French Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, announced on Sunday that he had decided to ban the wearing of the abaya in French schools, “what is meant is the wide, long garment also known as the jilbab.” Attal said during an interview with French TF1 television that “It will no longer be possible to wear an abaya at school.” He stressed his endeavor to establish “clear rules at the national level” for school principals to follow before the start of the new academic year throughout France, starting this September 4. The decision revealed by the French Minister of Education comes after months of debates over the matter and calls from the extreme right to issue a ban. It also comes after reports of the increasing spread of this phenomenon in schools, and the presence of tensions between teachers and parents in this regard. Members of the French government stated on Monday in response to the measure and in its support: “The ban on wearing the abaya in schools in France responds to the need to unite in the face of a political attack.” Government spokesman Olivier Veran even declared it explicitly, “It is a political attack. It is a political signal. Wearing the abaya is a form of expression of preaching”. The Minister of Education called for the formation of a united front against what undermines secularism and promised to train 300,000 employees annually until 2025 and to train all 14,000 administrative employees by the end of 2023.
Indeed, this is how they declared the matter with insolence and without concealment, a political war, but rather an existential war in which they place Islam as a real threat, so they mobilize everyone and call on them to stand with them in the face of what they see as preaching of Islam.
Indeed, the number of women wearing the abaya has increased in schools, institutes and universities in recent years. This is due to the desire of Muslim women to abide by the rulings of their Lord, and the desire of many French women to convert to Islam. Despite the restrictions practiced by the government by prohibiting the hijab in schools since 2004, this has not succeeded in integrating Muslim women, completely alienating them from their religion, and making them an exact copy of the unveiled Western woman who reveals more of her body than she covers. This disturbed them, and they began to associate the long, covering dress, whether loose or tight, with Islam and consider it a religious symbol. Therefore, they fought the burkini, the football players’ veil, and now the abaya.
In October 1989, three female middle school students were expelled for refusing to remove their headscarves (Khimars), in what was known as the Creil Hijab affair. Although the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on November 27, 1989, that students carrying symbols that reveal their religious affiliation does not violate secularism, but the issue of the hijab remained raised until the law was enacted in 2004, which approved a ban on the use of religious symbols in all public primary and secondary schools. It became clear during that period that the issue was purely political, and that it contradicted the individual freedoms that they always used to deceive us with.
Then the niqab was banned in public places in 2010. Also, in 2021 the European Union Supreme Court ruled for giving employers the right to prevent employees from wearing the headscarf in the workplace. Also, the French Council of State announced at the end of last June its support for the decision to ban female football players from wearing the headscarf, and now they are banning the abaya, calling for mobilizing the ranks and to stand in the trenches of their secularism, declaring the matter explicitly as a political war on Islam, so what secularism are they talking about?! Is it secularism that they claim is a guarantor of rights and freedoms, but in reality robs young girls of the right to education because they choose to wear the headscarf and abaya, while turning a blind eye to cross necklaces and Jewish skullcaps despite their spread?! Or about secularism, which they claim, it respects the law and prevents its violations, yet those in power repeatedly violate it especially when it comes to Muslims, while the intelligence incident and counting the lists of absentees on Eid al-Fitr is not far from us?! Or is it the secularism that they call for and tailor to their own standards, as Attal said, “Secularism is the freedom to liberate oneself through school?” What is important is that it is a war on Islam and everything related to it.
The French Minister of Education should have been concerned with the serious problems that education and schools in France suffer from, including the spread of corruption, poor upbringing, the spread of sexual relations and drugs among children, in addition to the decline in the quality of education, the lack of capabilities in schools, the insufficient school aid for low-income families, and other problems that are no longer hidden from the leaders in France, but no, these issues can wait, according to the minister’s opinion! And he must now be firm on the issue of the abaya and long shirts only!
The politicians of France are continuing in their wrongdoing. Hatred has appeared from their mouths and what is hidden in their chests is greater. They will not spare any efforts in their war against Islam and Muslims. Therefore, Muslims in France will remain targeted because of their religion until Allah permits and the Islamic state is established. It is this state that it will be a refuge for the oppressed and a protector for them from the plots of the plotters.
Women’s Section in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Press Release
14 Safar 1445 – Wednesday 30th August 2023
No: AH / 003 1445
(Translated)