But let us get back to the clothing in question. The abaya is a lose fitting garment which is worn over any dress, the intention being to cover the contours of the body completely. When men put on such a long dress, it is normally called a thobe; the word abaya being restricted to women’s clothing only. It must be stated that while very few Muslim men in France wear the thobe, there is an increasing trend amongst Muslim women wearing the abaya. The French authorities intend to ban it starting 4^th September when schools reopen. This is not the first time the French have moved against apparel which they view as religious.

In 2004, France passed a law which banned any display of religious symbolism within its schools. The ban was not just restricted to the Muslim veil but also to the Jewish kippa and the Christian cross. However, the narrative spun around it was that it was specifically designed to stop the expression of Muslim religious symbols. The narrative got credence because it is actually true that amongst those insisting on wearing such religious symbols, the majority were Muslims.

The 2004 law, though, did not name the abaya. When the concern was raised by school principals, the government gave them discretion to do as they deemed fit. However, in the absence of a clear law, many schools were reluctant to take a firm stand on the issue. This concern now seems to be fulfilled by the new law banning the abaya. Schools were becoming wary about the display of abayas since many years. In a report published in 2022, school principals had argued that abayas were the new means through which religious symbolism was entering the schools. They had also argued that this was being done by a determined minority to create space for their religion in the public sphere, something that should be an anathema to French secularism.

While the French right has welcomed this move by the government, the left is divided on the issue. This is a win-win for the present centrist government as it has signaled a shift to the right but has also made sure that the left is in a disarray. Muslim organizations have predictably opposed the move citing it as another instance of putting curbs on religious expression. Some Muslims and those on the left have argued that the abaya is not a religious but rather a cultural garment, with Muslims from specific regions donning it. However, this does not sound convincing as the vast majority of those who are insisting on wearing the abaya happen to be Muslims.

What the narrative also does not tell us is that the law will only be restricted to state schools. In other words, students are free to wear what they like in private schools. Also, it must be underlined that except in state institutions, Muslims (and other religious groups) are free to wear what they like, including the veil and abaya. The government has reiterated that these restrictions will apply only in state schools.

Why are Muslims insistent on wearing the abaya and other forms of religious signifiers? Why is it that other religious communities are not so particular about this observance? The simple answer to this is that there is marked absence of secularization in Muslim societies and cultures. And one is not talking about countries in which Muslims are in a majority. Even in countries of Europe where Muslims are in a minority and within a secular state, they tend to put a premium on sacralizing the public sphere. The more complex answer might come from answering the question who benefits from such an assertion of religiosity. The veil and the now the abaya seem to be the symbols of political Islam. Scholars who have worked on the issue point out how they became potent symbols of Islamism, first in the context of countries like Egypt and later due to migration in Europe. Behind this simple garment is a very organized attempt, not just to assert political Islam, but also to gradually dismantle the principles on which the secular state is premised.

The Muslim response is also hypocritical. Every nation has its foundational myth; it can be secular or religious but these myths provide nations with a feeling of belonging. Islamists respect the foundational myths of their countries but have no regard for them when they talk of non-Muslim countries. Just take the example of the recent attempt at perestroika which is being undertaken by the Saudi government. The country now is experimenting with music, dance, cinema and other cultural markers associated with the west. The Islamist is up in arms because he thinks that such cultural imports destroy the foundational myths, the principles on which the kingdom was founded. But when it comes to France or any other European country, this observation is suspended as if these countries had no principles to start with. If the principle of the secularism is one of the foundational myths of France, what gives Muslims the right to tinker with it? For the Islamist, Europe is a barren land with naked women and no principles. It is waiting to be conquered by Muslims, as promised by God.

Consider again, the football world cup hosted by Qatar. Some fans raised the issue of non-availability of beer and wanted Qatar to make special provision for it. But Muslims sided with the government of Qatar arguing that the country was well within its rights to formulate and implement its own rule. But the same Muslims are now having a problem when France is wanting its Muslim citizens to abide by the rules it is making.

The Muslim teenagers who are wearing the abaya in France as a mark of resistance to the state are not to be blamed. After all, teens anywhere in the world are non-conformists. But behind this teenage irrational rage, there is also the scepter of Islamism with very different ideas of how society should be organized. In the past and in the present, Muslims themselves have been the biggest victims of societal re-organization by the Islamists. More then anyone else, they should be vigilant against the march of Islamism.

