بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
News & Comment
NIQAB-GATE 2.0
News
A month ago I could report that a ban on Niqab in Denmark, was as close as ever with 6 out 10 Danes supporting such a ban. Now the Danish liberal government and their social democratic opposition have exclaimed that they are ready, in collaboration with other parties from left to right, to push it through.
Comment
Already at this point, several Islamic organizations and individuals have commented on the issue, and from this we can observe and deduct several points.
Only very few have been infected severely by the sickness of completely intellectual blindness, liberal fascination and defeated mentality to the extent that they support a ban on the basis of completely irrational and unIslamic arguments like “just ban it, since it is not a religious duty and harms the glue of society”.
The vast majority see the ban as an attack on Islam as a whole and Muslims as a community and warn against the acceptance or silence, since it serves as fast steps down a dangerous path towards a ban of the Islamic scarf in public.
The Muslims community as a whole, is moving slowly in the right direction, towards a common understanding of what is threatening us, and what we need to do as a minimum as Muslims.
What we are lacking is however still a clear understanding of how to address these issues in discussions with non-Muslims, being it individuals, politicians or media, without compromising with Islam and our principles. An example is when trying to argument for the right to cover the awrah by referring to individual- or religious “freedom”. To cover the awrah is not a matter of choice or “freedom”, but an Islamic duty.
Accepting and debating on their terms and based on their values is a big mistake, and you can only lose. The only reason to mention these values and their likes in a debate should be to point out the hypocrisy.
The bottom line is, that we, as a community have to work together and reject this, other bans and attacks on Islam and Muslims, and we should do it in a way as Allah (swt) describes:
(وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ)
“And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.” [5: 2]
Otherwise we will end up like the Messenger of Allah warned us against, when he (saw) said: «فعليكم بالجماعة، فإنما يأكل الذئب من الغنم القاصية» “So protect the community, for the wolf eats only a solitary sheep away from the flock” [Abu Dawud].
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Junes Kock