Veils off for Muslim Women in Australia
Read Time:2 Minute, 29 Second
When in Rome do as the Romans do, and if the Romans don’t wear veils neither do you. That’s the law and there’s a reason for it.
People need to see each other. Your picture must be taken for your passport and driver’s license. If you conduct business at the ATM you need to have your picture taken. If you commit a crime in this country we want to be able to identify you, whether on surveillance cameras, or by eye witnesses. That’s the way it is in America and Australia. If you’re a Muslim woman living in free countries you need to understand these things. No ancient religious or cultural belief can justify exceptions to the rules which mandate the health, safety and welfare of our citizens.
It doesn’t matter that, in Australia, their most senior Islamic cleric — an extremist — sparked uproar when he described women without head scarves as “uncovered meat” inviting sexual attack. It is not his country and it is not yours if you refuse to follow the laws of the land.
Here is an example of cultural disparity and there can only be one outcome. If you are in Rome you must do as the Romans do. If you are in Australia, you must do as the Australians do, or you must suffer the consequences.
Muslim women would have to remove veils and show their faces to police on request or risk a prison sentence under proposed new laws in Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales. Under the law, a woman who defies police by refusing to remove her face veil could be sentenced to a year in prison and fined $5,900. The bill—to be voted on by the state parliament in August—has been condemned by civil libertarians and many Muslims as an overreaction to a traffic offense case involving a Muslim woman driver in a “niqab,” or a veil that reveals only the eyes.
An official complaint was made in Carnita Matthews’ name after the 47-year-old Muslim mother received a traffic violation in Sydney last year. The complaint said a policeman was racist toward her and attempted to tear off her veil off during a traffic encounter. But the actual traffic encounter was recorded on a camera in the officer’s car, and showed a woman in a full veil aggressively berating the restrained officer. Matthews was initially sentenced to jail time for making a deliberately false statement to police. But that conviction and sentence were quashed on appeal because a judge was not convinced that it was Matthews who signed the false statutory declaration. The woman who signed the document had worn a burka and a justice of the peace who witnessed the signing had not looked beneath the veil to confirm her identity.
Healthy discussions are important, and this subject is no exception. Please let us know what you think about Muslim women wearing veils in Australia, or America for that matter.
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Well I do need to point some things out.
Only in Two nations i know of is the veil required by law. Iran and Saduia Arabia. In fact MOST Muslim Nations outlaw them. Because…. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING MUSLIM.
It is more a ethnic custom then a religious one.
I agree when in Rome do as the Romans do. If you can’t follow the law, religion or not, go back to the country you left. Hopefully, Muslim women will become free and no longer mistreated, if that is their choice.
I agree that there needs to be rules which govern the odd customs of other cultures. I don’t think they have to give up wearing those things altogether but they need to take them off when they need to.