Arshad Alam is an independent researcher.   

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The Ancillary Medical Training (AMT) has asked its female students to sign an affidavit which states not to wear ‘Abaya or face-covering during clinical posting’.

“I will maintain the dress code as per the policy of the institution. I will maintain the code of ethics as per the policy of the institution, and I will not wear Abaya or cover my face during clinical postings,” reads the affidavit that the students require signing.

The students have threatened to take legal action against the institute if the notification seeking signing of the affidavit isn’t rolled back.

The institute’s principal Dr. Razia Mahmood while talking to a local newspaper has defended her decision and termed Abaya as a source of infection during work

“That is why there is an emphasis on proper dress code. The students can put on their Abaya or veil after the working hours,” she was quoted as saying by Valley-based newspaper Greater Kashmir.

According to the chairman of International Forum for Justice, Ahsan Untoo the institution can’t force students to sign the affidavit against their will.

“Every person has right to wear what they want to wear. Instead of asking students not to wear Abaya or face cover, the institute should provide them medical gowns and masks,” Ahsan told TwoCircles.net.

A Srinagar-based rights activist MM Shuja has threatened to approach court if the notification isn’t taken back.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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Representation Image

According to the Telegraph, a Sunni Muslim organisation that follows the stricter Salafi branch of Islam has surprised many by refusing a Muslim teenager’s demand to wear the abaya on all days bypassing the more secular dress code at a college it runs. The college management has stood by its secular dress code.

The Jamia Nadwiya Teacher Training Institute in Edavanna, run by the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen in Muslim-majority Malappuram district, has refused to relax its rules while stressing that it has students from other communities as well. This has sent out a strong message.

According to the report, the institute’s dress code makes it mandatory for its students – who are all women – to wear saris on three particular days of the week while allowing them a wider choice of clothing on the other days. An abaya is a black outer garment that covers everything but the face, feet and hands.

But one candudate, Husband, 18 and married, was not hapoy. Husna C, 18, who had obtained a seat in the DEd (Diploma in Education) course, made several attempts to get the management to relax the dress code before eventually dropping out. It was her husband P. Harshad Mohammed who spoke to  The Telegraph on her behalf saying that Husna has, aggrieved by this,  enrolled in a BA Economics course at another college.

Doing all the talking for his wife, Harshad said he was not against saris. “But like most Muslims, we too feel the abayais more comfortable and safer than the sari,” he said.

“When she realised that this college won’t allow her to wear the abaya on all days, my wife joined another college.”# He added: “It’s very unfortunate that a college run by a Muslim trust denied our request although some non-Muslim colleges allow students to wear the abaya, which conforms to our religious practices, on all days.”

Howeer, an official at the teacher training institute, who didn’t want to be identified, said the other Muslim students had been complying with the dress code, and that the college couldn’t have made an exception for one student.

“As we have Hindus and Christians among our students too, the management has for a long time been enforcing the sari as the uniform for Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” the official, a practising Muslim, said.

“We even have a uniform sari that all the students buy and wear. We had clearly told her (Husna’s) husband that rules are rules and if she wanted to wear the abaya, she could join any other college where it is allowed on all days.”

The Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen, founded in 1950, runs a cluster of institutions at its about 30-acre campus in Malappuram, including a nursing college, arts and science college, higher secondary school for girls, residential secondary school and a school of Islamic studies.
 

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A model who posted a video on Snapchat which showed her walking through a Saudi village in short skirts and a skimpy T-shirt was arrested by the police on Monday for “disrespecting and violating the teachings of Islam”.

According to news reports, the Saudi authorities issued an order for the model named only ‘Khuldoon’ after the video went viral on social media.

Saudi TV reported that the woman was arrested for dressing “indecently”.

In ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, women are expected to cover themselves from head to toe in loose fitting ‘abayas’.

The video shows the Saudi model walking around an empty historic fort in Ushaiager, a village north of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

AP reports that some Saudis did speak up for the detained woman. Saudi writer Waheed al-Ghamdi wrote on Twitter that though the model had violated the law of the land, her actions did not warrant such an outcry because she had harmed no one.

Others defending her posted images from US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia with his family to suggest the Saudi model was no more “indecently” dressed. One Twitter user, whose post went viral superimposed an image of Trump’s daughter Ivanka on the Saudi woman’s body with to say, “Enough already, the situation has been solved”.
Watch the full video.
 

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