The recent decision of the Belgium government to pass a legislation banning the wearing of the burqa in public has stirred a raging controversy, pitting the modernist against the traditionalist both in the West as well as in the Islamic world. Indeed, the burqa has become a symbol of the clash of ideas. The ‘progressive’ West says the burqa violates its secular ethos and its ideals, prompting France and Australia to try to emulate Belgium in proscribing the veil.
The ban in Belgium has angered Abdul Bari Atwan, who sees it as an attempt to divert attention from the atrocities the western armed forces are committing in Muslim countries, and a justification for their occupation of the Muslim lands. “By showing Muslims as a community caught in a time warp, they can justify why they have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Atwan. In other words, through the burqa controversy, the West wants to justify its occupation as a civilising mission, a subtle variation on the white man’s burden theme of yore.
