Press Release
Niqab Ban is an Attack on Islam
(Translated)

It seems that the ban on Niqab (Islamic Face Veil) will take effect in the Netherlands; after repeated attempts, the Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed today the Government's proposal to impose a penalty for wearing Niqab in some public places, and a fine up to € 405. The proposal bans wearing Niqab is places such as hospitals, government buildings, public transport and picking children from school!

As for the pretexts and excuses that they often invoke, such as difficulty of communicating with veiled women, the security aspect and others, they are flimsier than a spider's web. Rather, such pretexts were refuted many years ago by Dutch experts. Whereas, the most important thing is that these excuses are taken only to cover up the real goals behind the ban on Niqab, and this is clearly evident and does not require a deep political analysis to realize, at the time where the anti-Islamic speech has become commonplace and the Islam- hostile policy as something natural.

With the exception of a few, the majority of the political parties voted in parliament in favor of the decision to ban Niqab, including liberals of the Freedom Party who advocate freedom, the SP Socialist Party, which advocates equality, the Christians of the Christian Democratic Party, the reformed political party SGP, which calls for charity, and do not forget, and how can we forget, the Geert Wilders’ Party for freedom, which was a long time ago and in cooperation with other parties calling to take harsh measures hostile to Islam, but presently, these demands have become not the demand of Wilders' party alone, but the demand for all the political parties.

What is worst is that there is an organization called "Muslims and the government," and this organization has received huge sums of money from the government, so it was logical for it to support the unfair procedures against Muslims and the decision to ban Niqab. And their excusesin support of this resolution are more ridiculous than the excuses of the government itself, such as their saying that the wearing of the veil will lead to division, discord and disunity in the community. But do not they understand that a piece of clothing cannot lead to the alleged division, discord and differences? and that what leads to it is the racist procedures that work on the demonization and distortion of a group of women and excluding them from society because of their dress. Then, aren’t they aware that by this they are challenging a Shari’ rule? So what division and discord that this "Muslims and the government" organization claims?

And truly, who is creating division among the members of the community when a Muslim woman decides to wear Niqab and tries to ride the bus, but the bus driver stops her from it while allowing festivals celebrators who cover their faces with masks and others to ride the bus!?

This constitutes a major threat to the Muslim community in the Netherlands, and is creating a difference between members of the community when it comes to Islam. It is not true to say that we are the cause of the division and disharmony if we are committed to the provisions of Islam, and thereby we refuse to live with the rest of the society in the Netherlands. But the opposite is true, it is the rest of the society who have a problem with the Niqab and they are working to ban it, and this clearly demonstrates that they are the ones who refuse to live with Muslims.

If Muslims deal with these Islamic issues lightly and content themselves to monitor what is going on only in silence, they should expect that they will be demanded make more concessions in the future. So if we accept today and remain silent on the ban on Niqab, we should not be surprised if tomorrow they will ban the Khimar (headscarves) and the Jilbab, because things moving in this direction in many European countries; they are progressing slowly to crack down on everything that is related to Islam. So if the Muslims do not take, all the legitimate means, to defend their interests, who will do so on their behalf?

Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands