Quadriga

Banning Burquas - A Veiled Threat to Society?

An item of clothing is causing huge controversy in Europe. France's lower house of parliament has voted to ban full-face veils, including the Burqa. Spain could be next. In Britain, a Conservative party lawmaker has proposed a similar bill. Some opponents of the full-face veil see the garment as a hindrance to integration. Supporters of the ban say full-face coverings are incompatible with western values. Critics say a ban would breach European human rights legislation.

French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told lawmakers that covering the face was a threat to the democratic values of the French republic. The ban is supported by a rare alliance of feminists and conservatives. They say to tolerate the veil is to capitulate to fundamentalist Islam. Polls in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Britain indicate widespread support for a ban, though most Americans oppose it.

Critics say a ban would be a purely symbolic move which would only serve to further isolate Muslims. They say the move is an example of growing Islamophobia in Europe, stressing that there are far more urgent problems to be tackled.

The full-face veil is not only controversial in Europe. Many Muslim countries also regard it as undesirable. In Turkey, headscarves are banned in schools, universities and government offices. In Tunisia, female civil servants are prohibited from wearing the veil. Last year, Egypt's most senior Islamic scholar banned the wearing of face veils by students and teachers at Cairo University. Syria's education minister has introduced a similar law affecting all state and private universities in the country.

Opponents of the veil cite a variety of reasons for their beliefs. But what can a ban really achieve?

What do you think: Banning Burquas - A Veiled Threat to Society?

Write to us at: Quadriga@dw-world.de

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Our guests:

Anthony Paterson - He began his career as a journalist in London and has worked as a foreign correspondent from, Paris, Bonn, Warsaw, Vienna and Berlin. He covered the rise of the Solidarity trade union in Poland for the American news agency UPI and the fall of the Berlin Wall for the BBC. He is now Berlin correspondent for the London daily newspaper, The Independent and for the Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph.

Renée Abul-Ella – A Palestinian, she came to Germany after studying journalism in Cairo. Here she worked as a correspondent for the Palestinian WAFA news agency. Her focus today is immigration and integration. She is active in several projects in those fields.

Ralph Ghadban – the German Islamic scholar and author was born in Lebanon. In 1972, after completing his studies in philosophy he moved to Berlin, where he then read Islamic studies and political science. He is presently working as an assistant professor at Berlin’s Protestant Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences). He has published various articles on the subject of Islam and the Islamization of Europe