02 December 2009

Muslim scholar berates France over burqa debate

.... A professor of Islamic studies at Oxford, Ramadan warned lawmakers that a law banning the burqa would be counter-productive and urged them to instead work with French Muslim leaders for change. “All of this commotion over the burqa does tell ordinary citizens that there is something wrong with Islam and leads to stigmatisation,” he said.

.... France’s “burqa debate” came back to the fore this week after Switzerland voted in a referendum to ban minarets, putting Islam’s place in Europe again in the headlines. Ramadan said the Swiss vote showed that “we under-estimated the level of fear and distrust (of Islam) among the general population. [Khaleej Times] Read more