President of FRANCE Nicolas Sarkozy says"Burqas 'Not Welcome' In France" Post your Reply to Mr.Sarkozy

President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out Monday at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of the "debasement" of women and that it won't be welcome in France.

The French leader expressed support for a recent call by dozens of legislators to create a parliamentary commission to study a small but growing trend of wearing the full-body garment in France.

In the first presidential address in 136 years to a joint session of France's two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved - braving critics who fear the issue is a marginal one and could stigmatize Muslims in France.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause in a speech at the Chateau of Versailles southwest of Paris.

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement - I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

In France, the terms "burqa" and "niqab" often are used interchangeably. The former refers to a full-body covering worn largely in Afghanistan with only a mesh screen over the eyes, whereas the latter is a full-body veil, often in black, with slits for the eyes.

Later Monday, Sarkozy was expected to host a state dinner with Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani of Qatar. Many women in the Persian Gulf state wear Islamic head coverings in public - whether while shopping or driving cars.

France enacted a law in 2004 banning the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, sparking fierce debate at home and abroad. France has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, an estimated 5 million people.

A government spokesman said Friday that it would seek to set up a parliamentary commission that could propose legislation aimed at barring Muslim women from wearing the head-to-toe gowns outside the home.

The issue is highly divisive even within the government. France's junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, said she was open to a ban if it is aimed at protecting women forced to wear the burqa.

But Immigration Minister Eric Besson said a ban would only "create tensions."

A leading French Muslim group warned against studying the burqa.

NOTE:- Please maintain decency throughout the post.

Tags: france, hijab, iran, islam, sarkozy, saudi

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Amreen on June 23, 2009 at 2:59pm: Mr. Sarkozy, your face looks like a pig's face and a mouse's face combined together...
Mr. Sarkozy sold his wife's fully nude photo for some thousand pounds in an auction some months back....
You want the Muslim women to be like your wife in conduct?

Moving on, interestingly and ofcourse very deliberately, whenever a piece of news about France and Headscarfs or France and Muslims is covered, either on News Channels or the Newspaper, ALWAYS a woman in the Talibani or Afgahni Burqa is flashed, zoomed and focussed upon. Why is that? Even less than a quarter of Muslim women in France wear the Talibani Burqa...So why only put up those photos!?? The majority of the women wear the Abaya with the face showing and other types of Hijab...
Its because they want to establish a link between Muslim Women and the Talibani Burqa..Hence, a link is formed automatically between Islam and Taliban!

Neat huh...

Why doesn't he go and ask those women who wear the burqa (willingly) if they feel like "prisoners behind screens" !
And here I thought selling your wife's nude photo was "debasing"..... Hmmmm....

OOOPS! I forgot the French President doesn't speak or understand English!!! hehehehahaha... Don't worry I'll be kind enough to translate... But sorry, I don't have time for Mr. Sarkozy :) I'd rather watch paint dry...!!
Besides, I slightly doubt he'd be reading this! ;)

Wasalam wa rehmatullah,
Amreen; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Qaiser Hussain Turi on June 23, 2009 at 5:58pm: see the double standards of human rights champions...... this is the so called FREEDOM..... when it comes to the freedom of speech...they are allowed to do blasphemy of our Beloved Prophet and v r not allowed even to speak against holocaust...

and freedom of living....their women can walk naked but muslim women cannot put hijab........

