Ban the Burka.

[Saorsa1]

Ban the Burka.

Gutless politicians do nothing despite ~70% of people desiring a complete ban.

It's offensive to the equality of the sexes.

Screw this dumb idea that some women want to wear it. Brainwashed Helsinki syndrome burka women are simply that, brainwashed.

Well done France.

[ANDY-J3]

Definitely - I've even seen a Muslim cleric agreeing with a ban. If you want to live in the UK then you are free to practice your religion but you have an obligation to conform to society's values and walking into banks etc. with your face hidden isn't acceptable behaviour. This is one issue where there can be no politically correct compromises. Muslims will just have to accept the reality of the situation.

[Lachlan09]

I would agree with comment on the face-masks or veils, but not so much on body dress, which I believe is an individual’s right to express themselves. After all, what’s the difference between a Western woman who wears a long gypsie or hippie dress from Monsoon and a woman in an abaya ?

Hoodies are banned from shopping malls because it obscures the view of security CCTV, so a face veil or mask must be equally unacceptable.

As for the abaya (that’s what it’s called here in Oman), it is a light chiffon-like material, usually black, often adorned with colourful metallic embroidery, long sleeved and touching the ground. It has no collar and is put on like a coat. It is worn in conjunction with a matching or coloured chiffon, silk or cloth headscarf. Most young women wear Western dress and jeans underneath their abaya, or else a skirt or dress. The whole historic context of the abaya as far as I know is that married women were supposed to wear it so that only the husband could see the wife’s true shape etc and to discourage attention from other men. Arab men are as red-blooded as anyone else (I believe more so and I‘m still trying to work out which is chicken and which is egg ie are some men horny because they just are and husbands want to protect their wives or is it because the men are denied seeing the female form because of the abaya ? – anyway, as a result, rapes sometimes happen to foreign women here - Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Filipina – though never reported in local papers).

Younger women often wear their abayas tailored slim and body-contoured, which in my mind looks sexier and more alluring than normal Western dress, especially when they wear make-up and slide past you (very stately slide) and you catch their heady perfume. The women are sexy and know it, the sexy undies and lingerie shops are in malls here – they aren’t put there specially for foreign / expat women, no – it’s for Omani women.

Many single Omani women wear abayas out of choice, while other single women and some married women wear Western clothes without abaya or only on some occasions. I believe the Quran is the basis for the choice of wearing such coverings or not.

One taboo there is here, which I believe also comes from the Quran, is that you are not allowed to touch a woman eg you can’t shake hands with a Muslim woman or pat them on the shoulder or arm for any reason etc. While not itself against the law, it is frowned upon and if the woman were to make a complaint of harassment, you’d be down the local nick faster than you could blink. Of course, local men can be nailed the same way for touching a foreign woman, though more likely to be followed up by the police if the woman is white, as white = British, American, French, German etc = trouble with big governments whereas Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Filipina, Somali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani = non-white and unimportant governments.

If they want to wear abayas in the UK let them. Or else, ban kilts in the USA in the name of assimilation.

[wullie m]

Syria is apparently banning them from the Universities! wullie m

[Lachlan09]

I would also go with banning the burqa, niqab and any other form of face veil or mask from Western society on the grounds of security, identification and perceived anti-social connotations associated with not being able to see someone’s face. In my office here in Oman women colleagues do not wear any face veils etc, due to said colleagues not wanting to wear them anyway and also the negative effect it would give in a professional working environment where personal contact is important (ie you don’t want to be talking business to an impassive mound of black cloth). If they were kitted out in niqabs etc with just a fishnet post-box slot to look at, it would eventually freak me out. It looks so sinister.

In the shopping malls however, I do see a reasonable proportion of women wearing face veils or face-masks with their headscarves and abayas or else full-head niqabs. Though some may be younger, I think they tend to be mainly middle-aged or older married women with a more traditional background and some perhaps coming from the Omani boonies. They also tend to wear their abayas untailored, so they present a “big black mound” image. I have a joke with my son that their husbands are doing us a favour as their wives are probably plug-ugly. I call these covered women “Darth Vader”. Perhaps there should be a Miss Muslim World "Lovely Eyes" competition !

There was a classic video someone e-mailed to me (could be on You Tube) showing 2 women dressed fully in black with full face veils trying to eat spaghetti in a restaurant. Hilarious !

This brings me onto another subject about ID. Has the UK introduced photo-ID cards for everyone yet (with bio-data back-up, finger-prints, signature etc etc ?). At the least, foreigners should have a residency permit card. Here in Oman, I have my residency card which is also my visa status and labour card and is renewed every 2 years. Nationals have ID cards too and no-one sees it as an intrusion.


So UK, with all today's security nowadays plus fear over illegals and criminals etc, ID cards linked back to police or security databases would surely be a step in the right direction.

[Polwarth]

The Labour Govt were getting pretty far down the road towards national ID cards, much to the dismay of many here. However, Lib/Con coalition have said they have scrapped the idea.

[thedailyflash]

why should we even want muslims or too many?keep them out