The Veil: Sarkozy is right
Written by Kazi Mahmood, WFOL.com
For once and for all, lets do the most outright thing here. Rendons a Cesar ce qui appartient a Cesar. (In english – Belongs to Ceasar what is appropriate for Ceasar). And with this I say that Sarkozy, Nicolas French President is right in his stand on the Muslim veil or Burqah and even Jubah for that matter.
He is right in when he made a speech in the French Parliament on Monday 22 June 2009 in which he reiterates that the "Islamic burka (abaya) is not welcomed in France." Note that this is not the first time a French top gun make such a statement and it is now with very little surprise that many Muslims within and outside France take such statements.
He is right because he was talking about France in the auguste French Parliament and in front of French law makers and other freedom right 'fighers' of European origin. Yes they are right fighters too.
And many Muslims are wrong in condemning Sarkozy. Not totally, absolutely wrong but they are wrong in criticizing him and accusing him of 'anti-semitism' against Islam. No one expects Sarkozy, a man from a Jewish mother, to be fair to Islam and Muslims. If someone expected this guy to be fair to Muslims on Islamic issues and to state that the abaya is to be allowed in France and on France streets, then that person would have been naive.
I admire though the Muslims who take position against people like Sarkozy when he addresses Islamic issues. For the issue of the scarf is an Islamic issue not a Muslim one alone. There is a clear distinction that is to be made between the things that are 'Islamic' and the things that are 'Muslim'. That we will explain in another posting. My dear friend and brother YB Zulkifli Nordin from the Party Keadilaan Rakyat (PKR) said he is not surprised at the statement by Sarkozy. He added that such a statement coming from 'a person the like of Sarkozy, a person who felt so proud and honored that his wife's nude photo were sold to the highest bidder; a person who was so impressed to have as a wife a women who spread her leg totally naked and splashed centrepage of nude magazine Penthouse.'