Shame on your double standardzzzzzzz; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jane mohammad doe on June 27, 2009 at 3:05pm: I tried to question whether the Prophet Mohammad existed in Saudi Arabia and they threatened to arrest me... I questioned whether the holocaust happened in Saudi Arabia and they thought that was just fine. Typical Islamic hypocrasy. Since it is fine to question if the Jewish Holocaust happened in the Muslim world I should be allowed to question whether the Prophet Mohammad existed, the crusades, and other claims of victimization by Muslims. Nowhere in the Muslim world are you allowed to QUESTION anything that causes displeasure to Muslims or dispute YOUR history which is filed with exagerations, bias, and censorship. Look at what is going on in Iran now- people being arrested for questioning whether this was an honest election! So it is okay for Ahmadinejad to say the holocaust never happened, but then he arrests anyone who questions whether this election was fair. You people make me laugh!!!!!!! Why no free speech when your government doesn't like it! No free speech when your relgious leaders don't like it. Islamic freedom=insulting Jews is great. Insulting Muslims are you are executed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxana - Want freedom on June 23, 2009 at 6:20pm: He don't want to make France a Talibani state or replica of Islamic Iran. Hope French citizens will restore their freedom by electing president like Sarkozy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ALI on June 23, 2009 at 7:13pm: Salam sister roxana,

Replying you with my own words wont suffice you,so i will reply your dear one Mr.Sarkozy by the words of non-muslim a Hindu journalist named as nandita sengupta.
To understand ISLAM you need to be a human and respect humanity.

Burqa is integral to Muslim identity

I don’t know whether Nicolas Sarkozy — super-model Carla Bruni's arm candy and also France's president — knows how much he insulted the burqa. I only hope he knows by now he's wrong on both counts.

What prompted the statement is important. French secularism envisages a strict separation between religion and state. So France will allow any religious identity to flourish on the streets. Fair enough. To that end, the French stopped Sikh students from wearing turbans. So lawmakers are, understandably, wanting to get rid of the burqa as well. In India, we understand secularism to mean all religions are equal and everyone pretty much gets to do their own thing, especially in terms of sporting clothes. That’s my first doubt cleared because for me secularism means more the merrier, not ensuring assembly-line photocopies.

First part of Sarkozy's statement. The burqa is not a symbol of religion. The burqa, in fact, is integral to the Muslim identity as laypersons know it. But do the scriptures, the Koran, in particular say that women must wear burqa? I spoke to a couple of friends and Sarkozy's so wrong. The Prophet certainly advised Muslim women to protect their dignity. That a woman's dignity lies in her own hands and it is best that she have a chador when stepping out of the house.

So Sarkozy's wrong. It is a religious identity. But the bigger point is if it were not religious as the French Prez says, how does it interfere with French secular values? Will France not allow non-religious identity even?

Conditioning or choice, many Muslim women bond with their burqa. It's as much a style statement as a proud marker of identity. It gives them ‘security’, they say in a world that has become overtly sexualised. It's their choice to wear their identity on rather long sleeves, but that's none of my business.

Second part. The burqa is subservient. Being inside a burqa can be hot as hell, but I don't see even the so-called empowered modern Muslim woman not having some sort of bonding with burqas. If earlier generations of educated Muslims rejected such markers of identity, nowadays I see more and more opting to wear it. In a recent meeting in Jamia Millia university, only one of the 20-odd girls wore a burqa, but every young woman had her head covered, even those in jeans and kurtis. None of them fiddled with their scarves, or dupattas, they were comfortable. It was a natural feminine way to be in a rude city.

For Muslim women, it is not a symbol of subservience. The rest of the world bristles at any religious diktat. But I find Muslim women themselves quite okay with a sort of head-cover. And those who don’t bother with it are not labelled ‘parkati’ either, are they? At least in India, women in the average Indian home face no force in adopting a burqa. But the world would like to apply force, in the form of a ban, to wrench women away from the burqa. If we apply force, so will the mullahs. As has been pointed out, the burqa is older than the Taliban.

Chador is as much a part of a woman’s Muslim identity as the beard for men is and very important for the average Muslim. Sarkozy has to only visit any Muslim social networking and matrimonial site to realise that.

That said, Sarkozy is not alone in profiling the burqa. The West does somehow see the burqa as oppressive. The burqa has been targeted even at an Obama campaign rally in Detroit last year where two burqa-wearing women weren't allowed to sit behind Obama's podium. Of course, apologies and all followed, but not before the women were denied their right to seats.

