On January 15, 2004 Expatica reported, "In a ruling set to create a country-wide precedent, a Muslim woman who went to court after being ordered to remove her veil for an identity photograph has won her case, Belgium's 'La Libre Belgique' newspaper reported today. The appeal court in the city of Liège found in the woman’s favour, saying...
On January 8, 2004 The Age ran an opinion piece by Fatima Shah, spokeswoman for women's affairs for the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee, in which she argued in defense of the burqa: "Whilst the mystique of the veiled Arab woman has captured the imagination of countless Western writers and travellers, it has also captured the unwanted attention of a number of leftists...
On January 7, 2004 Channel News Asia ran an Agence France Presse article that reported, "Leading Muslim cleric Yussef al-Qaradawi has threatened legal action if France adopts a law banning the Islamic headscarf in schools, warning such measures only breed extremism. 'If the law is passed, we will seek to file a legal complaint because this law will be in...
On January 3, 2004 The Straits Times ran an Agence France Presse article that reported, "If a Muslim headscarf is an expression of faith, so is a monk's habit or a crucifix and they should be on equal footing, said German President Johannes Rau, prompting fury from Roman Catholic politicians and clerics. Mr. Rau has appealed for all religions to be treated...
On January 3, 2004 The Telegraph ran an opinion piece by Stella White, a Catholic woman from Kent who wears the hijab, or veil. She writes, "To liberated Westerners, the hijab, or veil, is a stain on womankind. It symbolises the crushing of the female spirit and is the mark of slavery, transforming a woman into a passive lump who is only allowed...
On December 30, 2003 the BBC News reported, "The head of one of the world's most prestigious centres of Islamic learning has upheld the right of France to ban headscarves in state schools. The Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, was speaking after talks with French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy...Speaking in Cairo in the presence of Mr Sarkozy, Sheikh Tantawi said the veil was...
On December 30, 2003 Beliefnet.com posted an Associated Press article that reported, "Advocates for Muslim religious freedoms brought a petition and letters to the French consulate Tuesday, protesting that country's proposed ban of Islamic head scarves and other religious symbols in public schools...Ghazi Khankan, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American...
On December 27, 2003 Al-Jazeera reported, "Iraqi Shia clerics have called for a boycott of French products in protest at France's move to ban Islamic headscarves from schools. Influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the boycot during his Friday sermon in Kufa near Najaf. 'I suggest that a fatwa (religious edict) be issued by (Shia...
On December 26, 2003 The Scotsman reported, "An ecumenical message from the Archbishop of Canterbury has urged Christians, Jews and Muslims to stand together against an increasingly secular society. Dr. Rowan Williams, speaking at Canterbury Cathedral, told of fears over religion, noting what he described as 'sniggering' in the media over the Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s, faith. He said: 'It isn...
On December 22, 2003 The Scotsman reported, "Chancellor Gerhard Schröder yesterday came out against allowing teachers in public schools to wear headscarves, saying in an interview that the Islamic dress has 'no place' among civil servants...Until now, the German chancellor has not commented on the issue, but in an interview published yesterday in Bild am Sonntag, Mr. Schröder said...
On December 21, 2003 IslamOnline.net reported, "Canterbury Archbishop lambasted Sunday, December 21, the detention without trial of British Muslims inside the kingdom and in Guantanamo as well as the mooted ban on hijab in French public schools...The leader of the worldwide Anglican Church, who maintains improving dialogue with Islam as a top priority, warned that...
On December 21, 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an Associated Press article that reported, "Thousands of people, mainly Muslim women shouting 'The veil, my choice,' marched through Paris on Sunday against presidential proposals to ban Islamic head scarves from public schools and...
