federal gifts, french burqas
Libya’s Qaddafi gave Condi Rice $212,000 in Gifts, including a diamond ring – the annual state department report on foreign gifts to federal employees listed that Qaddafi’s “darling African” received, among other things, a locket with a picture of him inside of it and a diamond ring.
That must be where all of Libya’s oil money is going….
Sarkozy’s Rejection of the Burqa Will Only Further Marginalize Muslims – Now, Sarkozy is attempting to institute a ban on wearing a burqa/abaya/niqab in public in France. Sabria Jawhar, the author of this article, defensively states:
For the record, I wear the abaya and niqab in Saudi Arabia. I wear the abaya and niqab because it’s my choice. Contrary to popular Western myth, the abaya is not forced on women in Saudi Arabia. As an Islamic country, women are only required to cover the details of their body. While I am living abroad I wear a different style and color hijab that is conducive to the environment I live in. I choose not to wear the common black abaya in the United Kingdom for my own personal reasons that are nobody’s business but my own. But if I ever decide to put on the abaya and niqab the way I do in Saudi Arabia that also is my own business.
Wrong, Sabria. The abaya and niqab are forced in Saudi Arabia, even if not physically by one’s husband, then by peer-pressure, society, the government, the religious police, the essentially anti-women government. Don’t insult yourself by claiming it’s your choice. If it is, wouldn’t you wear the abaya and niqab in Western countries, having arrived by your own personal logic at the same conclusion about how you dress?
She asks, rhetorically and sarcastically: “Because, really, who in their right mind would wear such a thing?” Bingo.
And she confuses pleated skirts worn by Catholic school girls as “religious clothing.”
John said,
26 June 2009 at 6:52 am
This take on “religious clothing” certainly puts a new spin on the slutty Catholic girl motif, doesn’t it? What I love is that every time anyone wants to actually talk seriously about Islam, the conversation turns to women and clothing. This is a problem. That Sarkozy is concerned with this should be of interest to everyone, but it distracts from the real questions: Are the French really advocating for the repression of religion? Has the building of mosques been banned? Are Muslim groups not allowed to gather? You get the idea. These questions are significant.
Helena said,
17 September 2009 at 4:56 pm
What about a gift like this one ?