As for Sarkozy, before he opens his mouth again on the topic, he should get his facts cleared. Maybe get Carla to vacuum the cobwebs out from between his ears. If, as it is claimed, he is subservient to Bruninomics, he should know that her politics will probably be fine with a burqa.

Waiting to see how Bruni fixes the damage done.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Amreen on June 23, 2009 at 7:22pm: Roxana you suffer from a disorder in which you use words without knowing their meanings!!
Now we know who you must be and what your motives are...

Hence, I would request my brothers and Sisters to IGNORE her posts, remarks and her altogether!! and not WASTE our PRECIOUS TIME on her as she does not deserve it!!

You are one of those who makes a comment purposely, then runs away to "watch the fun" and see how so many ppl react to it an a particular way...

:)
Wasalam...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Qaiser Hussain Turi on June 23, 2009 at 7:37pm: Now she iz xposed and all those who r protesting against election results....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Qaiser Hussain Turi on June 23, 2009 at 10:28pm: You look at me and call me oppressed,
Simply because of the way I'm dressed,

You know me not for what's inside,
You judge the clothing I wear with pride,

My body's not for your eyes to hold,
You must speak to my mind, not my feminine mold,

I'm an individual, I'm no mans slave,
It's Allahs pleasure that I only crave,

I have a voice so I will be heard,
For in my heart I carry His word,

" O ye women, wrap close your cloak,
So you won't be bothered by ignorant folk",

Man doesn't tell me to dress this way,
It's a Law from God that I obey,

Oppressed is something I'm truly NOT,
For liberation is what I've got,

It was given to me many years ago,
With the right to prosper, the right to grow,

I can climb mountains or cross the seas,
Expand my mind in all degrees,

For God Himself gave us LIB-ER-TY,
When He sent Islam,

To You and Me; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dilbar hasan on June 24, 2009 at 9:26pm: Janab Qaiser Husain sb.Assalam Alaikum Warahmatullah
You are great. ALLAH (s.w.t.) BLESS YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND ALL YOUR MOMIN FRIENDS. Aap sab Imam -e- Zamana (a.s.) ke Zamanat me rahen (Ameen).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dilbar hasan on June 24, 2009 at 9:04pm: HEY SARKOZYYYYYYYYYYYY SHAME SHAME -------SHAME SHAME.
HEY OLD MAN; WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN THIS AGE? GRAVE IS WAITING FOR YOU. YOU DO NOT RESPECT YOUR WIFE! SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME.................................
YOU GO TO HELL. AND GOD WILL MAKE SPECIAL HELL FOR YOU. AND YOU WILL BE AT THE BOTTOM OF HELL INSHA ALLAH TAA'LA.
NEVER TALK ABOUT MUSLIM CULTURE. YOU DO NOT KNOW ANY THING. HOW YOU ARE A PRESIDENT OF A BEAUTIFUL AND REPUTED COUNTRY? REALLY...........; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jane mohammad doe on June 28, 2009 at 4:40am: "Mr. Sarkozy, your face looks like a pig's face and a mouse's face combined together..."

Charming, and keeping within the rules of decency and civility! Perhaps you can post a photo of your face? I suspect it is significantly less pleassant than Mr Sarkozy's.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Amreen on June 29, 2009 at 8:51pm: Awwww...you actually felt so bad that I said such a thing about Sarkozy's face... Let me apologize ! Had I known it would hurt your sentiments so profoundly, I would have heartily restrained from committing the irreproachable!!

But let me be clear. I think you very unabashedly misperceived my presence here. I’m not here to take sadistic pleasure in attacking you personally nor am I thrilled when I’m being meted out with the same treatment and neither am I here to divulge it you how significantly less or more pleasant my face would look to you... Got it?

P.S- I appreciate replies which don't stink of bigotry...
PEACE!; ▶ Reply to This