Burqa and Hijab: A US soldier hands out medicine to Afghan children in Afghanistan's Khowst Province on June 21, 2007 while burqa-clad Afghanistan women look on. A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of cloaking the entire body. In contrast a hijab means "head cover." Photo Courtesy of US Army

A few thinkers in the world feel that there is ‘Clash of Civilizations’ between the West and the Muslim world. This conception got bolstered after the aggressive actions by the Bush administration post 9/11. But President Obama is continuously making attempts so that the mouths of the supporters of this misconception can be shut.

Despite this, time to time such a row is caused by some western countries, which compels the Muslim world to rethink if this is really a part of the ‘Clash of Civilisations.

For instance, recently the French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared in a speech in the Palace of Versailles that the veil (Islamic burqa) will not be welcome in the territory of the French republic. To support his declaration, he said “the burqa is not a sign of religion; it is a sign of subservience.” He called it a violation of women’s “dignity and freedom.” To legitimize this declaration, Sarkozy has constituted a Burqa committee. This 32-member committee would submit its report to the French government within six months which would mention the ways to stop the Muslim women from wearing veil.

The opposition of burqa or veil is not new. Even many Muslim rulers in the history strongly opposed it. But when the same opposition comes from the West or a Christian country, the Islamic world starts looking it another way. Three years ago, the former British Foreign Minister Jack Straw raised objection to the burqa. Later, the Netherlands government too objected it and made law to ban the burqa. Now, Sarkozy, by giving air to the issue, has created furore in the Islamic world.

In fact the Islamic world has to face more internal objections than the external opposition regarding the burqa. The holy Qur’an says “tell your wives, daughters and women that they cover themselves with the veil so that they can’t be recognized & thus saved from oppression”. A technical thing to be noted here is that the holy Qur’an was conceived in Saudi Arabia, so a certain veil is in practice in the Arabian Peninsula. The speciality of this Arabian veil is that in this the Muslim woman is covered from top to bottom in a circular cover.

There is a small net near her eyes through which she can look outside. This design of burqa became controversial since its conception. Though some Arab countries adopted this design of veil but the women in Iran, Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Egypt etc. adopted the design according to their facility. It can be said that the whole Muslim world has not adopted that burqa as, according the clerics, is issued by the God.

Veil controversy is not limited to its design. In today’s world if we notice then burqa has remained ‘necessary’ just for the poor and lower middle class Muslims. No godman had dared to ask Benazir Bhutto that why & how she is the Prime Minister of an Islamic Republic despite disdaining the burqa decree of Islam. No Islamic cleric dared to issue fatwa against her or rusticate her from Islam for this ‘contempt’. Same is the case with the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh- Begum Khaleda Zia & Sheikh Hasina Wajid. Nobody was there to ask General Parvez Musharraf & Nawaz Sharif that why they roam around the world with their wives unveiled rather than in the Arabian burqa. Similar is the case of the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi & ace tennis player Sania Mirza.

The question here is that which women, in today’s progressive world, present ideal among the young Muslim women? The above women who don’t wear burqa or those veiled women who end their identity by veiling themselves for the whole life? This is the issue of worldwide debate that the main reason behind the backwardness of the Muslim world is illiteracy. The roots of this illiteracy lie in the illiteracy in the mother of the child. If the Muslim society has to move forward with the time and do progress, then the education of the Muslim women is essential. Now it is for the Muslim clerics & the Islamic ‘policymakers’ to decide either they feel that the prosperity of the Muslim world lies in the veiling of women or they feel to do away with these shackles so as to move forward.

This debate is definitely on within the Islamic world. And this can be surely said that most of the liberal & progressive Muslims see these shackles as orthodox or as a need for that very period when it was applied. Today’s progressive Muslim society doesn’t feel any need of this burqa tradition. A modern Muslim, either of any country, wants to make his/her children educated, aware and self dependent. For this, it is necessary that first he free himself & his family from the radical bonds.

All internal oppositions regarding the burqa notwithstanding, the statement of Sarkozy can’t be rendered legitimate because his anti-burqa order seems to be directly interfering in the Islamic affairs. If any Muslim woman wants to wear a burqa of her own free will, then even her parents don’t have right to stop her, forget Sarkozy. Only modern education can free a man or a woman from radical thinking.