Will the burka's biggest foe soon be praising Allah?
French Minister Eric Besson promised his Tunisian fiancee's family he would convert to Islam, and then passed a law banning religious veils.
By Zvi Bar'elThe Wikipedia entry devoted to Eric Besson is nothing special. It includes information about his marriage to Sylvie Brunel from 1983 to 2009 and their three children, the eldest of whom is 21 and a writer. Pretty normal, almost.
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French minister Eric Besson and a woman thought to be his fiancee Tordjman, a 24-year-old Tunisian art student. |
| Photo by: Sipa Press / Rex Features |
What it doesn't say is that the 52-year-old Besson, who is Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development in the French government, is living with a 24-year-old Muslim art student from Tunisia by the name of Yasmine Tordjman, whom he plans to marry in September.
That fact is just juicy gossip until one realizes that Besson is the cabinet minister who initiated and planned the law in France to ban public use of the burka, a veil worn by observant Muslim women that leaves only a slit open for the eyes.
Besson - who described the burka as a "walking coffin" - won near unanimous support for the law forbidding the covering of one's face in public places in the French Parliament. According to the law, which passed last month, women in veils or men who force their wives to wear a burka (as is accepted in Afghanistan ) or a niqab (the version more popular in Arab countries ) can be fined or imprisoned for up to one year.
The legislation is now awaiting approval from the Senate and then too will go into effect only after a six-month period to acclimate the burka-wearers.
However, a heavy shadow hangs over Besson's political success. According to the French-language website Bakchich.info, Besson visited Tunis at the end of last year with his fiancee, to attend the wedding of the daughter of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
Following that, the two went to the home of Tordjman's parents where the minister met his future in-laws and promised them that this was no passing love affair, that his intentions were serious and he wanted to marry their daughter.
This clarification is important when taking into account that his divorced wife wrote about him in a book she published - including the number of extra marital affairs he had while married to her.
The minister didn't just profess his love for Tordjman, though, he also professed his love for Islam, promising his bride-to-be's grandmother that he would convert once they were married, according to Bakchich.
The minister hastily filed a suit for slander against the editors of the site when they published the report last February, but was forced to withdraw the suit just as hastily after the court made it clear to him that there was nothing slanderous about publishing that a person wished to take on another religion. Even in a secular country like France, it is not considered a crime.
Now the minister is faced with a serious dilemma: If he denies his intention of converting to Islam, he will probably have to contend with his in-laws. If he converts, he will be forced to deal with the consequences of his initiative against the burka, since a good Muslim cannot legislate a law that could harm Muslims.
Tordjman's grandmother, incidentally, is Wassila Bourguiba, the second wife of Tunisian founding president Habib Bourguiba, who ruled until 1987.
For his part, the minister was born in the Moroccan city of Marakesh to a Lebanese mother and a French father but has visited Lebanon only once in his life.
Solutions unveiled
The law against the burka has led to another innovation. Muslim sages who wish to prevent a confrontation between observant Muslim women and the current environment in Europe, are being forced to find solutions that keep with both religious law and the law of the land.
The late Sheikh Muhammed Sayyid Tantawi, the former head of Cairo's al-Azhar University, ruled a few years ago that Muslim women who live in a non-Muslim country must act like visitors and respect the ways of life of that country.
Tantawi himself prohibited women students at al-Azhar from wearing veils on campus and supported the Egyptian government's decision to dismiss women clerks from the Egyptain civil service if they came to work in a veil.
Last week, the important Saudi Arabian thinker, Aid al-Qarni, said that Muslim tourists who went to France would do best if they behaved according to the rules and regulations there.
"We must not be in confrontation either in the countries where we are citizens or in those countries we visit as guests only. We must react with flexibility to the French decision. Our religion instructs us to adjust our behavior to the times, to the place and to emergency situations," he said.
Despite the fact that the law has not yet gone into effect, this ruling is important in view of the fact that the tourist season is peaking in France and that many Muslims decided to cancel their plans to visit France following the vote in parliament.
According to figures released by the director of a Saudi air company, the volume of tourists from Saudi Arabia to Britain and Austria has increased by 120 percent.
Will the expected loss of revenue make France and other countries that plan to adopt a law against veils think twice about enforcing it? That is doubtful.
