After mulling it over for a while, I’ve decided that it is permissible for Western secular societies to ban the Islamic veil, or niqab, in certain circumstances, including women in court, engaged in business in places like a bank, holding government jobs, and in government-supported schools. In such places the requirements of secular society overrule religious dictates, as they have in the U.S. in certain circumstances. France has also banned the full-face niqab everywhere in public, a decision upheld by the European Court of Human Rights this summer. I also see the veil as a tool of women’s oppression, regardless of their claims that wearing it is a “choice”. Well, it’s not a choice in the Muslim societies that require it, and where you can be beaten, or worse, for not wearing it.

Nevertheless, a famous girls’ school in London has just banned the veil, and it’s causing trouble among Muslims. In a nice piece at the UK’s National Secular Society, Maajid Nawaz defended the Camden School for Girls (I used to date someone who had gone there, and learned that the school now allows boys) for their decision.

You may remember Nawaz, a former Muslim extremist who became a moderate and now decries extremist Islam. He’s now head of The Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank. You’ll remember the big to-do about the London School of Economics students selling Jesus and Mo tee shirts, and Nawaz tw**ted this about them: “This is not offensive & I’m sure God is greater than to feel threatened by it.” As a result, he received death threats and, shamefully, petitions (signed by both Muslims and non-Muslims) to the Liberal Democratic Party to remove him as their candidate for Parliament. (See my post about it here.) I guess the non-Muslim Brits who signed it were afraid that Nawaz was an “Islamophobe” because of that tw**t. That’s equally shameful.

At any rate, here are a few excerpts from Nawaz’s piece:”Education, not the veil, must come first in schools”:

British Muslims are facing yet another controversy. Camden School for Girls in London has introduced a strict dress code for its pupils. Part of the code states that pupils’ faces should remain visible. As such, the school has insisted that a 16-year-old girl who gained admittance to study A levels must show her face when on school grounds. A petition — yet another petition — has been started, claiming discrimination against Muslims and asserting religious freedom. The school must expect everything from protests and boycotts to sit-ins. But the real controversy is that this can even be a controversy. And I, like many other British Muslims, will once again collectively sigh: how on earth did we let it all come to this? The answer is fear. We are all guilty, Muslim and non-Muslim, of decades of appeasing those with extreme ideas about “identity”. As a result, other groups, mostly of the far right, have emerged with equal force. . . . No, you do not have the freedom to wear what you like at school. There is a dress code, defined by the school itself. And just as pupils are not allowed to wear crash helmets or hoodies in schools, they are not allowed to wear the veil. Any policy but that would be discrimination. Teachers must be able to verify, at all times, that everyone on school grounds is a pupil. For that, the face must be visible at all times. Teaching is about communication, and much communication happens through facial expressions. For that, the face must remain visible. The religion of Islam, my religion, can be interpreted in many ways. The view that the face veil is obligatory is a minority position, heavily disputed by most Muslims. The first command in Islam was to “read”, not to “cover up”, and so education must always trump ritual. This country grants more religious freedom to practise Islam, or any other religion, than all the countries in which the face veil is enforced as law. We should say to any Muslim protesting against Camden School for Girls’ decision: “You simply do not know how good you have it.”

Actually, that’s most of Nawaz’s post, which is short. And for that he’ll undoubtedly receive more threats. But, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, he persists, for he is not a coward. The Camden School for Girls will, likewise, be besieged not just by Muslims, but by misguided non-Muslim Brits who see banning the veil as “Islamophobic.” Well, too bad: it’s not hatred of Muslims, but of one of their religious dictates. Secular needs trump religious ones when they conflict, and students in government schools must show their faces. It’s not even a dislike of Islam itself, but a view that one of their “customs” is inimical to maintaining a harmonious democratic society. Were Catholics or Jews to have religously-mandated face covering, I’d decry that as well.

Stand firm, Camden School for Girls!