Unveiling the Problem

Religious observance in the West is supposed to be a personal decision. That’s what makes it so upsetting when anyone tells someone else how they should practice their faith. Here’s an example: just a week after the Jack Straw’s controversial remarks regarding veiling, the BBC reports that an observant Muslim English teacher in Dewsbury, England was suspended from work for wearing a veil in class. Supposedly, her students couldn’t understand what she was saying when her mouth was covered. Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik critcized the teacher, telling the BBC, “There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children.”  

Evidently his statement is supposed to hold more weight because he’s a Muslim. That assumption is wrong. Individual  Muslims interpret the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Muhammad differently. (There’s an article from the October Atlantic Monthly that touches on the issue.) Some believe that a woman’s veil should cover everything but her eyes; others believe that a woman only needs to cover her hair; and still others believe that any sort of head covering is unnecessary. Jews do the same thing. The book of Deuteronomy says that you shouldn’t boil the meat of a calf in the milk of its mother, resulting in practices ranging from Jews who eat cheeseburgers to Jews who have separate sinks for meat and dairy products in their kitchens. We Westerners believe it’s an individual’s right to determine how to interpret religious guidelines.

To be fair, if the students couldn’t understand their teacher, that is a problem. But there’s language to avoid this kind of situation, without telling people how to practice their religion: Are there any physical or religious restrictions that would keep you from functioning in your job properly? Sound familiar?