CAIRO, 31 December 2003 — The French government and the Muslim world’s most prestigious center of Islamic learning found common ground yesterday on a contentious French law which would stop Muslim girls wearing headscarves in French state schools.
The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, told reporters that although wearing the headscarf or hijab was a religious duty, governments of non-Muslim countries had the right to pass any laws they like, even on dress codes.
He was speaking before talks in Cairo with French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who assured him that France guarantees its Muslim citizens complete freedom to practice their religion.
French President Jacques Chirac has called for a law banning Islamic headscarves and all religious symbols in state schools, strengthening France’s commitment to secularism.
Many Muslims object to the ban, saying that wearing the headscarf is a religious duty for Muslim women and that the garment should not count as a symbol meant for display.
But Tantawi said that different rules applied to Muslims living in Muslim countries and those living outside.
“If the Muslim woman is in a non-Muslim country, like France, for example, and the officials there want to pass laws which are contrary (to Islam) on the question of the headscarf as it relates to the Muslim woman, then that is their right which I cannot interfere with as a Muslim,” he said.
“In that case, if a Muslim woman observes the laws of a non-Muslim state, then from the point of view of Islamic law, she has the status of acting under coercion,” he added.
He cited the example of Islamic dietary laws, which allow infractions when Muslims are unable to meet the requirements through no fault of their own.
“Just as I do not allow non-Muslims to interfere in my affairs as a Muslim, at the same time I do not permit myself to interfere in the affairs of non-Muslims,” the sheikh added.
Sarkozy said French Muslims had the same rights as Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others and assured his mainly Egyptian audience that the law did not target Muslims.
“You shouldn’t see in it a humiliation for anyone. You shouldn’t see in it a lack of respect for your religion. You must understand that secularism is our tradition, our choice.
“I thank the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar for indicating that in a secular and non-Muslim state it is the duty of everyone to respect the law,” he added.
“There are no rights without duties, and if the Muslims of France have the same rights as other believers, they have the same duties,” he said.
