ABU DHABI, 13 January 2004 — France’s foreign minister took the debate on banning Islamic headscarves to the Muslim world yesterday, insisting his country’s draft law does not target Islam as he began a tour of Gulf countries.
Dominique de Villepin said the measure which has angered Muslims worldwide, was not aimed at any religion but was part of France’s secular heritage.
“France is a country of democracy and human rights. Our position is very clear, but we want to avoid any misunderstanding and explain our position,” he told a news conference in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi.
“Islam has its full place in France. It is very respected and as part of respecting religions and various beliefs and faiths, the government should be neutral and this is a secular French tradition which favors equal rights of all faiths.”
Villepin was speaking at the start of a tour of the Gulf region which he would discuss postwar Iraq and the transfer of power there in June, as well as the Middle East conflict.
The minister said his country was committed to see Iraq regain its sovereignty and to reintegrate into the international community, adding that this needed a new framework.
Although the draft French law applies to overt religious symbols, including the Jewish skullcap and large Christian crosses, it has angered Muslims who feel it mainly targets them.
“This draft law is part of France’s old secular tradition and it is wrong to say it targets Islam and Muslims,” Villepin said, adding that the ban would be limited to public schools and institutions. Some Muslim groups in France plan to march in protest against the draft law on Jan. 17.
In Qatar, Egyptian-born cleric Yussef Al-Qaradawi threatened legal action if the ban came into force. “The schools concerned are state schools. Private, confessional establishments will not be affected — nor will universities, public places or, least of all, private premises,” de Villepin said.
The sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, again defended his decree supporting the French decision, according to an interview published in Cairo yesterday.
The fatwa which Sheikh Muhammad Saied Tantawi issued during a visit to Egypt last month by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was slammed by other Muslim clerics as well as by the Muslim Brotherhood.
France practices “secularism and whoever doesn’t like this policy has only to leave the country,” Sheikh Tantawi said in an interview with the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, which is distributed in Cairo.
“The (French) are secular. They do not allow religion to intervene in (public) affairs. It’s a domestic (French) affair,” the Cairo-based sheikh added, while repeating that the headscarf remained a religious “obligation” for Muslim women.
A leading Shiite Muslim leader from Lebanon, Syed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, demanded an apology from the imam of Al-Azhar.
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is technically banned but is allowed to carry out some activities, also denounced Tantawi’s fatwa and an Egyptian weekly, Al-Osboue, called Jan. 4 for his removal.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Tantawi said “the (Islamic) nation is absolutely not confronted with a war of religion,” adding that the French decision on headscarves would not be followed by other steps against Muslims.
