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ALGIERS - The proposed ban project on Islamic full headscarves in France is even welcome in the Maghreb, despite strong reservations, particularly in Algeria where the project is sometimes interpreted as "an act against Islam."
Marginal phenomenon in Algeria where it is not part of the traditions, wearing the burqa is also rare in Tunisia, where few women wearing the full veil are often tourists. In Morocco, it is limited to certain neighborhoods of large cities and concerns "especially those impressed by what is broadcast on Arab-Muslim satellite television channels ", told AFP in an official theologian under cover of anonymity.
For Yasmina Chouaki, Algerian feminist member of the association « Tharawa Fadhma Nsoumer », the burqa is "the total negation" of women.
"But why the French government wants to ban it now, why did not he ban it before," she said.
Latifa Jbabdi, member of the Moroccan party Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP coalition) also supports the ban on wearing the full veil "in both France and Morocco," "because it is humiliating for women.
"In my view, the burqa is not a religious obligation," says on his side, the Moroccan Minister for Social Development, Family and Solidarity, Nouzha Skalli. She welcomes the debate that "will undoubtedly clarify and understand the mechanisms of enforcement against individual choice," she said.
Mohamed Benhazama, president of the Regional Council of Ulema (theologians) Oujda (eastern Morocco) said that "France has the sovereign right to manage the cultural diversity that characterizes more and more throughout Europe. "But, he wonders, do we ask the French who visit Muslim countries to dress a certain way?".
Political analyst Mohamed Darif said that wearing the burqa, "behavior of minority" in Morocco, "causes a conflict within the Islamist movements" of which he is a specialist. "Only the Salafists are favorable," he said. "If the French authorities consider it a political sign, as is the case, they have the sovereign right to manage their political space," he said.
In Tunisia, Iqbal Al-Gharbi, a professor of theology at the Islamic University "Ezzeintouna", is also in favor of the ban on behalf "of public safety and living together. "In the debate on the burqa, we must accompany the Muslims to a peaceful and enlightened Islam," she said.
For her part, Maya Jribi, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (opposition) believes that the debate has played an "excessive dimension while the phenomenon of the burqa remains marginal.
The therapist Raoudha Talbi said elsewhere that "the veil has nothing to do with Islam, those who wear it are not more Muslim," she said.
But for the journalist Bouaza Benbouaza, the "ulterior motives could be hiding behind the argument of republican values invoked " for this ban.
The strongest condemnation came from Algeria, where the Secretary General of the Mouvement Islah (Reform, Islamist) Djamel Benabdeslam believes that "the passage of this bill is part of the campaign against Islam in Europe". If the burqa is not required "in Islam, this project aims to" restrict the freedoms of Algerians living in France "and this is "unacceptable," he told AFP.
The President of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (independent), Mr. Mustapha Bouchachi too, says this project is "an invasion of privacy." "There is a regression in the field of human rights in France," he laments, warning: "the prohibition of the burqa is interpreted by Muslims as an act against Islam."
Ennaharonline/ M. O.
May 25, 2010, Ennahar Online
