News ‘A false problem’: Italy’s Muslims question Meloni’s burqa ban
As the prime minister attempts to stave off a far-right challenger, a small minority of Muslims are being targeted.
Milan, Italy – In Milan’s al-Wahid mosque, tucked in a peaceful inner courtyard within the bustling Navigli district, worshippers attending Friday prayers were perplexed by the Italian government’s recent decision to ban the burqa and niqab in schools.
Mulayka Laura Enriello, a 58-year-old high school maths teacher, said that while some schoolgirls wear a headscarf, she had never in her career seen students wear face-covering garments.
“Those girls who want to wear a (hijab) to school do so, no one bothers them, neither teacher nor student,” she told Al Jazeera.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined the proposed ban on Sunday during a rally of her nationalist conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, pitching it as a move towards gender equality.
“You must go to school with your face uncovered,” said Meloni. “And in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself.”
The state-run Ansa news agency has reported that as few as 500 to 600 female students currently wear a full-face covering.
Enriello said the proposal feels inhumane.
“If a girl shows up at school wearing a burqa, I can’t tell her to go home,” she said. “I have to treat her as a minor who probably thinks she is doing something good.”
The mosque’s imam, Yahya Pallavicini, said the ban raised a “false problem”, focusing public attention on a garment used by a small minority and warps the “perception” of Islam.
“This is an attempt to present a unified model of society, a society that is white supremacist and if something is different it is caricatured by the specious use of the burqa,” he told Al Jazeera.
Milan, Italy – In Milan’s al-Wahid mosque, tucked in a peaceful inner courtyard within the bustling Navigli district, worshippers attending Friday prayers were perplexed by the Italian government’s recent decision to ban the burqa and niqab in schools.
Mulayka Laura Enriello, a 58-year-old high school maths teacher, said that while some schoolgirls wear a headscarf, she had never in her career seen students wear face-covering garments.
“Those girls who want to wear a (hijab) to school do so, no one bothers them, neither teacher nor student,” she told Al Jazeera.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined the proposed ban on Sunday during a rally of her nationalist conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, pitching it as a move towards gender equality.
“You must go to school with your face uncovered,” said Meloni. “And in Italy no one, in the name of a real or supposed tradition, can decide that a young woman must hide herself.”
The state-run Ansa news agency has reported that as few as 500 to 600 female students currently wear a full-face covering.
Enriello said the proposal feels inhumane.
“If a girl shows up at school wearing a burqa, I can’t tell her to go home,” she said. “I have to treat her as a minor who probably thinks she is doing something good.”
The mosque’s imam, Yahya Pallavicini, said the ban raised a “false problem”, focusing public attention on a garment used by a small minority and warps the “perception” of Islam.
“This is an attempt to present a unified model of society, a society that is white supremacist and if something is different it is caricatured by the specious use of the burqa,” he told Al Jazeera.
31-35, F
