Unveiling the Truth: German Portrait of Hijab
Mujahid
By Mohammad Shawky
15/02/2004
http://www.islamonline.net/English/ArtCulture/2004/02/article02.shtml
The yearlong debate about banning the veil (hijab) in France and
Germany reached its peak when French President Jacques Chirac formally
proposed, on 17 December 2003, a law banning the display of religious
symbols in state institutions in France. This law bans students and
civil servants from wearing Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps,
Islamic headscarves, as well as political party symbols. The
disapproval of this law among some fractions of the French population,
and the Muslim population in particular, has led to several protests
against banning the veil. Interestingly, the debate, which started as
one about the veil in Islam, has evolved into a big discussion about
Islam itself: as a religion, the Islamic movement in Europe, and the
relation between Islam as a religion and fundamentalism. This has
attracted the attention of various media to try to explain the concept
of hijab itself, the logic behind wearing it, and, most importantly,
finding out more about the lifestyle of the women wearing this veil.
Changing the Stereotypes
In an attempt to explore the topic further, German Television has
taken a positive step to explain this relatively new phenomenon. As a
result, Mr. Waltar Dehler, the foreign correspondent of German
Television, came to Cairo for almost a month. The main objective being
to prepare a program whose aim is to understand the concept of the
veil and its different dimensions, thus providing the viewers with an
objective, first-hand covering of the topic, and hopefully, changing
the stereotypes-in Europe in general and Germany in particular-about
veiled women.
The program is 6 minutes, 20 seconds long and focuses mainly on the
day-to-day life of some educated, veiled Egyptian young girls. "I
asked the girls to tell me more about their common daily activities
and asked for permission to accompany them while they are carrying out
these activities," said Mr. Dehler. So, the program shows those veiled
girls playing basketball, studying, shopping, or socializing as they
normally do. "The objective of this", he said, "is to show Germans
that beyond the veil, these girls also have lives, several aspects of
which are very familiar to the European young girls." In addition,
there were interviews held with these girls to know their opinion
about the veil and other confusing topics, including, for example,
polygamy.
Why do they Wear Hijab?!
When asked about public opinion in Germany and its response to the
debate about banning the veil, Mr. Dehler said, "I think that
generally, people in Germany are afraid of the movement towards Islam,
but this is mostly because many of them are confusing Islam with
fundamentalism and terrorism, especially after the September 11
attacks. Our role as journalists is to explain to the people that
Islam is not equivalent to terrorism".
Concerning the veil in particular, it is generally viewed as a symbol
of the oppression of women in Islam. The general perception about
Muslim women is that they are not well educated, do not have rights
equal to those of men, and their role is mainly to serve men and
satisfy their needs. While on the other hand, men have the right to
marry more than one woman, receive better education and so on.
However, most Germans were fascinated to know that most women decide
to wear the veil of their own free will; in fact, they would not be
surprised if women were obliged by men to wear the veil, because this
is the general perception. Therefore, the majority of Germans still do
not understand the reasons why women decide to wear this veil. "My
primary aim for this program was to understand and explain these
reasons," said Mr.Dehler.
Seeing the Whole Picture
According to Mr. Dehler, the main reason for choosing Egypt as a
location for shooting this program was practicality, as the regional
office of German Television is in Cairo. In addition, he said that
Egypt is viewed as one of the most open Islamic countries, as it has a
long tradition of Western influence, unlike some other Islamic
countries with extremist regimes that many Germans do not think very
highly of !
Overall, this program helps Germans to be able to relate more to
Muslim women; not to label them as just "veiled", or think of them as
fundamentalists, but instead to be able to see the whole picture of
their lives, ambitions and ways of thinking. It represents an
objective account of the lives of Muslims and veiled women; the
program attempts to bridge the gap between Europe and the Islamic
world by helping the Germans to understand Muslims before judging
them.
Actually, Muslim countries should encourage such attempts and initiate
dialogue and co-operation with the Western media to assure that they
portray the right image about Islam in different parts of the world.
This can only happen when we provide viewers everywhere with the
facts-and then leave it up to them to form their own opinion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* A 6-minute, 20-second long segment of Welt Spiegel, a programme
produced by German television's ARD Channel 1. This segment was
translated from Arabic into German by Mona Younis, the head of
IslamOnline.net's Social Section.
The Traveler
wrote:
>Unveiling the Truth: German Portrait of Hijab*
>By Mohammad Shawky
> 15/02/2004
>
>http://www.islamonline.net/English/ArtCulture/2004/02/article02.shtml
>
>
>
>Actually, Muslim countries should encourage such attempts and initiate
>dialogue and co-operation with the Western media to assure that they
>portray the right image about Islam in different parts of the world.
>This can only happen when we provide viewers everywhere with the
>facts-and then leave it up to them to form their own opinion.
>
The following doesn't help:
War between Christian Serbs and Muslim Albanians in Kosovo
Terrorist attacks by the Chechnya Muslims on the Russian population.
War in Iraq and attacks on other Muslim groups.
Civil war between Christians and Muslims in the Sudan
War between Christian Ethiopia and Muslim Eritrea
War between Indonesian Muslims and Christians in East Timor
Battles between the Muslim and Christian regime in the Philippines for
the control of Mindanao.
War and killings between India and Pakistan over Kashmir
Subversion by Uighur Muslims nationalists in Western China
War in Chechnya and Daghestan