Unmasking the burqa

Considering that the French love everything thats indigenous and artisanal,the comments of the countrys president Nicholas Sarkozy about the burqa are a bit out of step.

Written by Namrata Zakaria

July 9, 2009 04:16 AM IST

4 min read

Considering that the French love everything thats indigenous and artisanal,the comments of the countrys president Nicholas Sarkozy about the burqa are a bit out of step. But also considering the gent is better known for his wifes passion for Christian Dior frocks than his political prowess,lets just say that France is an interesting place.

When the husband informed his mother his intention to marry me,her first words to me were,Dont worry,I wont ask you to wear a burqa; Ive never worn one myself. I have to admit,I was relieved. Even elated. It wasnt the tradition I was frightened of but I wasnt ready to give up my favourite Gap shorts.

But the burqa needs some defending in this matter. As do all costumes of tradition that bind us to our own cultural identity. If any country were to ban the sari,Indians,even those who live in chic Marais,would be outraged. If the burqa,as Sarkozy enlightens us,is a symbol of the subjugation of women,so be it. All traditional clothing stems from mores and customs and denying one the right to wear them is like snatching away their piece of personal history. And how wont are we to admit that the sindoor a Hindu wife applies is also a sign of marking a mans territory?

Why is the burqa,the black tent-like drape that covers

Muslim women from top to toe,sometimes revealing only their eyes,looked at so sinisterly?

Interestingly,the burqa finds little mention in the Quran; some scholars even believe the burqa is older than Islam. The history of the dress is actually rooted in geography,the overall dress and the nakaab (face covering) worked as a sand mask in windy deserts.

In todays political zeitgeist,when an American president opens a speech with an assalaam aleikum,Sarkozys naivete is both startling and laughable. Even though France is proudly secular,its presidents views are a violation of democracy.

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It harks me back to the Turkey of the great Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,whos passion for modernity had him shut down Sufi centres,upchuck the fez and veil,cleanse the Turkish language of all Arab and Persian leanings and changed the script to roman. But that was the 1920s; Turkey had broken up with Islam and had embraced a western idea of secularism. Islam was not for the bourgeois Kemalists,it was for the poor,who had no money or literature to entertain themselves with.

Today,Islam has found its way in through the backdoor and independently. As migrants from the conservative Anatolia increased,the new Istanbullus are more sure of who they are. The streets that lead to beautiful Istanbuls Bosphorus are lined with women in designer headscarves driving SUVs,confident of their religious identity and their place in the world.

The burqa,or the hijab (head scarf),has ceased to be a symbol of radicalism. It is now looked at as an assertion of culture and an acceptance of history. (That Christian Diors John Galliano is wooing the Arab market with his embellished abayas is another matter altogether). But it may take more than a man whos more at ease with an extramarital affair than a conservatively dressed woman to figure that one out.

(namrata.sharma@expressindia.com)