On September 7th, 2023, the French government issued a law completely banning Muslim children from wearing abayas in French middle and high schools. The announcement was made by France’s new education minister Gabriel Attal, who claims, “School is free. It’s for everyone, and it’s secular. And I don’t want schools where we can identify the religion of students by looking at them or where there’s pressure on certain students to wear religious attire.” He has also stated that, “It will no longer be possible to wear an abaya at school”, and passed the ruling nationwide, right before students arrived to class the following Monday.
The abaya, a traditional Islamic garment to display both modesty and piety, is worn by Muslim women around the world as a sign of their faith, as well as preserving their modesty. The loose outer garment plays the same role as the hijab, the primary symbol of a Muslim woman, and which France also banned from being worn in schools in 2004. France24, the French international news outlet, has written an article titled “French Education Minister Announces Ban on Islamic Abayas in Schools” in which they also share additional statements made by Attal, as well as addressing the subject of the abaya ban in further detail.
The article mentions that the ban was a result of months of debates between both government officials and civilians. “There have been reports of abayas being increasingly worn in schools and tensions within school over the issue between teachers and parents” the article states, saying how the education ministry in France described the abaya deserving to be banned for being “worn in a manner as to openly display a religious affiliation” as it goes against France’s secular beliefs. “Secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through school,” says Attal. “You enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the students by looking at them.”
As a result of the ban, many girls were sent home from school for not complying with the new clothing requirements. “According to official figures, 298 girls – mainly aged 15 or more – turned up at school in the banned garment,” reports Hugh Schofield, a BBC news correspondent stationed in Paris. “Most girls then agreed to dress differently and were able to start classes.However, 67 girls refused to comply and were sent home. A further period of dialogue with their families will now ensue. If that fails,” says Schofield, “they will be excluded.”
French correspondent Eleanor Bansley, reports that, “A group of opponents banged pots and pans in front of a regional school this week, calling the decree racist.” Besides this incident, there have been no other forms of mass-resistance reported to have taken place since the issue of the ban, despite disappointment and anger from Muslims and allies around the world being expressed on social media platforms.
France has been well known by many to hold racist and Islamophobic views against the culture and religious traditions of its Muslim citizens. And because of how strongly secularism is encouraged and practiced in France, many French Muslims and immigrants from Islamic countries find it hard, and sometimes even impossible, to practice their faith freely.
In 2015, a Muslim Reuters photographer named Youssef Bodlal published an article in which he shared photos of Muslims who had immigrated and lived in France, as well as shared a few of their experiences living in a secular society. One of his interviewees happened to be his grocer named Lancen, a practicing Muslim of Moroccan descent, who had mentioned to Bodlal his view on how French laws “specifically target Muslims, such as a ban on the full-face veil being worn in public”. “The law is an attempt to create an Islam that the French can accept,” Lancen tells Bodhal. Bodhal also shares another picture of a Muslim woman named Chehrazad, who is also of Moroccan descent, and lives in Mantes-la-Jolie fully wearing the hijab. Bodhal notes how women like Chehrazad are “directly affected from the legislation” and shared how Chehrazad, who works as a secretary, has to remove her headscarf before arriving to work because of the law forbidding religious clothing being worn in civil service.
In 2016, Human Rights Watch released an article on their website detailing how French Muslims have primarily been subjected to house arrests and discriminatory raids as a result of France’s state of emergency in 2015. “In January 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 people who said they had been subjected to abusive searches or placed under house arrest, as well as human rights activists and lawyers working in affected areas,” the article reads.“Those targeted said the police burst into homes, restaurants, or mosques; broke people’s belongings; terrified children; and placed restrictions on people’s movements so severe that they lost income or suffered physically.” The article further elaborates how the majority of people whose homes were searched or were placed on house arrest identified as Muslims and of North African descent, and how Muslim establishments were also targeted during this time. And according to Human Rights Watch, “many people said they felt they had been targeted because of their religion”.
Despite Muslims being heavily affected by France’s “subtle” intolerance to Islamic beliefs and traditions, other religious groups have also been somewhat affected as well. As stated in France’s law of secularity, it is forbidden to wear any religious symbol or head covering within schools or and/or government run facilities. This includes crosses, Jewish kippahs, turbans, and etc. Any display of religious affiliation is looked down upon if not forbidden, as France continues to try and remove religion from its culture completely. As shown through the French word Laїcité, meaning secular, it is very apparent that France is against any form of religious display and has heavily favored atheism to faith.
From the government accusing imams of “inciting hatred and violence” to shutting down over 600 Muslim-owned businesses, France seems determined to continue their relentless, but futile, attempts of wiping Islam away for good.
Amira Muhammad
