Who will speak for Aqsa Parvez?
Dec. 14, 2007
Dec. 14, 2007
Sixteen-year-old Aqsa Parvez did not want to wear the hijab.
The Middle Eastern head covering has become the most significant icon for Islam in the West, which is unfortunate, since 90 per cent of Muslim women in this country don't wear one. By extension, they get dismissed as not being authentic Muslims.
The CBC's own Little Mosque on the Prairie plays into this stereotype by showing every prominent Muslim woman in a hijab. This superficial measurement of Muslim-ness has become so prevalent that a small but increasing number of families are pushing it on their daughters.
Aqsa, a Pakistani-Canadian, was just one of the victims of this growing obsession.
Now that Aqsa is dead, who will speak for her?
Who will speak for the countless Muslim girls who lead double lives and who suffer in silence in their homes?
Who will make sure they aren't abused or killed?
Who chooses?
Most Islamist men and women say that a woman chooses to wear the hijab. But, all too often, that choice is taken away from young Muslim girls.
They are being told by their parents and their imams that if they don't wear the hijab, they are no longer Muslim. This occurs even though the Koran, Islam's holy book, does not say that a woman has to cover her hair.
Take a walk in downtown Toronto, Montreal, Windsor or other cities with large Muslim populations. You will see little girls, as young as four, five and six, wearing hijabs on their way to school.
Did these little girls really make a choice to wear the hijab?
Did they make a declaration to their parents that they want to be religiously pious and sexually modest?
Common sense indicates that these children did not choose for themselves.
READ MORE ABOUT ISLAM IN CANADA...
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