Martial arts teams protest another hijab ban

PizDoff · 4/15/2007 7:17pm

JONATHAN MONTPETIT

Canadian Press

Longueuil, Que. — A Tae Kwon Do team of mainly Muslim girls withdrew from a tournament after they were barred from taking part with their hijabs, another example of the ongoing debate in Quebec about accommodating religious minorities.

“The equipment that is allowed under the world Tae Kwon Do federation rules doesn't include the hijab,” international referee Stephane Menard said Sunday.

Mr. Menard said he was at the referees' meeting in Longueuil, just south of Montreal, earlier Sunday when the decision was made for safety reasons.

“We applied the rules to the letter,” he said in an interview.

The team, made up of girls between eight and 12 years old, is affiliated with a Muslim community centre in Montreal. Five of its six girls wear the head covering under their safety helmets.

It's the second time in recent months the hijab has caused controversy at an amateur sporting event in Quebec involving pre-teens.

In February, an 11-year-old Muslim girl from Ottawa was asked to remove her hijab at a soccer tournament in Laval, north of Montreal, due to safety concerns. She refused and her team pulled out of the tournament.

A Montreal Muslim woman recently complained that she was forced to chose between her hijab and a job as a prison guard. Authorities also cited safety concerns in that case.

The small town of Herouxville in rural Quebec set up a code of conduct for would-be immigrants.

A few months ago, a Montreal community health centre was under fire for holding women-only pre-natal classes to make Muslim, Sikh or Hindu women feel more comfortable.

Quebec, a French minority within North America, considers itself a secular society that encourages immigrants to integrate into its francophone culture.

But the debate about “reasonable accommodation” has become so intense that Premier Jean Charest has struck a committee to study the issue.

Eleven-year-old Bissan Mansour said she was saddened by the decision because her team had practised so hard for the tournament.

“We pulled out for a useless reason,” she said.

Tournament organizer Raymond Mourad said he wanted officials to let the Muslim girls compete this time, but his pleas went unheard.

“The kids who came today, we could have let them compete and warned them for next time,” Mr. Mourad said. “I tried my hardest to do that, but the referee didn't want to hear it.”

Jean Faucher, president of the provincial Tae Kwan Do federation, ultimately made the decision to apply the rules concerning hijabs.

“I am not a racist or anything,” Mr. Faucher told Radio-Canada's all-news channel, RDI. “It's a rule and I'm a guy for the rules.”

The Canadian Council of American-Islamic Relations said the decision won't encourage Muslim women to participate in sports.

“This recent fixation on the hijab is only serving to marginalize Muslim women who wish to participate in athletic activity,” the Ottawa-based organization said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

Here's another thread on a similar issue in soccer,
http://www.sociocide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46364

**kwoww** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 7:29pm

If I were a more religious Jew and wore yarmulkes everywhere, I probably wouldn't wear it in a sparring match. God will understand.

Maybe I'm ignorant, but isn't it kind of the same thing for the hijab?

**mutex8** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 8:09pm

Originally Posted by kwoww

If I were a more religious Jew and wore yarmulkes everywhere, I probably wouldn't wear it in a sparring match. God will understand.

You would put fun ahead of your faith? Not flaming here, just trying to understand.

**jtkarate** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 8:19pm

Gee where was all these people complaining about not being able to wear this stuff before 9/11?

**Mobious12** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 8:22pm

I just saw this on the news, tried to find it somewhere, but Bullshido has me covered. Awesome.

Anyway, I think( again not sure) the Hijab is a little more strict of a religous faith/doctrine than the yarmulkes,
I dont see what the problem is.... the normal gear would go over the cloth. What would it do? Also do you want the girls to take it off, and then have hair down to there legs flying around? (Thats a arguement people persented in the Soccer/Hijab debate)

ITs kinda sad the ref, and the people in charge wont change/bend the rules for this.

**Eldarbong** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 10:36pm

Try going to Iran or any other middle-eastern country and getting them to let you wear a cross around your neck or carry a bible, they'll shoot you. Yet Canada has to accommodate ever last request they make in the name of human rights...

**Wolf** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 10:42pm

Yes, they do. Just because you may get shot in Iran for wearing a cross doesn't mean we need to be any less accommodating. This really is a matter of trying to force people to conform to a culture. Asking someone to compromise their faith is not a reasonable request.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 4/15/2007 11:51pm

If you follow the other thread, the issue there was a safety concern that wearing the hajib could result in strangulation. These was soccer players where I could see the fabric inadvertently getting caught in another player's hand.

I think sports clothing lines should design something like a swimmer's skull cap, with tighter fitting material, as a hajib for the head region. As my understanding the hajib is something used for modesty, could something else not cover that area up? Think:

**ironlurker** · Posted On: 4/16/2007 12:33am

Originally Posted by PizDoff

I think sports clothing lines should design something like a swimmer's skull cap, with tighter fitting material, as a hajib for the head region. As my understanding the hajib is something used for modesty, could something else not cover that area up? Think:

That's an ingenious idea, but I'll tell you why it might not work. If these girls are wearing hijab at eight years old -more about that in a sec- they will feel the tightness of the cowl is too exposing. Also, depending on which particular source they're getting their information from, they may well be convinced that a very specific, more elaborate/extensive form is absolutely mandatory.

Here's the bottom line- the hijab is not required before puberty in Islamic law.
What you will find is, yes, religious fanatics who insist on forcing young children to wear it. The idea is to get the young girl used to it so she doesn't question it later- but even if you agree with this approach, it has no textual sanction, and is in fact a reaction to life in Western society.
Guess what? Children in Islam can not even be held responsible for sins. (Saheeh Bukhari, book 1, volume 3, hadith 102). The texts on hijab say after puberty, i.e. "when a woman has reached the age of menstruation"(Sunnan Abu Dawud)

Saying a MA tournament is stupid or closed minded to ban it -especially for safety issues- because these girls "have" to wear it is 100% wrong.
If junior high and high school girls feel they absolutely need to wear it, then have them sign a waiver, because they can make an argument it's required.

But at eight years old= bullshit.
I love how pseudo-intellectuals fall all over themselves to be the first to denounce these episodes when no one knows the fast one that's being pulled here- especially by whatever fraud "scholar" these families are brainwashed by.

**LI GUY 1** · Posted On: 4/16/2007 1:13am

This seems stupid. I doubt it is that big of a safety concern. The girls no doubt practice all the time with these on and have not seen it neccessary to stop wearing them.

I doubt anyone is being racist or anti-muslim, they probably really feel it is a safety concern. But it is not like these girls don't routinely wear them without injury.