The hijab: Our right to choose

The scarves, along with Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, contravene the nation's secularist traditions. Now some British schools are also attempting to ban the hijab.

So how would East Lancashire's Muslim women react? JENNY SCOTT investigates. . .

FOR 28-year-old Hajra Patel, who works at Blackburn's Hijab Centre on Victoria Road, the answer is simple.

"I wouldn't have gone to school. I'd have educated myself at home instead. But I would have felt victimised. Everybody should be allowed to practise what they believe as long as they're not hurting anyone else."

But why is the hijab so important to Muslim women?

"To cover ourselves is part of our religion," explains Hajra, who has worn the hijab all her life and never questioned it. "In Islam they say that in your family, with your father and brothers, you can wear anything. Underneath the loose clothing I wear as part of my faith I still wear westernised clothes. When I get home that's how I dress.

"But when you are outside you have to be in contact with other males, so you should hide your beauty. The hijab is a safeguard."

For many Muslim women, the headscarf also forms a crucial part of their identity.

Hajra says: "It's always been part of who I am. I wouldn't want to be misunderstood as something else. That would upset me."

Many people feel such overtly religious attire has no place in the West. Yet for Hajra, such views are misplaced.

"People feel we don't mix into society and the culture in which we live, but we do as long as it doesn't conflict with our religion," she points out.

"Since September 11 a lot of people who weren't against Muslims or people practising their faith are now becoming aware and thinking anybody who has a beard or wears a hijab is an extremist."

It's not just politicians Muslim women have to contend with. Feminists, like the Sunday Times columnist Minette Marrin, have argued the Muslim headscarf, "immediately suggests a belief system in which women are inferior to men."

Such assumptions have prompted outrage from many Muslim women, including Anjum Anwar, a teacher from Accrington.

"I'm 48 years old," she says. "And I'd like you to find the man who can suppress me!"

Far from seeing the headscarf as suppressive, Anjum instead views the proposed legislation in France as a curb on women's rights and freedoms.

Born in Pakistan, Anjum moved to Accrington at the age of nine. For her, the legislation is a throw-back to her early experiences in British schools.

"When I came here in 1966 you had to wear a school uniform and there was no hijab allowed in schools," she says. "You had to wear a skirt, rather than trousers, and you had to go to assembly. We've come a long way since then."

Anjum herself made the decision to wear hijab two years ago, the day after the September 11 attacks in New York.

She said: "I got up the next morning and thought, 'I am a Muslim. I haven't done anything wrong - how do I tell people that? The best way is by people noticing me and seeing me as I am.

"For some people the hijab seems to be associated with something sinister. But just because I wear a headscarf doesn't make me sinister."

And the headscarf, as Anjum points out, is no different to the kind of clothing worn by people from other religious backgrounds.

"The outfit worn by a nun symbolises piety and belief. It's very much the same for the hijab," she explains. Of course, there are plenty of Muslim women who don't wear the hijab.

Women like 33-year-old Toyuba Butt, a fitness instructor from Whalley Road, Blackburn. For her, the crucial issue is women's right to choose.

"I think the French government is totally wrong in banning the headscarf in schools. It's basically trying to take away people's freedom of choice.

"Where do you draw the line? They're stopping Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps as well. It's taking away people's identity.

"If people choose to wear a scarf, it's a personal thing. For some of these women, it's going to be like taking their clothes away. They will feel naked without their scarves."

For Toyuba, the decision on whether or not to wear a headscarf should be left to the individual, not the government.

And instead of banning ostensible religious symbols, we should be educating people so they understand why people of faith wear such things.

"The Western world does not understand Islam," she says.

"Instead of taking the scarf away, they should be educating children in schools about all religions.

"Taking the scarf away won't solve anything."

She was supported by 16-year-old Anesa Aram, from Blackburn, who said: "What the French government are trying to do is wrong.

"Everyone has a right to show what they believe. It's up to individual women to decide - not the government."