‘Who likes the Burka? We do, we do!’
You could almost sing the above tune, whilst simultaneously applauding liberal millennials for being bloody idiots.
So, the burqa … I’m sure you know what it is: a full-body dress-like garment, with a full-faced veil — recently compared to a letterbox, and often associated with jihad, terrorism, oppression, and a larger number of ism’s than I probably know to exist.
Now, before we dive face first into this incredibly messy topic, I will say that I do not condone Boris’ comments, but I also do not condemn them. Whether rightly or wrongly, the very premise of our modern democratic system is that we, the people of the United Kingdom, can pretty much say anything that we like; we have freedom of speech. Boris does too. Also, to be fair to him, if the burqa came in a bright red variant, I think we can all see the similarities — it’s just missing the loyalty to Her Majesty .
So, let’s begin!
The burqa and its slightly less oppressive variants, the niqab, hijab, chador and boushiya, are garments worn by female members of the Islamic faith: Muslimahs. Now, quite often in the West, there is a lack of knowledge about the topic of Islam and when the sight of a woman entirely covered in black, in public, is questioned, people are told that these garments are part of Islam.
In reality, the full coverage is not a necessity in Islam. However, the Qur’an does admonish Muslim women to dress modestly; covering their breasts and genitals, but not the head or face. It also suggests that women should lower their gaze, guard their modesty, and show their beauty only to their husband and male family members.
But, an admonishment is just a suggestion, not a law, and the most common reasoning behind the burqa in the West is, subsequently, a load of twaddle.
Now, the common question: ‘Why is it offensive?’
If I’m honest, I’m not even sure that faux-Islamic necessities are ‘offensive’, but I do believe that they represent a very, very deep cultural divide which exposes the failings of multiculturalism.
Mainstream media has made the burqa into a symbol of Islam, but more importantly, its incompatibility with the West. Garments like the burqa and the chador are both symbols of religious obscurantism — the process of deliberately preventing the truth or full truth of something from being revealed.
All of the uncertainty and lack of truth surrounding Islam links into one of my historical articles, Tequila or Taqiyya, which focuses on Taqiyya; the art of lying which is endorsed within the Qur’an by the Prophet Muhammad himself, and taught by Imams in mosques today. It is a method which was and is used to further Islam’s political agenda, which is yet another reason why the indigenous Western populations are disconcerted by Islam.
Islam is a religion, but it is also a political movement, and mainstream media and liberals are forever classifying it as a race, even, rather than a religion! Hence the use of the label ‘racist’ for people like myself, when we criticise elements of the scripture.
My personal issue with the given garments is the reasoning behind wearing them, and the arguments that are presented when I question it. Often I am given the ‘I choose to wear …’ line. Well, yes, a young lady in England may well ‘choose’ to wear the garment; just like I choose how to behave, knowing always at the back of my mind that, if I behave in a certain way, my parents and my family will judge me and potentially scorn me. And given that Islamic communities have a tendency to move towards violence or ostracisation when they feel their members are disrespectful to the doctrine, if I were a young Muslimah, whose mother, grandmother and aunties all wore a variant of the burka as a show of faith, I’d probably wear one too!
Really, it’s just a subconscious edition of Hobson’s choice. You have a free choice, but only one option is really offered because, let’s be honest, nobody particularly enjoys the judgement of their parents and peers, nor do we like the potential consequences and repercussions of upsetting them. So, invariably, we make sure our beliefs and our mindset are in line with theirs. ‘The apple never falls too far from the tree’, as the saying goes!
Oftentimes I hear the question: ‘what about Hindus who wear religious garments?’ Well, to be quite honest, in the UK, you tend to only see younger Hindus in the ‘sari’ — their snazzy, colourful robe — on special occasions. Whereas, in the general day-to-day, nine-to-five, young women are beginning to wear long trousers and tunic tops, as a compromise between the traditional Indian dress and western clothing. It makes sense, right? Adapt and overcome; assimilate with the host nation. Very simple, and Hindus very rarely have the issues that Muslimahs do within the UK.
I mean, let’s be honest … If you lined up one woman from each of the following faiths: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism, on a street in London — just everyday, normal people. You’ll have two women dressed in typical western attire, two women in either very western-looking attire, or colourful, inviting sari’s or headscarves. And then, there’s a strong likelihood that you’ll have one person clad entirely in black, from head to toe, with only her eyes visible through a singular slit …
It’s a slightly striking sight; it’s certainly unusual, and there’s something about the use of pitch black that unsettles. Unless you’re Batman, that darkness tends to suggest something sinister and dangerous, even scary for some.
So, like I said, I’m not sure that the burqa is offensive, but it is most certainly oppressive and, at times, a bit intimidating.
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