{"id":63829,"date":"2019-04-30T02:40:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T06:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=63829"},"modified":"2019-04-30T02:40:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T06:40:47","slug":"the-banning-of-face-veils-under-emergency-laws-by-president-sirisena-gives-rise-to-concerns-within-muslim-civil-society-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=63829","title":{"rendered":"The Banning of “Face Veils” Under Emergency Laws by President Sirisena Gives Rise to Concerns Within Muslim Civil Society in Sri Lanka."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has banned veils citing \u201csecurity\u201d reasons following Easter attacks, but the decision has sparked a host of concerns within the Muslim community. <\/p>\n

President Maithripala Sirisena said that the ban, being brought under emergency law, was in the interest of national security and public safety, so that individuals were easily identifiable.<\/p>\n

In this instance, \u201cface veils\u201d, Sri Lankan activists note, imply burqas that some Sri Lankan Muslim women wear, though the official announcement doesn\u2019t name the attire specifically. <\/p>\n

The announcement comes a week after serial explosions, attributed to radical Islamist groups and targeting churches and hotels, shook the country.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the apex religious body of Islamic scholars, has issued a directive to the Muslim community urging members to refrain from wearing the veil. \u201cWe were not responding to the government\u2019s ban, we independently reached out to the community keeping in mind the current situation,\u201d said Ash-Sheikh Fazil Farook, ACJU media secretary.<\/p>\n

However, what is effectively a burqa ban will have to be seen both in the context of the current moment as well as in the broader context, cautions Mareena Thaha Reffai, founder-president of Al Muslim Aath, a 28-year-old organisation of Muslim Women. A preacher herself, Ms. Reffai said the reference to the burqa in the Koran does not speak of imposition or avoidance. \u201cIt is ambiguous and lends itself to varied interpretations. It\u2019s important to understand that.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The timing of the ban is significant, in her view. \u201cIt comes at a time when we are dealing with a national tragedy. Any opportunity to express our solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters, any chance to show our willingness to cooperate is crucial at this point,\u201d she said, adding it was in that spirit that the ACJU issued the directive. <\/p>\n

All the same, the possible repercussions of such a move, which some are reading as an attack on civil liberties, is cause of worry, observed Ms. Reffai, especially when there could be political motives driving such decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government made a blunder, in underestimating the threat and failing to take precautions. Now they would like to deflect attention to something else, isn\u2019t it?\u201d she said. Moreover, no suspect or suicide bomber was found wearing a burqa, so \u201cthere is no direct correlation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite that, seen in the specific context of the aftermath of the blasts, the ban does not seem unreasonable to her. \u201cAt the same time, if there are moves to prevent us from wearing the abaya [full-length dress] or the headscarf, we will surely resist that,\u201d she told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lanka has banned veils citing \u201csecurity\u201d reasons following Easter attacks, but the decision has sparked a host of concerns within the Muslim community. President Maithripala Sirisena said that the ban, being brought under emergency law, was in the interest of national security and public safety, so that individuals were easily identifiable. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Banning of “Face Veils” Under Emergency Laws by President Sirisena Gives Rise to Concerns Within Muslim Civil Society in Sri Lanka.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63830,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829\/revisions\/63830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}