Face veil has been subject to difference of opinion among Islamic jurists for centuries in the Muslim world, with respected Islamic scholars weighing in on whether it is mandated in Islam or not. No matter whose side observers support, recent events in France, especially the attack by a 63-year-old French woman on an Emirati tourist wearing the veil, are barbaric, shameful and should be considered an affront to people of all ethnicities and all religions. France has passed a law banning the full burqa, putting out a fire that never raged as it is estimated that fewer than 2,000 women in a country of over 62 million actually use the burqa. By passing such a law, however, the French government has told its people that there is a problem, i.e. the burqa, about which they must be vigilant. The result is the kind of egregious attack on personal liberty that the retired English teacher carried out. Speaking to Le Parisien newspaper, she said it was unacceptable women wore the veil in what she called the birthplace of human rights. Such nonsensical doublespeak sounds as if it could come from the mouth of Osama Bin Laden as he defends and encourages mass murder of the innocent. Human rights mean tolerance and understanding even where serious disagreement exists. It means mutual respect when faced by those who adhere to different religions and faiths. By attempting to legislate out of existence the public expression of one's religion through attire, the French government may find that it has unleashed a monster within its own population, one that sees human rights only as those a small sliver of the population defines. With his support of the burqa ban and the expulsion of gypsies from French territory, President Nicholas Sarkozy has put himself in opposition to some of his country's greatest traditions. It hardly seems that he truly qualifies as the standard bearer of human rights in France. __
