BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian parliamentary committee voted Wednesday to ban the full Islamic face veil, a move that, if ratified, could make Belgium the first country to enforce such a ban.
The lower house of parliament will vote on the bill on April 22 and it could enter into law in June or July.
Some lawmakers in France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, have called for full Islamic veils to be banned, although a top advisory board said Tuesday that this would carry serious constitutional risks.
The draft law proposes to criminalize wearing clothing that covers all or part of the face, including the facial veil known as the niqab and the full outer garment, or burqa, widely worn in Afghanistan.
The French-speaking liberals, who have proposed the law, argue an inability to identify people who have hidden their faces presents a security risk and that the veil was a "walking prison" for women.
Daniel Bacquelaine, the bill's chief promoter, said the ban might also be used against potentially violent demonstrators who covered their faces.
He estimated that a few hundred women in Belgium wore facial veils, adding that it was a rising trend.
"Five to fifteen years ago there were none," he told Reuters. "Nothing in Islam, in the Koran in the Sunnah (sayings and practices of the Prophet Mohammad) imposes this form of dress. It seems to me it's more a political or ideological sign."
He added that Belgium did not wish to follow the "bad examples" of Britain and the Netherlands, where he said many Muslims lived in separate communities, favoring instead efforts to integrate society.
The bill received unanimous backing in parliament's home affairs committee. It could lead to fines of 15-25 euros (about $20-$34) and imprisonment for up to seven days.
Bacquelaine said that local mayors could suspend the ban during festivities such as Carnival when people traditionally wear costumes, including masks.
he told Reuters. "Nothing in Islam, in the Koran in the Sunnah (sayings and practices of the Prophet Mohammad) imposes this form of dress. It seems to me it's more a political or ideological sign."
yea this kuffar knows more about Islam than us, he knows how the wives of the Prophet (s) and the believing women did hijab back then or the fact all of Muslim women did niqaab up to the time these imperialists started colonizing Muslim lands.
Ok, who else want to ban some islamic thing ? Can muslims eat food, or food for muslims will be banned too ? I really fed up with that. Is that european freedom ? Why do they let muslims to live there if they don't want them ?
"Nothing in Islam, in the Koran in the Sunnah (sayings and practices of the Prophet Mohammad) imposes this form of dress. It seems to me it's more a political or ideological sign."
They don't understand anything about islam, and they want to tell muslims how to practice Islam, that's very irritating x(
"O you who believe! Fear ALLAH as He should be feared" [aal 'Imraan, 102]
"Nothing in Islam, in the Koran in the Sunnah (sayings and practices of the Prophet Mohammad) imposes this form of dress. It seems to me it's more a political or ideological sign."
this seems is the non religious types argument as to why it is justifiable to ban the burqha......but then why dont they ban men from wearing the kilt...it too is cultural and has no religious significance...THIS is all part of the war on Islam,,it seems things will get worse before they get better.
Take yourself back 15-20 years, was there so much hysteria about everything Islamic? why is there so much now. Islam this and Muslim that is all you here about...I think there will be a war.....it's at the back of everyones mind we are terrorist's...even our women who wear viels and burqha could be hiding something...maybe a bomb
Something tells me the Burqa isn't very popular...
Nevertheless, I get tired of repeating myself, this is action against a minority of women out of a religious minority, and is therefore laughable in a Western nation.
they're oppressing women from freedom to wear clothes, the irony
He it is Who sends blessings on you, as do His angels, that He may bring you out from the depths of Darkness into Light: and He is Full of Mercy to the Believers. [Quran {33:43}] www.QuranicAudio.com www.Quran.com
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