THE REAL REASON ISLAMOFASCISTS DEMAND THE VEIL BE WORN BY WOMEN

What is the specific reason Islamofascists have for demanding that women wear the Islamic veil? Though the Quran itself doesn't say it's required, Oliver Guitta at the Weekly Standard may have some answers why the worshipers of Islam want it to be worn:

For Islamists, the imperative to veil women justifies almost any means. Sometimes they try to buy off resistance. Some French Muslim families, for instance, are paid 500 euros (around $600) per quarter by extremist Muslim organizations just to have their daughters wear the hijab. This has also happened in the United States. Indeed, the famous and brave Syrian-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan recently told the Jerusalem Post that after she moved to the United States in 1991, Saudis offered her $1,500 a month to cover her head and attend a mosque.

But what Islamists use most is intimidation. A survey conducted in France in May 2003 found that 77 percent of girls wearing the hijab said they did so because of physical threats from Islamist groups. A series in the newspaper Libération in 2003 documented how Muslim women and girls in France who refuse to wear the hijab are insulted, rejected, and often physically threatened by Muslim males. One of the teenage girls interviewed said, "Every day, bearded men come to me and advise me strongly on wearing the veil. It is a war. For now, there are no dead, but there are looks and words that do kill."

In light of this, wearing the hijab may or may not be a manifestation of the free exercise of religion. For any individual, it may reflect the very opposite--religious coercion. In fact, millions of women are forced to wear the veil for fear of physical retribution. And the fear is well founded. According to Cheryl Benard of RAND, every year hundreds of women in Pakistan and Afghanistan alone are killed, have acid thrown in their faces, or are otherwise maimed by male fanatics.

Given the Islamists' ferocious determination on this point, it is worth asking: Why exactly is covering the female so important to them? The obvious answer is that it is a means of social control. Not coincidentally, it is one of the only issues on which Sunni and Shia extremists agree. It's not by chance that use of the hijab really took off after Iran's Islamic regime came to power in 1979. Some Shiite militias in Iraq have actually started forcing women--Muslim or not--to wear the veil or face the consequences.

And there we have an answer: because they see it as a way of controlling women and ensuring that they are slaves. That's what the veil/burka/niqab symbolizes, and that's one of the reasons why it needs to be banned.

It's amazing that the country most opposed to the niqab today happens to be Tunisia. One thing for sure is that all countries taking steps to ban the veil in public are doing women a lot of good, and for Muslim women, a very big favor and kindness.

RELIAPUNDT ASKS: Does anyone out there know the recent history of the hijab? Please answer in the comments sections...