But meanwhile it has succeeded in dividing Europe, in Muslim eyes, into two camps - the sane West that does not get upset by a veil as a religious and social symbol, and the frightened West that gets scared by a few thousand women who wear veils, a tiny minority.
After all, the law has not led to a reduction in the number of Muslims in the West, it merely tries to hide the fact that they exist. One may recall how Europe behaved in the past when it decided to get rid of "strangers" in its midst.
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Not only burka's foe but also the leader of anti minaret campaign from Switzerland embraced Islam
Americans always think they have the most liberal and democratic nation. Poor obama had to convert to christianity to able to run for president and yet he is blamed everyday that he is a muslim. This minister on the other hand is coverting to Islam and nobody is calling him a muzzi
In the last paragraph we surprisingly learn that banning the covering of women is equal to killing them on an industrial level. The opposite to banning it is to allow a group of men decide what a group pf women should be wearing. So accepting this rule by one gender over the other is perfectly civilised, while helping those who are forced to wear it is cruel. This turning around the values are also seen before, it is called "socialism". According to North Korea people in the West live like "slaves", in line with this kind of reasoning.
I enjoyed reading your article, but my heart stopped when I read this: "After all, the law has not led to a reduction in the number of Muslims in the West, it merely tries to hide the fact that they exist. One may recall how Europe behaved in the past when it decided to get rid of "strangers" in its midst." It was only the burka/niqab that was banned, not the hijab, so the visibility of Muslims will not change at all. There are two very valid reasons for banning the full face covering: Feminism (my favourite reason) and security. I think that Europe is the biggest fan of civil and human rights and Europeans are obsessed with not repeating WWII mistakes. Your article fails to understand the current thinking in Europe. Yes there are racists in Europe (like there are racists in Israel and Palestine) but that was not the spirit behind the ban. The fact that this man is dating a Tunisian should make that the more clear. Good writing and good research but your conclusion was informed only by Israeli stereotypes of Europeans. These stereotypes are outdated.
I believe that the wearing of a face covering veil in public should be banned in countries which have no cultural history of such dress. I know that many proponents of the wearing of the veil in Western countries point out that women in these countries are permitted to dress as they like but this is not entirely true. Certain standards of dress are required of both men and women (restaurants, workplaces, banks, law courts etc) in western countries. The reason that I would like to see the face veil banned in public in western countries is simply because it is impossible to make a law allowing Muslim women to cover their faces and forbidding men and non-Muslim women from doing the same. If Muslim women may cover their faces in public then I as a non-Muslim woman must be able to do so because I am nolonger young and pretty and my neighbourhood bank robber must be permitted to do so becauseb he does not wish to be identified to the police. I have seen instances of men in countries such as Afganistan diguising themselves in burqas. I would point out to Muslim men, who want their women thus shrouded, that a man in a burqa could enter the womens quarters in the home and maybe be wellcomed their by their women with the neighbours none-the-wiser.
Could be. But this is strange for one reason. Burka is almost nonexistent in Islamic parts of France. Another explanation is that Burka is a symbol. A symbol of saying "we are not at ease with so much Islam in France". Same for the Minaret's law in Switzerland. Both these laws have almost no practical content, and do not make anybody suffer. In fact the Burka may be viewed as improving life for some women. But the most important aspect of these two laws is the statement that European culture is more powerful than Islamic tradition. Such behavior is many times misunderstood. What Europe may think is a small pragmatic convention, may be viewed by Muslims as an insult against their religion, culture and family. Imams may use these "innocent" laws to bolster very hard sentiments. If everything was rosy between Europe and Islam, formal decisions on such laws would not be needed. Sorry Europe, but you are in for a rude awakening.
Burqa is not Islam, but must respect the freedom of speech
The guy is 50+, and look at the 24. He is going to say anything to the mother in law. This 24 is never going to wear a burka because it doesn't match the Chanel bag!
