquidation, this imam of the Jews".
But far from cowering Chalghoumi into silence, the attack has only strengthened his resolve to confront the extremist element within the French Muslim community. "My voice speaks for the majority [of Muslims]," he said yesterday. "I work for the future of our children and of the Republic in order that Islam is allowed to find its place and Muslims can be respected."
On Tuesday, the day after the incident at Drancy, a long-awaited report was released on how best to deal with the burka in France. The 32-member all-party committee spent six months addressing the question, but still couldn’t produce an unequivocal response.
Among the 15 recommendations put forward were that women wearing full veils should be barred from hospitals, universities, post offices and public transport, while a similar sanction would be applied to any burka-clad woman seeking state benefits or citizenship.
Yet the panel couldn't agree on whether the burka should be outlawed on the streets, despite President Nicolas Sarkozy declaring such a garment as "not welcome" in a speech last year.
The impasse did not deter one of the report's authors, Eric Raoult, and a member of the ruling UMP party, from predicting the burka would be banned "by the end of 2010...we need maybe six months or a little more to explain what we want".
As for Chalghoumi, he is now under police protection, as is his mosque, and he is promising to press charges against his aggressors. While he has received support from the Christian and Jewish communities throughout France, the reaction from many of his fellow Muslims has been luke-warm.
Fouad Alaoui, president of the Union des Organisations Islamiques de France (UOIF), said he "wasn't surprised" at the incident. "We've warned him several times to moderate his words because he risks to attract these sort of reactions."
On the streets of Drancy, support appeared thin on ground for Chalghoumi . "If he wants to condemn the burka, why not, but not in the name of our mosque," a man called Malik said, adding that the imam’s recent declarations "have shocked us". Another young Muslim dismissed Chalghoumi as "not an imam but an administrator".
It was left to an associate of Chalghoumi's at the Drancy mosque, who wished to remain anonymous, to try and defuse what is an increasingly volatile issue in France. "This debate on the burka is creating a great deal of tension," he told today's Le Parisien. "We would like to see calm and serenity restored in the house of God." ·
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Hurrah for this brave and sensible Imam. I agree with both posters Ian Robertson and Haroon Husain absolutely. Forcing one's way into a building, making death threats, scufflling - these are not examples of rational, civilized behavior and are enough to prove the point. Chalghoumi's way is the path to a peaceable and diverse society.
Three cheers for a muslim leader prepared to stand up for what the majority of people around the world believe but rarely say: When you emigrate to a new country, you abide by its laws and traditions. While people should be allowed to display symbols of their religion, covering themselves up so that no one can see who they are is not appropriate and should be discouraged. Pandering to radicals has become a way of life in too many countries, often with dangerous results.
Islam does not say it is compulsory to cover the face. Even when performing the most sacred muslim rite of Haj, one is not supposed to cover the face.
Though it is a custom in some Muslim countries, but is not compulsory. These are Muslim fanatics who try and impose it.
The mob that stormed the Drancy mosque should be punished according to the French law.
Haroon Husain
Karachi - Pakistan
What do the women that wear the burkas think of this potential ban? I can't seem to find that kind of press coverage anywhere.
The wearing of the burka (full body cover) and niqab (face veil) has been debated by islamic scholars for many years. In fact the various branches of Islam have different traditions regarding their use. This is because there is nothing in the Koran or Haddith that says "Women SHOULD cover their faces/bodies at all times in public." The Koran contains references to the prophet Muhammed praising women for covering their faces with cloth but these seem to be specific situations. From a secular point of view it looks like Muslim radicals have latched onto a 1400 year-old tradition and are trying to make it an issue without any concrete support from their holy book. From a cynical point of view France is only talking about banning burkas to see how much support it gets from other EU countries. The potential ban is probably more about racism than it is about women's rights or religious freedom.
What a brave and admirable person is Imam Chalghoumi. The ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are those which ordinary humankind has saluted for a couple of centuries - long enough for radical Muslims and extremists of whatever faith to understand. Unfortunately the radical Muslims in France greatly fear losing control over their followers, starting with their women and the wearing of the burka. May Chalghoumi be respected for his stand and protected from the fanatics.
Unless people like this brave man stand up to the Islamist bullies, Islam will never be accepted in the West. The mob are as much a threat to Muslims as the fascists/racists, the sooner most Muslims realise this and reject them the better for them all. Michael Jose, racaille means scum.
At last one brave Iman speaks sense about the Burka, it is we are told not in the Koran, in fact you are not allowed to cover your face when going on the Haj, it is a custom of few countries, but the Muslim fanatics try and impose it on the population, you never saw a Palestinian wearing it, untill the Fanatic hamas are now imposing it in Gaza, covering the hair is a custom of other religions, but at least you can see a face, the burka is a male way of subjucating women, and making them look like freaks.
I find this article both refreshing but somewhat hard to believe...still, I suppose I do. After all, presidents of the USA, G. W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama have all informed us that Islam is a 'religion of peace'. But apparently the aggression and intemperateness of Islam is rapidly extended to its own leaders when they try to be more multicultural and accommodate to the tolerant societies in which they live. But there are of course other politicians, President Sarkozy of France itself comes to mind, who called the rioting Muslim youths of Paris and elsewhere in his fair land 'la racaille', as was reported in this website. As my French is not too good, I am not sure what this means, but his tone was not pleasant at the time, and after all, he is the leader of that great nation, so perhaps we should listen respectfully to his observations and go by the reports of this online news outlet.
Where were the celebrated French Police while this assault was being conducted (an hour and a half!) in a public place ( a mosque), or did no-one think to call them? Or if they were informed, why did they not appear to investigate what must at least have been a breach of the peace (if there is a law covering such a thing in France); or did they have a chuckle and say "let them get on with it"?