Why Muslim women wear the veil
The Koran, Islam's holy book and treated as the literal word of God, tells Muslims - men and women - to dress modestly.

Male modesty has been interpreted to be covering the area from above the navel to below the knee - and for women it is generally seen as covering everything except their face, hands and feet when in the presence of men they are not related or married to.

However, there has been much debate among Islamic scholars as to whether this goes far enough.

This has led to a distinction between the hijab (literally "covering up" in Arabic) and the niqab (meaning "full veil").

Hijab is a common sight among Muslim women, a scarf that covers their hair and neck.

Niqab consists of covering up completely, including gloves and a veil for the face - leaving just a slit for the eyes, or covering them too with transparent material.

This form of dress is rarer, although it has been growing in recent years, and it is this which former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says he objects to at face-to-face meetings with his constituents.

Muslim scholars have debated whether it is obligatory to don the niqab, or whether it is just recommended without being obligatory.

There have also been more liberal interpretations which say the headscarf is unnecessary, as long as women maintain the sartorial modesty stipulated in the Koran.

Scholarly dispute

The holy text addresses "the faithful women" who are told to shield their private parts and not to display their adornment "except what is apparent of it".

Scholarly disputes revolve around what this last phrase means.

Does it refer to the outer surface of a woman's garments, necessitating that she cover every part of her body - ie don the full niqab?

Or does it give an exemption referring to the face and the hands, as well as conventional female ornaments such as kohl, rings, bracelets and make-up?

The latter interpretation has been adopted by some of the most prominent scholars from Islamic history, such as Abu Jafar al-Tabari, who favour the hijab option.

There are additional Koranic instructions - seen as ambiguous and therefore much debated - for women to draw the "khimar" (or scarf) to cover the "jayb" (or bosom/upper chest), and for "the wives and daughters of the Prophet and the women of the believers to draw their "jalabib" (or cloaks) close round them".

Religious and cultural traditions vary across the Muslim world, stretching from Indonesia to Morocco.

But it may also be left to the Muslim woman to decide for herself, whether she wants to cover up fully with the niqab, as an expression of her faith and Islamic identity, or not.

In countries such as France and Turkey, where there are legal curbs on religious dress, it becomes a matter of women's human rights to wear what they want.

But at the same time the niqab is such a powerful statement that more liberal Muslims sometimes can be heard objecting to it, especially in more developed societies, where women have fought long and hard to shake off restrictions seen as outdated and imposed by men.
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5411320.stm

Remove full veils' urges Straw
Cabinet Minister (UK) Jack Straw has said he would prefer Muslim women not to wear veils which cover the face.

The Commons leader said he did not want to be "prescriptive" but he believed that covering people's faces could make community relations more difficult.

Mr Straw has said he asks Muslim women at his Blackburn constituency surgeries if they would mind removing veils.

Some Muslim women called his remarks insulting, but other Muslims said they understood his concerns.

Mr Straw has dismissed suggestions that his remarks are designed to raise his profile ahead of Labour's deputy leadership election.

He has yet to confirm whether he will join the race to succeed John Prescott but is widely expected to do so.

Meeting strangers

Mr Straw is Labour MP for Blackburn, where between 25% and 30% of residents are Muslim.

He sparked controversy when he told his local paper he asked female constituents visiting his surgery if they would uncover their faces.
He said he made sure he had a female colleague in the room when asking someone to show their mouth and nose - and his constituents had so far always agreed to do so.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if he would rather the veils be discarded completely, Mr Straw replied: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather."

Mr Straw explained the impact he thought veils could have in a society where watching facial expressions was important for contact between different people.

"Communities are bound together partly by informal chance relations between strangers - people being able to acknowledge each other in the street or being able pass the time of day," he said.
"That's made more difficult if people are wearing a veil. That's just a fact of life.

"I understand the concerns but I hope, however, there can be a mature debate about this.

"I come to this out of a profound commitment to equal rights for Muslim communities and an equal concern about adverse development about parallel communities."

'Separateness' fears

Mr Straw stressed it was a choice for women and he was making a request and not a demand.

"What I've been struck by when I've been talking to some of the ladies concerned is that they had not, I think, been fully aware of the potential in terms of community relations," he said.
"I mean, they'd thought of it just as a statement for themselves, in some cases they regard themselves as very religious - and I respect that - but as I say, I just wanted to put this issue on the table."

He said he was worried the "implications of separateness" and the development of "parallel communities".

Tony Blair's official spokesman said the prime minister "believes that it is right that people should be able to have a discussion and express their personal views on issues such as this".

The spokesman said Mr Straw's comments were not government policy and he refused to reveal Mr Blair's views on the issue.

'Dangerous doctrine'

Mr Straw's comments have provoked a mixed response from Muslim groups. The Islamic Human Rights Commission called Mr Straw's views "astonishing" and accused him of discrimination.

The Protect-Hijab organisation said the "appalling" comments showed "a deep lack of understanding".

But Dr Daud Abdullah, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he could understand Mr Straw's discomfort adding that women could choose to remove the veil.

Labour's Baroness Uddin said debate was needed but perhaps not in the way Mr Straw had framed it.

She was worried he had talked about veils being a statement of separation - that acknowledged the government's failure to ensure Muslim women were "part and parcel" of British society, she argued.

Conservative policy director Oliver Letwin said it would be "dangerous doctrine" to tell people how to dress.

And Liberal Democrat president Simon Hughes: "The experience of visiting their MP is difficult enough for many people without having to consider a dress code.

Blair defends Straw veil comments
Prime Minister Tony Blair has told the BBC Jack Straw's decision to open a debate about Muslim women wearing full face veils was "perfectly sensible".

Mr Straw suggested wearing full face veils could harm community relations.

Mr Blair said the Commons leader had raised the issue in a "measured and considered" way, and cautioned against people getting "hysterical" about it.

Author Salman Rushdie backed Mr Straw, saying that veils "suck" as they were a symbol of the "limitation of women".

'Break down barriers'

The subject arose after Mr Straw said last week that he now asked Muslim women to take off full veils at his constituency surgery.

Mr Blair said it was important to raise such issues "if we want to break down barriers" between people, cultures and religions.

He stopped short of saying he would make the same request as Mr Straw, but said having a debate was important.

"I think it's perfectly sensible if you raise it in a measured and considered way which he did, to have a proper public discussion about it," Mr Blair said.

"How do we make sure people integrate more, how do we make sure people aren't wanting to separate themselves out from the mainstream of society?"
Chancellor Gordon Brown also appeared to offer his support to Mr Straw, saying "he is not proposing new laws, he's proposing a debate about the cultural changes that are taking place in Great Britain".

Mr Straw said last week he did not want to be "prescriptive" but he believed that covering people's faces could make community relations more difficult.

He is Labour MP for Blackburn, where between 25% and 30% of residents are Muslim.

"Communities are bound together partly by informal chance relations between strangers - people being able to acknowledge each other in the street or being able to pass the time of day," he said.

"That's made more difficult if people are wearing a veil. That's just a fact of life."

Some Muslims called his remarks insulting but others said they understood his concerns.

Mr Rushdie, who was once the subject of a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeni of Iran over his novel The Satanic Verses, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he saw veils as removing power from women.

Mr Straw "was expressing an important opinion which is that veils suck - which they do," the author added.

"Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there is not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted the wearing of a veil.

"The battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women so, in that sense, I am completely on his side."