Not sure what world you've been living in but I dont any muslim who brands the Burka as Unislamic as the prophets daughters used to wear these. Most muslims women I know do not wear this but at the same time have no problem with others wearing this either. I believ that if a woman can go out wearing next to nothing then a woman also has the right to cover herself to protect her modesty if thats how shes feels about the burka and wants to wear one. Who are we to tell them not to wear one
One can be a Muslim and disapprove of the Burka and other forms of veiling - indeed a good Muslim who ha scarefully read the Quran will know its not required anywhere in that book but rather its a cultural icon that people use religion to wrongfully justify.
this author seems to be very pro-burka. i always respect Jews when they show their support of religous freedom for muslims, but the burka is a stupid cultural thing that has NOTHING to do with islam. they belong in kung-fu movies, not Paris.
From the article, it seems that he would be marrying into a wealthy Muslim family that is more secularized, like a lot of secular people who are also practicing Jews or Christians. It seems that many Muslim in similar social positions also oppose the burka, and many Muslim feminists, especially in mid-20th century were against the veil and veiling in general. So it's just about different currents within Islam, and its not fair to assume that his wife would be against the law just because she's Muslim. But that's not to let him off the hook, since it is a terrible law and wouldn't be tolerated if it targeted members of a religion other than Islam...the religion he may be joining.
I would also become a muslim.
a Muslim !
Neither the Burqa, nor the Niqb are Muslim. They are simply customs from Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia and are linked to sexits, patriarcal customs, and certainly not to religion. Nothing in the Coran tells women to wear even a veil, it simply asks them to dress modestly. Al Azhar university even said the Niqab was not Islamic! Besides, Besson is due to marry a Tunisian girl, and the veil is not a custom in Tunisia.
What your article misses is that France hosts the 1st Jewish community in Europe, the 2nd after the USA - and the 1st Muslim community in Europe. Integration into the French society of Muslims WORKS so well that a very exposed Minister may marry to a Muslim and it araises no difficulty. In the last 30 years, France has had Catholic Prime Minister (De Villepin), Orthodox Christian (Edith Cresson PM), Protestant Christian (Jospin), Armenian-Ottoman converted (Balladur), Jewish (Fabius), ans many Atheist ! Can you tell me of any other country's government in the world presenting such a large spectrum of diversity of origins at the top of the executive?? Not the USA, not the UK, ....
The French have not taken this decision lightly. It comes about after consultation with many human, women rights organisations and welfare institutions. Women brought up with this barbaric custom are victims. They need to be protected against their own family traditions. BTW, the covering of one's face is a civil wrong as everybody should be entitled to see who one's is dealing with.
Its all so obvious: "...the SANE West that does not get upset by a veil as a religious and social symbol, and the FRIGHTENED West that gets scared by a few thousand women who wear veils..." (my capitals)........ Other people may write exactly the opposite, but one that writes facts would be expected to stay entirely away from using adjectives in such charged subject.
Iab and or burka are more a political satement of the supremacy of Islam over other religions than in itself a religious symbol. that is why western countries are trying to ban them.
Well worth converting for...
Its arabic culture....
then the last thing on her mind is the veil..
Besson has denied that he is going to convert to Islam.
between being Muslim and rejecting the Burqa. It is a cultural not religious outfit. Those who claim otherwise are hallucinating
But part of an oppressive custom to show male dominance over women. It has no mention in Islam. The author should be ashamed as a reporter to show such biased attitude (as shown clearly in the last paragraph) in favor of such an oppressive symbol.
The only women required to cover their faces were the wives of Mohammed. The Koran asks women and men to dress modestly, as do most religions. Nothing more.
As if praising Allah is something to be ashamed of! And where's the problem in praising Allah or Yahve and not being a supporter of the Burqa?
Just as banning child molestation does not harm Christians, banning the veil does not harm Muslims. Both of these laws strengthen the respective religions if anything at all.
The very premise of this article is flawed and the author either ill-informed or malicious. There are plenty of Muslims who disagree with/ abhor the concept of a veil for women. To argue that this political figure's intentions of converting inherently clash with his views on cultural integration are not mutually exclusive is false.
What is all this nonsensical hype. He will declare that there is one God and that Muhammad is his prophet and he will be Muslim. Is he to be more orthodox that the ulama of Al Azhar who have poskened that it is not required for observant Muslim women to be veiled? If he promised a Jewish mother in law that he would convert would he insist tht his Jewish wife wear a scheitel or tichel? His in law will uneoubtedly treat him better than the family of Rav Amram Blau did with his geyoris.