Ban the Burka
Ban the Burka
By Todd Strandberg
After a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, a number of political leaders have proposed the banning of any type of full-face covering worn by some Muslim women.
The French government has been one of the first European countries to pursue a burka ban. Since 2011, full-face coverings have been prohibited in public places there, which means that Muslim women who wear burkas can face a fine of $167—or be required to take a citizenship course. Any man who forces a woman to wear a burka can be hit with a heftier fine of $16,700.
A burka ban has just been enacted in Switzerland with fines of as high as $12,000. Two people have already been fined for defying it. One of them is Nora Illi, a member of the Islamic Central Council Switzerland. She purposefully defied the ban and was fined by police officers.
The French island of Corsica has banned burkas following a violent clash between Muslims and locals. One man was stabbed for taking a picture of women covered up by a burka.
The Koran does not list any specific guidance on female clothing. All Muslims—whether male or female, are told to dress modestly and refrain from revealing “any parts of their bodies, except that which is necessary.” That means that the burka, hijab or veil could easily be worn by men.
The way liberals defend women who wear burkas, one would think it was mandated by the Koran. Since the Left encourages Western women to wear as little clothing as possible; it is a strange contradiction for them to defend a religion that requires women to have a bag over her entire body.
A key reason why I wrote this article is because of the love affair the liberal media had with Ibtihaj Muhammad, a fencer who became the first U.S. athlete to compete at the Olympics while wearing a Hijab.
Reports slobbered endless praise over this woman simply because she is a Muslim. Even though followers of Islam only represent less than one percent of the U.S. population, the press called for Muhammad to carry the American flag on opening day.
Muhammad said she was at the Olympics to combat hate—meaning the hatred against Muslims. “This has been a beautiful experience,” Muhammad told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “This is the America that I know and I love. The America that is inclusive, that is accepting and encompasses people from all walks of life.”
The wearing of an Islamic head covering has little do with freedom. Anyone with any common sense should know it represents a culture of oppression. Most Muslim women wear such attire because they have no choice. If they dare to defy the dress code, they risk being beaten or arrested.
This past weekend, I encountered an ad on a news site featuring a girl portrayed as a rapper wearing Islamic garb. It was an ad promoting a YouTube music service. I simply could not get past the propaganda. Because there have been dozens of Islamic terrorist attacks, this brand of religion should naturally be portrayed in a negative light. Yet for some strange reason, a Western advertiser is trying to convince me and you that the Islamic people are hip.
Sometimes this not-so-subtle attempt to glorify Muslims can go too far. Britian’s Channel 4 Network used a reporter dressed in a hijab for the coverage on the Muslim terror in Nice. The channel assigned the Islamic reporter to this story to, once-again, combat anti-Islamic bigotry. What they were really doing is poking the eyes of viewers who see the Nice attack as another example of Islam’s violent nature.
The image that best defines the burka is the video of the 300 young girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram. None of those girls were smiling because they knew they were trapped in the reality of how Islam treats women. In their case, a burka was the uniform of a sex slave.
A good argument against the wearing of a burka comes from the leader of a Muslim country, Kyrgyzstan. President Almazbek Atambayev made a practical observation by saying, “Women in miniskirts don’t become suicide bombers.” Addressing criticism of his policy, President Atambayev said, “When we erected banners some smart people appeared and started pointing at miniskirts. Our women have been wearing miniskirts since 1950s, and they never thought about wearing an explosive belt.”
The banning of the burka is just a single baby step. If Europeans want to maintain their freedom, they will need to do far more to fend off the enemy. Islam is a religion that aggressively seeks to dominate the world. Even when they are a minority, they expect the majority to bow to their religious rules and guidelines. If the people of Europe can’t resolve a small matter about dress, then the fight is lost. Islam will devour the continent and all women there will lose many of their basic civil rights.
–Todd