{"id":2558,"date":"2011-07-06T21:16:20","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T21:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=2558"},"modified":"2013-03-20T21:18:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T21:18:11","slug":"why-muslim-demands-for-headscarves-are-exaggerated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-muslim-demands-for-headscarves-are-exaggerated\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Muslim Demands for Headscarves Are Exaggerated"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n

Hudson New York<\/em><\/p>\n

Islamic attire for women \u2014 the burqa and hijab \u2014 is back in the news, though with a twist: In America, where they are legal, problems and lawsuits are arising, while in France, where they are banned, Muslim women are happily complying.<\/p>\n

There is an instructive reason for this; but first the stories from this week:<\/p>\n

A Muslim-American woman,\u00a0Kulsoom Abdullah<\/a>, has been trying to change the rules of competitive weightlifting to accommodate her. The rules require arms and legs to be bare so judges can see when elbows and knees are “locked,” therefore being able to determine if a lift is successful. Most competitors wear a form-fitting body suit with short sleeves and short pants. Abdullah, however, says that “such exposure would violate her deeply held religious beliefs. But rather than giving up on her dreams of competitive weightlifting, she is pressing for a change in the sport’s international rules, “including” with the help of a lawyer, Muslim activists and the US Olympic Committee.”<\/p>\n

And she won<\/a>. The rules have just been changed, in the words of the International Weightlifting Federation, to “promote and enable a more inclusive sport environment and break down barriers to participation.”<\/p>\n

It was also reported this week that Muslim-American\u00a0Hani Khan<\/a>\u00a0is suing Abercrombie & Fitch, claiming the clothing retailer fired her for refusing to shed the hijab, an experience which in Khan’s words “shook my confidence.” She would be the third Muslim woman to sue Abercrombie for hijab reasons. But Khan is not trying to get her job back; rather, “her suit seeks to force Abercrombie to change its dress code to loosen restrictions on religious clothing\u2026 and is seeking back wages and unspecified damages.”<\/p>\n

In a statement, Abercrombie said, “We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of religion, race or ethnicity. … We comply with the law regarding reasonable religious accommodation.”<\/p>\n

Oddly, Khan’s lawyer asserted that “Abercrombie prides itself on requiring what it calls ‘a natural, classic American style.’ But there is nothing American about discriminating against someone because of their religion.” Apparently, work dress codes are now tantamount to “discriminating against someone because of their religion.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in France, where Islamic dress is altogether banned,\u00a0a new report<\/a>\u00a0suggests that Muslim women are happily complying \u2014 indeed, more Muslim women are traveling to France than\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0the ban:
\nWealthy Gulf tourists are expected to continue to flock to France this summer in spite of a law that prohibits Muslim women from wearing the burqa, travel agencies said. Travel industry experts had initially feared a decline in Arab tourists after the April ban on full veils but now report no decline in peak-season bookings to France. Hotels.com, the parent company of the online travel website\u00a0expedia.com<\/a>, has seen a 219 percent increase in the number of searches for France from its Arabic Middle East site from April 1 to date. Searches for Belgium, which in 2010 passed a bill banning any clothing that would obscure the identity of the wearer, have increased 300 percent the website said.<\/p>\n

Lest you think these Gulf women are any less pious than their American counterparts, there is a simple reason as to why they are complying: Islam’sdoctrine of\u00a0taysir<\/em><\/a>, which allows\u00a0hiyla<\/em>, or the relaxation of Islamic law whenever Muslims find it inconvenient to uphold it, such as when they are under infidel\/Western authority. In fact, some of Islam’s top leaders, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, for example, are great advocates of\u00a0taysir<\/em>, “especially for those Muslim minorities living in Europe and America.”<\/p>\n

Taysir<\/em>\u00a0is like a broader concept of\u00a0taqiyya<\/a><\/em>: whereas the latter permits Muslims to lie when circumstances call for it, the former allows Muslims to drop aspects of Sharia when circumstances call for it.<\/p>\n

But there is another distinction. The Gulf women traveling to France are tourists who are not nearly as acquainted with the West as their American counterparts. They naturally assume the West is like the Islamic world \u2014 actually tenacious about its customs and laws, hardly to be pushed around by minority groups. (This is precisely why, for example, while Muslims in the West shamelessly push for the Ground Zero mosque, Muslims in the Middle East cannot believe it, deeming it a\u00a0Zionist conspiracy<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Muslims living in the West, on the other hand, know how easily the West can be pushed into submission, so why settle for the Muslim option of\u00a0taysir<\/em>\u00a0when they can score a victory for Islam \u2014 and make some money while at it?<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92011 Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York Islamic attire for women \u2014 the burqa and hijab \u2014 is back in the news, though with a twist: In America, where they are legal, problems and lawsuits are arising, while in France, where they are banned, Muslim women are happily complying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[33,227],"tags":[1058,1017,712,58,1018],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Fg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7182,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-cleric-urges-poor-women-to-become-sex-slaves\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":0},"title":"Muslim Cleric Urges Poor Women to Become Sex-Slaves","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 Within the context of keeping the Syrian jihad alive, it seems there is no end to the attempts of some Islamic clerics to legitimize otherwise forbidden behavior in order to\u00a0gratify the sexual urges of the jihadis\u00a0and keep them fighting Syrian president Bashar Assad. First, there was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2646,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/criticism-and-conciliation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":1},"title":"Criticism and Conciliation","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online Though he early indicated that this would be an honest, heart-to-heart talk \u2014 \"we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors\" and \"let me speak as clearly and plainly as I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2729,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-woman-seeks-to-revive-institution-of-sex-slavery\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":2},"title":"Muslim Woman Seeks to Revive Institution of Sex-Slavery","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPageMagazine.com Last week witnessed popular Muslim preacher\u00a0Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini\u00a0boast about how Islam allows Muslims to buy and sell conquered infidel women, so that \"When I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her.\" This week's depraved anachronism comes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Women"","block_context":{"text":"Women","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/women\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6194,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-brotherhood-out-killing-christians-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":3},"title":"Muslim Brotherhood Out, Killing Christians In","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/ Gatestone Institute \"I tell the Christians one word: We will set you on fire!\" \u2014 Egyptian Muslim lady \"In scattered locations across Egypt, mobs of hard-line Muslims,\" according to\u00a0Morning Star News, \"enraged over the deposing of the country's Islamist president [Muhammad Morsi] this week attacked Christian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/The_Great_Umayyed_Mosque_of_Damascus_Syria_-_9.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/The_Great_Umayyed_Mosque_of_Damascus_Syria_-_9.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/The_Great_Umayyed_Mosque_of_Damascus_Syria_-_9.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/The_Great_Umayyed_Mosque_of_Damascus_Syria_-_9.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2548,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-islamic-absurdities-prove-islamic-violence\/","url_meta":{"origin":2558,"position":4},"title":"How Islamic Absurdities Prove Islamic Violence","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPageMagazine.com The other day I saw a\u00a0video of a sheikh\u00a0warning Muslims against disregarding Muhammad's\u00a0sunna, or the rules and customs the prophet prescribed for Muslims. 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