Canada has now caught on to this virus of wiping away the ’freedom of religion’ card in the name of “we want to liberate you”.  We don’t know you, we don’t want to know you, in fact, we wish you were wiped off of the face of the earth, but we want to ‘liberate’ you. 

“The Muslim Canadian Congress called on the federal government to prohibit the two garments in order to prevent women from covering their faces in public – a practice the group said has no place in a society that supports gender equality.”  (Excerpt, The Canadian Press, Toronto)

Who the heck is The Muslim Canadian Congress?  The Canadian Muslim community certainly hasn’t heard of them.  And when I checked out their website, it was no surprise to me that they were “progressive Muslims” a.k.a. Muslims who have no scholarly knowledge about Islam who want to erradicate the rulings of Allah in order to “liberalize” Muslims. 

What makes me upset about this whole ‘burqa’ issue is that’s it’s just all media propoganda.  I wish we would all just cut through the junk and say what’s really going on.  If a government is going to make a law that prohibits something, don’t they need substatial evidence? Hmm, let’s see.

• How many authentic Islamic scholars did they interview to find out if the niqab is actually a religious tenant or cultural practice?
• How many authentic niqabis did they interview to find out if they were forced to wear the niqab or do it because they believe it’s a religious practice?
• How many cases of ‘oppression due to forced niqab’ do they have recorded in the courts?

Hmm, let’s see….. none, none and …… (surprise) none.

And that’s not all.  The media is doing an excellent job of taking false statements and spreading them.   Do you really want to know what the majority of the global Muslim community thinks about this issue?  Here it goes:

First of all, who the heck wears a burqa?!  No one, except for some women in Afghanistan.  That garment is part of their culture, not ours.  Religiously, the term is niqab, meaning face veil.  It is part of the religion of Islam.  Yes, I will say it again.  It is part of the religion of Islam.  It is not a cultural practice.  How do I know this?  The wives of Prophet Muhammad all wore it.  All authentic Islamic scholars will give you substantial evidence that it is a religious practice.  Is it compulsory for every women to wear it?  The majority of the scholars will say (based on proof that is outside of the scope of this article) that it is permissible to wear it but not compulsory.

What will average Muslims tell you about the niqab?  They will say that the hijab is compulsory but the niqab is not and they do not prefer the niqab for themselves.  However, they wholeheartedly understand the proofs that it is permissible in Islam to wear and those who choose to wear it have the “freedom of religion” to do so. 

It is very, very rare to find niqabis who are forced to wear it.  All the niqabis I’ve met wear it because they want to and because they believe it’s a religious practice and they do it out of their own free will.  All of them feel liberated by doing it.   These people are your average citizens who are peaceful and caring neighbours, who care about the betterment of their children, their society and their country.   They just happen to wear an extra piece of  1′x1′ of fabric around their face.

So, again, Canadian government, French government, why in the world are you oppressing our sisters?

Note:  Update

CAIR-CAN publishes an official press release on the issue of the Canadian ban of the niqab:

Statement by Canadian Islamic Scholars and Mainstream Muslim Organizations Reaffirms Freedom of Religious Expression
http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=3056_0_2_0_C