Anjum Rahman: Burqa-wearing women deserve right of reply

The Herald defends National MP Bob Clarkson's right to criticise the burqa, and so do I. He has every right to criticise it.

Muslims do, and there have been many varied and colourful debates about the burqa from the earliest days of Islam.

I've had plenty of debates myself, being a Muslim woman who doesn't believe that the burqa is a religious requirement. We welcome healthy debate and the chance to explore the issues.

Perhaps we could take Clarkson seriously if he actually showed any concern for us as human beings, if he credited us with enough intelligence to make up our own minds, if he had ever bothered to front up and discuss the issue with us; in short, if he had treated us as equals.

The problem is the contempt in his words. He couldn't even name his target correctly. The word "Muslim" being too difficult, he chose the simpler "Islam religion-type people". He said the burqa-wearers should go back to "Islam or Iraq".

This is the kind of language we hear from a variety of male teenager with excess hormones, trying to impress his friends by abusing some poor soul he thinks won't be able to fight back. We expect better from an MP.

Yet the principle is the same. Whenever some of our politicians need to get into the headlines, they only need to start abusing whichever minority is the most hated at the time, and the least likely to respond. Without fail, it guarantees headlines.

Burqa-clad women have been getting a good share of the headlines lately. They ask for it by being visibly different, and it is a consequence of the war on terror.

Yet, I was given a booklet published by Ariel New Zealand, entitled The Eight Covenants of the Bible. Under the Adamic Covenant, the booklet quotes Genesis 3:14-19, which includes the words "and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee".

From this, the writer concludes that "the wife was now to be in total subjection to the husband, and this principle has remained in effect even up to the present time".

Most Christians don't support this interpretation of the marital relationship. Yet there is obviously a small group that does. If we're expecting people to conform to New Zealand values, surely these women need to be told to go to ... well, where should they go if they refuse to be liberated?

I can't think of them as anything other than fellow human beings, worthy of my respect, even when I don't agree with the paradigm they choose to live in.

Any liberation for them has to be on their own terms, in ways they feel comfortable with. Any criticism of their lifestyle has to take account of their well-being and their sensitivities. As my sisters in humanity, they deserve at least that much.

We need to constantly check our assumptions such as the one that women wear the burqa "for the moral protection of men".

No doubt that is the justification used by the ruling elite in Saudi Arabia and by the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as by many Muslim men around the world. It is clearly wrong to force women to wear the burqa for that reason or any other.

Yet what has been missing in local media coverage is the voice of the burqa-clad women. Surely they have the right to be heard, and should have been given the opportunity to respond to criticism levelled at them.

I wouldn't presume to speak for them, so here's what Naima Roberts, a Western burqa-wearing convert, has to say in From My Sisters' Lips: "I wanted and needed to free myself from my reliance on my looks. I wanted to test myself, to see whether I had the courage to get by on the strength of my personality, character and deeds ... I thought, good, don't look, don't compare me with your latest squeeze, don't try and guess my measurements ... my body is my own business ..."

And that feeling is reflected time and again by women who choose to cover themselves and make their bodies their own private space.

Strangely enough, these views echo what any self-respecting feminist would say: my body, my choice. It's a choice few would make, and it's not above criticism, discussion or debate. However, it's the context and nature of the debate that is a cause for concern.

It seems that everyone can tell Muslim women what to wear. In Turkey or Tunisia, women are forbidden to wear the headscarf, and can be sent to jail for doing so. In Saudi Arabia and Iran they are forced to cover, whether they believe in it or not.

And in the enlightened West, they are being told to quietly accept abuse if they choose to cover up. Either conform or leave the country. And shut up and don't complain. Doesn't seem like liberated enlightenment to me.

We are not asking for respect. That has to be earned by each individual, male or female. But if you reserve the right to criticise us, we ask for the right of reply.

We ask you to accept that we have enough intelligence to find our own path to fulfilment. And we ask our politicians to stop using us as an easy way to generate headlines.

* Anjum Rahman is a chartered accountant, mother, and member of the Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand.