After France banning the burqa, public opinion is divided in the UK as to whether it was right or not and whether Britain should follow suit.
First of all, let us get one thing clear. The burqa is not an Islamic garment. The prophet Mohammad did not recommend it or ask for it. He did not say it was decreed by God either. The burqa is purely a cultural thing and nowhere in the original Quran is it mentioned. I should know - I have read it from cover to cover in Arabic.
So, the debate about the burqa in the UK is a debate about a cultural thing which has nothing to do with religion.
To say the burqa is a religious garment is like saying that Charles Manson was a Christian priest.
I would actually go further than that. The prophet Mohammad was kind to girls and women. His message from God was one designed to save women and girls from cultural atrocities committed on them. For example, sometimes baby girls were buried alive in the sand to get rid of them so that the family would not have to pay a dowry when the girl grows up and gets married. And women went around wearing a flimsy shirt and were often treated with disrespect as a sexual object. Islam put an end to all that, and rightly so. It differentiated women by a respectful dress code.
This dress code exposed the face, hands, and feet of the woman.
The prophet Mohammad was not a cruel or stupid man. And his wife was an independent woman who was a trader - a travelling saleswoman. He decreed that alcohol is banned, just like now heroin is illegal in the West. And although I am not Muslim, I can see the wisdom in that. I may disagree about whether banning alcohol is the best way to stop the effects of alcoholism, but I do see where the prophet Mohammad was coming from and respect that. In other words, I can see how the prophet Mohammad not only cared about the dignity of his people but also about their health.
I cannot see how any God-fearing person could possibly sentence babies to rickets and women to a low immunity. This happens when women are deprived of Vitamin D, which we were designed to get from exposure to the sun.
I am sure that if the prophet Mohammad was living in this day and age, he himself would ban the burqa. It is against the health and dignity of women, as well as the health of their children. Sadly, it is not up to the prophet Mohammad to decide on this one.
