It is true that Muhammad in a hadith says that women should cover everything but face and hands. The face veil is on shakier Islamic ground. Nonetheless, Fillon’s appeal is likely to fall on deaf ears, as do all such appeals from non-Muslim leaders. “French PM urges Muslims to reject ‘hijacked Islam,'” by Elizabeth Pineau for Reuters, June 28 (thanks to Twostellas):
PARIS, June 28 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Francois Fillon urged France’s Muslims on Monday to reject full face veils as a sectarian caricature of Islam, a week before parliament debates a law banning burqas and niqabs in public.
Inaugurating a mosque in a northwestern Paris suburb, he said French Muslims should combat a tiny radical minority using face veils as a way to combat the integration of a tolerant Islam that respects the separation of church and state.
“The Islam of France, the Islam you practice daily, has nothing to do with this caricature that dims the lights of your faith,” Fillon, the most senior French politician to inaugurate a mosque in decades, said to applause from the crowd.
“You should stand in the front line against this hijacking of the religious message … it’s up to you to make intelligence triumph over obscurantism and tolerance over intolerance.”…
“This minority practice, which flouts the basic rules of living together and scandalises our citizens, amounts to radical behaviour that does not reflect the reality of Islam,” he said.
The prime minister also endorsed Muslim victimhood claims in a big way, while saying nothing about jihad or Islamic supremacism:
The prime minister made clear he recognised Muslims’ concern about a growing trend of anti-Muslim feeling they saw in France, noting that six mosques had been defaced or attacked last year and several Muslim graves vandalised early this year.
“Thirty percent of all acts of racist violence (last year), mostly threats, were made against Muslims,” he said.
Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Muslim Council (CFCM), said Fillon was welcome after the tensions raised by the national identity and veil debates. “His presence is a gesture of recognition and respect,” he told the daily La Croix.
And that respect, of course, is always and everywhere a one-way street.
Meanwhile, the Socialist mayor of Argenteuil reinforces the Leftist/Islamic alliance:
Philippe Doucet, Socialist mayor of suburban town of Argenteuil, where the mosque stands, said the conservative prime minister was making up for the “political mistake” of launching what became emotional debates about identity and veils.
In the trial of the veiled driver, the defendant’s lawyer accused the police of racial profiling and said no law barred drivers from wearing niqabs with only a slit open for the eyes.
“The niqab is no worse than the helmet worn by Formula 1 drivers who spin around the circuits at 320 km/h and yet who can still look in their rearview mirrors,” he said.
Yeah, they’re just the same.