CS I wish you hadn't posted that link after a leisurely Sunday breakfast! but maybe someone will find it extremely attractive.


I think I did refer way back somewhere to independent young women taking on the full burka as a political/idealogical statement against the intolerance of Islam in our country (generated and fueled by the more rabid end of the media and political parties) to, as I believe, the detriment of other less independent women who may be subjected to pressure to follow their example.

The question of autonomy has been raised but society does have regulations about what constitutes acceptable 'dress'

Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public

Although nudism is often practiced in a person's home or garden, either alone or with members of the family and in restricted venues, public nudity in the UK is a 'dress code' which is very restricted and even subject to judicial penalty.

A naked man walking in the streets to advocate public nudity as a right which should be accepted by the rest of society is indeed a political statement -

"The naked rambler, Stephen Gough, has been told he will spend the rest of his life behind bars if he continues refusing to wear clothes in public." - News report 13 Jan 2010

Mr Gough said he accepted he could "potentially" remain in jail forever and added: "This is about individual freedom."

Banning the full burka would indeed be an attack on some individuals freedom (as indeed the imposition of a smoking ban in public was) but 'freedom' has limits defined by common sense and shared values, which also have the right to be protected.


I don't know how many times it is necessary to point out that wearing the all-enveloping outer garment is
                  NOT A RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT,
but a cultural tradition from Saudi Arabia.

It cannot be justified in the name of religion because nothing requires it.

According to Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the dean of Al-Azhar University, the most famous institution of higher learning in the Muslim world, the burqa and the niqab are not Islamic.
Both are a sign of tribal affiliation.
For this reason, he had the full-face veil banned from hundreds of buildings that come under al-Azhar's jurisdiction.

Gamal al-Banna, brother of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote a book and signed several articles in which he argued that the Qur'an does not require Muslim women to wear the veil.

Islam advocates 'modest' dress for men AND women If the full-face veil were the best way to practice modesty, WHY ARE MEN NOT WEARING IT?

We must identify what is best in Western AND Islamic civilisations and what is less so.

I agree with Samir Khalil Samir's conclusion that
"Such work of understanding must be done jointly, in a cultural, ethical and spiritual dialogue that includes everyone (agnostics and non-believers as well, since ethics and spirituality are not a preserve of believers alone)."