Integrate or Be Forced to Assimilate
In the modern, westernised world, many immigrants have two choices, they can either integrate voluntarily into the society that they have chosen to be a part of, or they can be dragged kicking and screaming through forced assimilation. Some people are very good at the whole voluntary integration. The flip side is that there still exist many who refuse to integrate into the society as it exists and insist on turning the society they move to into one from whence they came.
The immigrants who come to a new nation, who bring their heritage while acknowledging the cultural differences and accepting it, are generally those who can make a new life for themselves easily. They hold their beliefs, but they act as members of the nation they are apart of.
This is what makes a nation a cultural mosaic; the cultures that are brought over are added to the patchwork of the nation and integrated into the fabric of the pre-existing society.
This applies no matter where a person moves when they choose to emigrate to another nation.
If a westerner goes to any Middle Eastern or Far East nation, ruled by religion, that westerner has no room to express his/her cultural identity. In Saudi Arabia, women are forced to cover, even if they are of another religion. Same with any other nation in that area.
But the west is ‘culturally’ sensitive, so we must accommodate every nutjob that comes here. We are ‘racists’ and ‘bigots’ if we speak out against what isn’t a normal aspect of our culture, such as the niqab and the burqa, two popular Islamic veils in high;y conservative areas that use a very literal interpretation of the Qu’ran that call for ‘modesty’.
Believers! Enter not the houses other than your own until you have introduced yourselves and wished peace to those in them. That is best for you that you may be heedful. If you find no one in the house, enter not until permission is given to you. If you are asked to go back, go back, for it is purer for you. Allah has knowledge of all which you do. It is no sin for you to enter non-residential places in which there is benefit for you. And Allah has knowledge of what you reveal and what you conceal. [O Prophet!] tell believing men to restrain their eyes and guard their private parts [if there are women present in these houses]. That is purer for them. And Allah is well aware of what you do. And tell the believing women to restrain their eyes and to guard their private parts and to display of their ornaments only those [which are worn on limbs] which are normally revealed and to draw their khumūr over their bosoms. They should not reveal their ornaments to anyone save their husbands or their fathers or their husbands’ fathers or their sons or their husbands’ sons or their brothers or their brothers’ sons or their sisters’ sons or other women of acquaintance or their slaves or the subservient male servants who are not attracted to women or children who have no awareness of the hidden aspects of women. They should [also] not stamp their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. Believers turn to Allah in repentance that you may prosper.
— Qur’an, 24:27-31
The western ‘world’ sees this as moderates do, which means dressing in simple clothing, nothing revealing, accompanied by, in the woman’s case, a hijab.
Also commonly accepted in the western world is that those who cover their face, such as with a ski mask, bandanna or a hoodie with a baseball cap are likely hiding something and are generally distrusted. Islamic veils are viewed the same way for some. They don’t object to the religious dress itself, but rather to the dress that obscures the face, placing those who wear the niqab or burqa on par with those who conceal their face for dubious reasons.
This has come under fire in various places throughout Europe, including in France, where the French government banned all religious symbols in public that can’t be concealed, England, where a teacher was handed down a ruling regarding her wearing of a veil in the classroom. Italy has a dated law from the 70s aimed to curb violence. Their law makes the covering of face in public illegal, and this dates before there was a notable Muslim population there.
While France made a blanket law governing all religious symbols, The Netherlands has come out in favour of banning the burqa and other face coverings. No one else has whined as much as the Islamic population. Potent symbols of western culture have come under fire, but, no one has whined about not being able to cover their faces other than Muslims. Even if it’s cold out.
Other forms of face coverings, such as veils, and crash helmets with visors that obscure the face, would also be covered by a ban.
A ban on covering the face vesus not being able to wear any symbol of one’s religion?
Dutch Muslim condemn burqa ban vs French scarf ban comes into force
