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Hmm, what do I think about the ban of the niqaab in France.\u00a0 Tempest in a teapot, that\u2019s what it is.\u00a0 It is Sarkozy and other politicians pandering to a xenophobic base of citizens in order to score points towards reelection.\u00a0 It is a distraction from the miserable economy.\u00a0 It is a reflection of what is going on here in the U.S. with the mosque controversies and various states trying to make Islamic law illegal.\u00a0 It is ignorance on a countrywide level.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not surprised in the least.<\/div>\n
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I think the main difference between what is going on here in the U.S. and what is happening in Europe is based on tribalism.\u00a0 Tribalism?\u00a0 In the 21st century?\u00a0 Indeed.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just strip away all the nice talk about citizenship and equality and state the truth that no one seems to want to admit:\u00a0 If you are living in France, and you are not of French blood, you will never be French even if your birth certificate and passport say you are.\u00a0 If you are living in Germany, and you are of Turkish or Greek extraction, you will never be German even if you are fourth-generation.\u00a0 You are always going to be an outsider.\u00a0 You are always going to be an interloper.\u00a0 The \u201creal\u201d French and Germans, most of them, probably would be happier if you would just go on your merry way.\u00a0 You know, back to your home country.\u00a0 Back to Turkey or Algeria or Tunisia or whatever.\u00a0 You are not welcome there.\u00a0 Tolerated, yes.\u00a0 Allowed to do the menial work, wash the dishes, or drive the cabs, or gather the trash.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay if some of you succeed and integrate, as long as it\u2019s not too many.\u00a0 Enough so that the ruling caste can hold you up as a model of European equality, but not so many that their kids and grandkids are going to start being more, you know, brown.\u00a0 <\/i>There are limits, after all\u2026.<\/div>\n
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Is it different here in the U.S.?\u00a0 I think so.\u00a0 Because we pretty much wiped out most of the indigenous population (sorry guys, didn\u2019t know those blankets had smallpox), that means that at some point <\/i>almost all <\/i>of us in this country are immigrants.\u00a0 The WASPs may have gotten here ahead of the\u00a0 Arabs and Pakistanis and Chinese and all the other melanin-enhanced people, but they are not from here either.\u00a0 It\u2019s harder, therefore, for them to claim that their culture is more suited to the United States or that the Judeo-Christian ethic has a stronger foothold here than the Islamic one.\u00a0 They still do say that, mind you, but the argument is much weaker.<\/div>\n
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So, bearing all that in mind, are you really surprised that the native citizens of European countries are becoming unsettled at having all the foreigners in their midst?\u00a0 Not just the color of their skin, but their different religious beliefs and cultural habits.\u00a0 They see themselves as the norm and everything else as the exception.\u00a0 Add to that the fact that many Muslims nowadays are ignorant of their own faith and bring backwards cultural practices with them, and you can almost understand why they are hostile towards Muslims and Islamic practices.\u00a0 The ban on the niqaab is only the most visible symbol of their unease.\u00a0 I mean, imagine if you are living in Saudi Arabia and an American wanted to walk down the street in a g-string.\u00a0 It would violate your religion and your culture, and you would feel perfectly comfortable seeing a police officer asking that person to cover up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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But that\u2019s different, <\/i>you say.\u00a0 Islam is the truth and it\u2019s our faith and we have a right to practice our faith. \u00a0 Well, maybe in a Muslim country you do, but France is decidedly secular, with of course more rights given to the Christian faith because they don\u2019t like Islam.\u00a0 That is the reality.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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So, what does a niqaab-wearing Muslim woman in France do?\u00a0 As of yesterday, she either takes off the veil, stays home,\u00a0 or risks arrest and a fine.\u00a0 Or she can do what Muslims are told to do by Allah when they are not able to worship Allah openly.\u00a0 She can leave.\u00a0 She can leave France and go to a country that will allow her to wear the veil.\u00a0 Remember, when we cannot practice our deen, it becomes fard, required, for us to leave that country if we have the means to do so.\u00a0 The problem with this is, the oppression in the country she left was often greater than it is in France, so she would possibly be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.\u00a0 And not everyone has the means to leave.\u00a0 If you arrived in France as a refugee with nothing but the clothes on your back, you may be stuck where you are.\u00a0 In that case, you just have to do the best you can do, and ask Allah to make a way for you.\u00a0 In the meantime, sure, you can go out and demonstrate and try to work within the existing political structure to have the ban struck down, but don\u2019t think for one moment that the majority of French citizens will support you.\u00a0 After all dear, you\u2019re not actually French<\/i>, now are you? <\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Hmm, what do I think about the ban of the niqaab in France.\u00a0 Tempest in a teapot, that\u2019s what it is.\u00a0 It is Sarkozy and other politicians pandering to a xenophobic base of citizens in order to score points towards reelection.\u00a0 It is a distraction from the miserable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n