Prime Minister Stephen Harper is right to appeal federal court Justice Keith M. Boswell’s ruling which struck down the government’s policy banning the niqab when taking the oath of citizenship.
The judge apparently accepted the obscurantist view that the ban somehow limits a Muslim woman’s ability to practise her faith freely.
In reality, even many niqabi women accept that a face covering is not a requirement of Islam.
Nowhere does the Qur’an explicitly state a woman must cover her face.
Rather, wearers choose the garment merely to express what they claim is the essence of Muslim feminine identity.
In so doing, they parrot the typical Islamist narrative that the niqab is a matter of personal choice, that it is empowering and that it does not marginalize the wearer in society.
Only those immersed in fundamentalist rhetoric could espouse such views, so far removed are they are from the day-to-day reality of many Muslim women.
Such an interpretation has gained vogue among some Muslims from a drastically skewed understanding of religious edicts.
Some might argue even a false or incorrect interpretation of religion must be tolerated in a society that guarantees religious freedom.
But such an uncritical view of religious freedom is neither practical nor beneficial to society.
Injustices are committed daily in the guise of religious freedom.
Many women who are “encouraged” to wear the niqab, burqa or even the hijab form a silent and oppressed group of individuals whose rights are never addressed or acknowledged by society or the courts.
These garments are restrictive; they limit a woman’s ability to realize her full potential in society, even to function normally in public.
They are far from empowering, as their supporters so disingenuously claim.
This is simply propaganda to sell the garb to Muslim women and dupe the Canadian public and government into accepting the niqab and burqa.
It is in this manner that “soft” Islamism insinuates itself into Canadian society.
Harper’s statements about the overturning of the niqab ban are valid.
As he noted: “Most Canadians believe that it is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family. This is a society that is transparent, open and where people are equal.”
Taking the PM’s comments a reasonable step further, it is even contradictory for a Muslim woman in a burqa or niqab to take the oath of citizenship while wearing it.
The wearing of the niqab repudiates so many principles that are Canadian: the equality of women, equal opportunity for both genders, the ability to determine one’s own destiny in a free society.
A woman in a niqab taking the Canadian citizenship oath is an absurdity.
In fact, the broader Islamism that it aggressively promotes is un-Canadian.
Any federal court or government agency should acknowledge this reality and reject Islamism in all its insidious and pernicious forms.
As for the freedom of choice argument, the practice of wearing the niqab cannot be likened to women undergoing cosmetic surgery or wearing bikinis, as some academics have claimed.
Bikinis are confined to beaches and the choice to undergo cosmetic surgery is not driven by religious oppression or fear of divine retribution.
The niqab is a harsh manifestation of an insular mindset. Canadians should feel no obligation to tolerate such intolerance.