Proposed Niqab Ban IN CANADA by "Muslim" Canadian Congress [MCC]

So hopefully all the Muslimahs out there have woken up and in horror are protesting the proposed ban by Islamic University Al Ahazar to ban the niqab click here to read. and Click on this link to read. And did the same with the proposed niqab ban in France, as they did for the hijab bans in France, Turkey, and Tunisia. Because when one nation succeeds another will try, and slowly our freedoms will be taken all away. One minute it is niqab, the next jilbab, then hijab, then the ability to pray in public or have jobs at all. Because now my nation, Canada, is. Thank you very much Sarkozy, and others (including Al Ahzar).

Muslim organization urges Ottawa to ban burkas, niqabs in public

Fred Ernst-The Associated Press

TORONTO - Middle Eastern garments designed to cover a woman's face are "medieval" and "misogynist" symbols of extremism with no basis in Islam, a Canadian Muslim lobby group [remember the Qu'ran warned about the hypocrites that would try and destroy us form within by joining our ranks? This is them] said Wednesday as it urged Ottawa to ban the burka and the niqab. 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."To cover your face is to conceal your identity," [not necessarily---somtimes it is a statement of the belief that you belong to yourself and to your belief in God alone----or it reveals some sort of stage in your life ie like a wedding veil] Farzana Hassan said in a telephone interview, describing the issue as a matter of public safety [no niqabi women rob banks----pedophiles and rapist use windowless vans to commit their crimes in, do we ban those too?], since concealing one's identity is a common practice for criminals.

Bing: What is the burqa?

Bing: What is the niqab?

The tradition of Muslim women covering their faces in public is a tradition rooted more in Middle Eastern culture than in the Islamic faith, Hassan added [claimed without evidence].There is nothing in any of the primary Islamic religious texts, including the Qur'an [that is an error], that requires women to cover their faces, she said - not even in the controversial, ultra-conservative tenets of Sharia law [actually, in one way it could interpreted as fard but the majority say recommended which means an encouraged choice of personal freedom recommended by God Himself in the Qu'ran]. Considering the fact that women are in fact forbidden from wearing burkas in the grand mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site [only during Hajj and they are still allowed to cover their faces jsut not to wear a veil for the purpose of doing so], it hardly makes sense that the practice should be permitted in Canada, she said."If a government claims to uphold equality between men and women, there is no reason for them to support a practice that marginalizes women." [I wear niqab and my husband doesn't and I don't feel marginalized you betrayer of my rights, Farhana Hassan].

The proposed ban would include the burka, an iconic head-to-toe gown with a mesh-like panel over the face that allows the wearer to see and to breathe, as well as the niqab - a veil that leaves only the eyes exposed.Hassan said the ban would not extend to the hijab, a traditional headscarf that does not cover the face.The proposed ban comes on the heels of reports that Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of Egypt's al-Azhar university and the country's highest Muslim authority, is poised to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against the garments.Media reports Monday said Tantawi described the face coverings as "a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith."Mohamed Elmasry, former president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said he agrees the tradition has its roots in cultural customs rather than religious teachings, but that the issue is irrelevant in Canada where the practice is not widespread. Elmasry disputed suggestions that the garments pose a security threat, saying only a minority of Muslim women living in Canada feel the need to conceal their features in public. He said he believes those women should have the freedom to decide whether they wish to cover their faces, and that a ban would limit freedom of expression."People feel it's part of their identity, people feel it's part of their culture," Elmasry said. "It's not for you and me to decide."

http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=22128929

As I said before, niqab is for SURE part of Islam as the Qu'ran commands the Prophet's wives to always observe covering their faces, even WHILE ON HAJJ (just that they were not to do so with an affixed veil but could so with whatever was available of the pilgrimage clothing).

'Aisha (RAA) said: "Pilgrims were passing by us while we were with the Prophet of Allah (saaws). When they came close to us we would draw our garments from the head to cover the face." [Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah. Ad-Daraqutni reports a similar Hadeeth on the authority of Umm Salamah (RAA). Thus, we see that covering the face was a priority of the Sahabiyat and it is certainly a characteristic of the women who opt to follow their righteous path. So at the VERY least this is the Sunnah of the prophet's wives, something approved of by the Prophet Mohammed sallalahu alahi wa salaam.

