Like everyone else I tend to avoid writing about
Islam. The events of the past week show why. Many people still care deeply
about religion even if Britain is for the most part secular. We live in a
country with people from many backgrounds and with very different beliefs. We
have to try to get on. The very least that is required is that we should try to
be polite and kind. But I believe that honest debate can help us to reach a
better understanding and that failure to write openly and self-censorship may
lead to an increase in misunderstanding rather than a decrease.
I have only rarely seen someone wearing a niqāb and
still more rarely seen a burqa. I’ve seen lots of women wearing head scarfs and
quite a few wearing clothing that covers pretty much everything except their
hands and face. I must admit that I get a bit of a shock when I see someone
covering their face. It may well be irrational, but I also feel a slight sense
of fear. I’m sure it requires far more bravery to walk about with a veil. She
is more likely to receive nasty comments or worse than I am, so I wouldn’t be
surprised if both of us are feeling a bit of fear. I have never asked. I’ve
never had the slightest interaction with someone wearing a veil. I don’t
suppose I ever will.
Why do some women wear veils? I think in order to
understand this we have to go back to the history of the three major monotheistic
religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Judaism is a religion of law. The rules of Jewish life
were set forth in books like Leviticus and developed by means of the constant
interpretations generations of rabbis made about these books. But Judaism was
also a religion that passed onto subsequent generation by means of family
rather than by means of conversion. Although the example of Ruth the Moabite
showed that it was possible to convert to Judaism, it was never easy. For this
reason Judaism tended not to spread and whatever rules it had only applied to
its own people. Moreover, because in the history of Judaism Jewish people were
rarely the lawmakers, it was usually easy for Jews to cease to follow the rules
and become secular.
The essential difference between Christianity and
Judaism is that it spread by means of conversion and subsumed the multiplicity
of Jewish law into the straightforward and simple “Love God and love your
neighbour”. It is for this reason that Christ could pick grain on the Sabbath
and in this way demonstrate to his followers that they no longer had to worry
about the rules in Leviticus. They could eat what they please, more or less,
drink what they please and didn’t have to worry about how to cook things, how
to dress or how to wash.
Islam is both a religion of law and a religion that
spreads by means of conversion. There are many rules by which Muslims must
live. Some of these are derived from the Koran [al-Qurʾān] others from the
various writings that came subsequently e.g. Hadith and Sunnah. Many of these rules are similar to the ones
that Jewish people follow such as not eating pork, others are different such as
the rules about not drinking alcohol and the rules about praying. The
difference however between Judaism and Islam is that whereas Jewish people only
wished to apply their rules to other Jews, Muslims owing to their desire to
convert others to their faith wished to apply their rules to non-Muslims. For
this reason in Muslim countries, there is a tendency to apply Islamic law not
merely to Muslims, but to everyone else because Islamic law is universal.
Are Muslim women obliged to wear a veil? This is where
things become a little more complex. Muslims differ in their interpretation not
so much of the Koran, but of the Hadith and Sunnah and the various other
traditions that have developed during the past centuries. The result is that in
some Muslim countries women don’t even feel obliged to wear a head scarf, in
others they are required to show nothing but their eyes (niqāb), sometimes not
even that (burqa).
How should a secular society respond? The crucial
point I believe we must make is to say that Islamic law does not apply here. In
all of Britain no one is forbidden from drinking alcohol, eating pork or required
to cover their face. But anyone who chooses to follow Islamic rules must be
free to do so.
But what do we do about people who feel forced by
their family or community to follow rules that they otherwise would not wish
to. Here we must make clear to everyone that it is the right of every British
citizen not to be forced to marry, not to be forced to wear a veil, or anything
else for that matter, and not to be forced to have parts of their anatomy
mutilated. Even if various traditions and various interpretations of religious
law require these things, British law requires that the citizen must not be
forced.
For this reason, women from any religious background
must be able to tell someone that they are being coerced by their family or
community to do something that they don’t want to do and then gain the
protection of the British state so as to prevent this coercion.
British Muslims must have the same rights as any other
Brits. So long as they wish to follow Islamic law and doing so is compatible
with British law they should be free to follow whichever religious rules they
please. But if they should choose to cease to believe in Islam or if they
should wish to get drunk in a pub or if indeed they should wish to run down the
street naked instead of wearing a veil then the full force of UK law should
protect them.
We should respect all religions, but that does not
mean we have to agree with them or feel unable to criticise aspects that we disagree
with. Religions are not all the same. Some core religious beliefs are incompatible.
To believe one to be true is to believe that others are false. Likewise, people
must be free to believe that all religions are false.
Just as most British people feel free to criticise
aspects of Christianity that they disagree with, so we must all feel free to
criticise aspects of Islam that we disagree with. In order to respect someone
you have to treat them the same as everyone else. Someone who is willing to
criticise the Catholic Church’s attitude to abortion, but unwilling to
criticise Muslim practices with regard to veiling obviously thinks that Muslims
are less able to debate rationally than Catholics. This strikes me as far more
racist than treating British Muslims simply as our equals.
We live in a society where we are free to mock the
Book of Mormon, the Spanish Inquisition and the crucifixion itself because we
think that Mormons and Christians will probably have a sense of humour and even
if they don’t they must tolerate satire and even mockery. We should expect no less of Muslims.
