Another aspect to the niqab

My previous post, 'Yes, it's time to ban the veil' was largely written by a Muslim cleric but a friend has pointed out that in certain Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, women are not only bound to wear the veil (or be flogged) but to also abide by other aspects of a male dominated culture that flits in and out of Sharia Law.

A woman may not travel alone. If she does leave the home fortress she must be accompanied, by a close senior relative, at all times.

If she wishes to earn a living wage in a situation where she might come face to face with a man (heaven forfend), then she must undertake her duties behind a grille. 

One so dense that you cannot make out if there is a person on the other side or not.

Banks, travel agents and the like have such a female friendly arrangement.

If she goes to school, college or university, it must be within an all female environment just in case any poor male inadvertently glances upon an unveiled face.

In Saudi, women may not drive a car and the electoral vote has been closed to them (a law change means that women may vote from 2015).

Such 'laws' are enforced by a non too user friendly religious police force (mutaween) who punish minor offences with a few slashes of the rather nasty whips they carry.

For something really serious like having a cup of tea in a hotel lobby with a non related male, women are carted off in shackles and chucked into jail.

And if they ever get out and return home then they must enter the family abode via the women's entrance, never, of course, via the men's.

So, to those Muslim women who wish to walk the streets of Britain masked in what is rapidly becoming a symbol of fundamental Islam, the message must be "Do as they do in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" or abide by the culture of the country.

Thanks to a friend for flagging these points up.