Whether it is fard (required at all times out of the home) for ALL women depends on your methodology for interpreting the evidences about jilbab [the Qu'ran commands women to wear a garment called jilbab when they leave their home]. There is some evidences to show that jilbab for many women of the Sahaba (early Muslims) did indeed cover the face. But this may have been because of this ayah (chapter) from the Holy Qu'ran: ...And when you ask [the Prophet Mohammed's wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts. And it is not [conceivable or lawful] for you to harm the Messenger of Allāh or to marry his wives after him, ever. Indeed, that would be in the sight of Allāh an enormity.(Al-Ahzāb 33:53)

Now I know this ayat is specific to the Prophet's wives, may Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala be pleased with them. Their sins were to be twice as heavy as our own, and they were forbidden to marry after their husband's death while we ordinary women are encouraged to if we wish to or are able to. But when the Prophet sallalahu allahi wa salaam came upon a woman who was not his wife (to propose marriage) there was ALREADY A COVER/PARTITION between them. Yes, this sahabiyat became his wife, but at the time she was not, and yet this was already in practice between at least this man, and this woman. The following hadith narrated by Umm Salamah:“When my ‘Iddah (This type of ‘iddah refers to the 4 months and 10 days of mourning that Allah has legislated for a woman after her husband passes away) ended from [the death of] Abi Salamah, Rasūlullah (Sallalllahu ‘Alayhi wa Sallam) came and spoke to me and between him and I was a Hijāb, and so he proposed to me…” Note, she said: "there WAS a hijab, not, "I was WEARING a hijab". What we often refer to now as hijab (the headscarf) is known in the Qu'ran specifically as a khimar. "Hijab" is an Islamic term that means "cover" such as a screen, partition, or a veil. THE WHOLE OF A MUSLIM WOMAN's MODESTY (her voice in public, her Islamic clothing, what she says, what she does) is her hijab, her portable covering. If this type of "hijab" were what the hadith were referring to, Umm Salamah would have said: "between us was Hijab", not "a hijab" which in the Arabic, grammatically refers to a specific kind of cover, [a veil, or a partition, or a screen] and not the kind that Um Salamah was wearing. You simply can not get that out of the grammer. Anyways, so maybe the Prophet sallalahu alahi wa salaam simply thought to speak to Umm Salamah (may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with her) from another room for propriety's sake, but stealing a comment from Revert Muslimah's post http://revertmuslimah.blogspot.com/2009/02/when-people-ask-me-about-niqab.html "another way to look at this concept would be that if in a woman's home [place of our refuge and saftety says Allah] they have [should have] a barrier or veil between her and a man why would she abandon that form of modesty when she left the home?"That is why I have always believed the niqab is mustahaab (beneficial/you get reward for wearing it) since Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala Himself has informed us in Al-Ahzāb 33:53: "That is purer for your hearts and their hearts" . If the Prophet's wives (may Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala be pleased with them) and the Sahabiyiat had less fitnah in their hearts then I do and the people who surround me, then why shouldn't I wish for an oppurtunity to have my heart be purer? Which is WHY the MAJORITY of Islamic methodology (called fiqh) says that niqab is highly recommended (a choice that God himself recommends) but that it is not obligatory---only better.

Which means the CHOICE to wear niqab IS part of our religion, and is a recommended choice from Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala. So Farhana Hassan and Tariq Fatah of the MCC (Muslim Canadian Congress) make this application to ban my rights on false grounds. Please protest. If you are a Canadian Muslims provide evidence and send it to the newpapers and your local government as well as Federal. If we have people like Farhana and Tariq standing up for our rights instead of ourselves, pretty soon we won't have any. Even if you are living abroad please write your embassy.

And yes, MCC, niqab IS a custom that predates the Qu'ran, because didn't Allah send prophets before Mohammed sallalalhu alahi wa salaam to mankind to invoke piety and righteousness and tauhid on mankind? It would have ben known to other righteous nations.

other articles I have written with evidences pertaining to niqab being a part of Islam and of strategies to defend the right to wear niqab:

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-do-i-want-to-go-and-wear-niqab-in.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/tonight-i-was-part-of-dawah.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/hijab-doesnt-stop-me-from-anything.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/are-you-afraid-have-fear-of-none-but.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/niqab-ban-in-france-my-thoughts.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/hijab-should-not-make-us-stand-out-from.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/muslim-couples-evoke-anger-on-sight.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/response-to-organicas-niqab-is-it.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/jilbab-is-religious-requirement-of.html

http://ilovehishmatheblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/underneath-veil-and-into-muslim-womans.html