A Modest Proposal

Chalk it up to the influence of his fashion model wife, perhaps, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems determined to put his stamp on Muslim clothing styles.

Sarkozy apparently is responding to an unease among the French about the impact of a growing Muslim population on what had once been a homogeneous Gallic culture.

As an imam, I have to agree with one thing Sarkozy said. Burkas are not a religious sign. The head-to-toe robes that cover the face are a cultural custom in some predominately Muslim societies. If Islam required them, they would be worn by the faithful from Morocco to Indonesia.

In fact, women on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina are not allowed to cover their faces.

Islam requires modesty in female dress. Around the world, one sees that requirement fulfilled by a variety of styles, most often of the hijab, which covers everything but face and hands.

Is the burka a symbol of repression? If a government tells a woman what she must wear, that could be considered repression. And if a government tells a woman what she cannot wear, that could be repression, too.

If the French government tells a woman that she cannot wear a burka or limit where she can wear the hijab, then it is infringing on her cultural right to wear what she wants.

Instead, I have a different proposal for Sarkozy. Everywhere Muslims go, they eventually adapt their clothing style to the cultural mores of their adopted countries. In India, Muslim women wear saris. In Malaysia, they wear sarongs. In France, it will be no different.

So the French, with their enormous impact on haute couture have a terrific opportunity here.

Sarkozy should announce a competition among the top French fashion designers - Hermes, Yves St. Laurent, Chanel, Christian La Croix, Givenchy, Christian Dior. The challenge would be to remake Muslim fashion with French haute couture.

Imagine what would happen if a top fashion model walked down the runway in a Hermes-designed burka, or if Muslim women could vie for the latest French designs of their hijab? An entire line of French clothing could be designed to meet the Islamic need for modesty.

Instead of tension between the French government and the Muslim world, this would create a new interfaith "dialogue."

French-designed burkas and hijab could sweep through the Muslim world with its market of more than 700-million women. France could revitalize an entire industry, opening clothing manufacturers around the country.

Perhaps we have an idea here that could help bring France out of the economic crisis, promote reconciliation between Muslims and the West, and make the world safe for Givenchy.

Abdul Rauf is chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, an independent, non-partisan and multi-national project that seeks to use religion to improve Muslim-West relations. (www.cordobainitiative.org). He is the author of "What's Right with Islam is What's Right with America."

Comments

[swatisonee]

Hi,
The definition of "modesty in female dress " is entirely upto the maulvis and mullahs to define. Take the example of the Bohra community in mumbai - one of the reformist communities across all religions, in India.
Women of the community wore sarees - each with the unique bohra touch - gorgeous nettings and embroideries . But after 1992 when the babri demolition took place, the syedna started asking the community women to opt for the ridaah for formal wear and salwar kameezs other wise in place of the saree.
The syedna's female guards ( u need to see them to believe them) would take every social opportunity of marriages, functions, get togethers to express the syedna's "deepest wish" that the bohra women would stop wearing the 'hindu' sarees . the admonitions were subtle but with enough leverage to get thru to the women. After all, a bohra can be buried in their community cemetery only when the syedna gives his permission . There can be no worse fate for a bohra than for his/her family to be disallowed burial.

and so today go to any bohra wedding and you wont find saree clad woman . But when you see their closets - esp of woman who are now past 50, you will find sarees upon sarees. some have been converted to "ridaahs" but the others still remain.

It is this kind of sanction that remains hidden from public view that women internalise and is one reason why many

[swatisonee]

It is this kind of sanction that remains hidden from public view that women internalise and is one reason why many women say covering themselves is a personal choice.

.sorry that sentence got deleted while posting

[Breakwind]

I live and work in Libya. The women here wear brightly colored hijabs that often match the blouse they wear over the long-sleeved undershirt. The long, flowing skirts they wear are extremely attractive. The women in Morocco and Tunisia dress quite similarly. Some of the older women wear old-fashioned costume or the niqab, but thankfully I have *never* seen a burka worn in this part of the world (yet).

All in all, muslim women tend to look beautiful in their day-to-day attire. Just dump the burqa. It looks sinister.

[AstridD]

This idea doesn't make much sense. The whole idea behind the burqa/niqab is to render a women faceless and invisible, lest a strand of hair or the sight of an ultra-hot wrist inspire rabid lust in the average male or lesbian passerby.

[Stefano]

A pretty good idea I must say. I'm not sure how I feel about the burqa. remember, most of us first saw them (or found out what they were) with the Taliban and we also knew how they repressed women. I must admit, my heart says this "modesty" thing is an out dated, sexist left over from the birth of the religion. Chrsitianity and Judaism have plenty of them too. But what does it say about men if we cannot control ourselves enough to see a woman's face. But my conflict is that I believe in personal freedom, but something about this modesty thing doesn't sit well with me. It kind of seems like a justification for treating women as something lesser than equal (to put it nicely)