Niqab Controversy (From Old Blog)
Jack Straw, MP of Blackburn, aroused some controversy last week with statements he made in the Lancashire Telegraph regarding Muslim Women who sport full veils. Mr. Straw’s remarks angered members of the Muslim community in Great Britain, which is suprising because the Muslim community in England is well-known for its serenity and its adversity to easy provocation. Describing the veil as “a visible statement of separation and difference” Mr. Straw also revealed how he persuades Muslim women to remove their headdress when visiting his constituency. With controversy swirling like an unfastened veil in a wind, I took to the streets to conduct a survey of public opinion that would help me make up my own mind.
My first interview partner was a Mohammed. I ran into Mohammed at Bethnal Green Station, where he stood out with his long beard and black robe. He proved to be a mere student like myself, reminding me to fulfill the Pope’s wishes for religion and reason to coexist. Mohammed gave me some interesting insights into his Beliefs:
“The veil is compulsory! Compulsory. Especially if you’re a woman, who is beautiful.”
This struck a chord in me. This was advertising. No wonder every woman was dying to sport a Niqab — it signifies beauty, such glaring beauty that it needs to be concealed. Such beauty, that it could turn a normal, respectful man within seconds into a rapist. What woman wouldn’t want people to consider her too beautiful for the naked eye? Which husband wouldn’t want his friends to think that his wife was such a great catch? Whoever wanted women to wear veils had developed the perfect strategy for making them desireable as a fashion. But then Mohammed continued:
“Veils protect women against men.”
In other words, eyes can rape too. The truly sensitive pure woman does not want to be violated by a man’s eyes.
To their defence, rambunctious males do have some taste. So, wouldn’t disclosing the fact that the niqab was primarily for beautiful women make unbridled men all the more curious?
Next, I stumbled into Harvey. One whiff of the old irishman’s breath suggested that he wasn’t a muslim, at least not a devout one. “The unveiling of these women is just the beginning,” Harvey drooled, before delving into the nether regions of his imagination.
The clarity of Harvey’s thoughts had fallen victim to his conviviality. But Harvey proved my point — the Niqab serves two purposes that don’t exactly compliment each other. A Niqab is a way of telling a woman that she is beautiful. Yet it is also a shield, a woman’s protection from the glances and advances of the wicked man. The problem being that many a wicked man has expert taste to compliment his rapist wit; and this expertise reduces dark robes to clearly defined hurdles, and their inhabitants to mere challenges.
I ended my survey. A resourceful journalist can extract an expert opinion from anybody, even those inebriated in one way or another. I knew enough — Jack Straw is a lucky and also a very clever Bastard.
