French ruling reveals the true roots of Capitalism

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French ruling reveals the true roots of Capitalism

An official commission in France has recommended the prohibition of any outward show of ‘religiosity' in schools. The French commission, led by former minister Bernard Stasi is likely to be translated into legislation with the full backing of President Jacques Chirac. The recommendation follows rising cases of expulsions of Muslim female pupils from state schools who adhere to the Islamic dress code. The most recent recommendation followed intense debate of what secularism means in France.

For over a decade, cases of female Muslim pupils being expelled raged. After a court decision placed the decision into the hands of school authorities. Many believe the issue came to a head in April of this year, when the French Interior Secretary, Nicolas Sarkozy addressed the ‘Union des organisations islamiques de France', he was welcomed and applauded until he revealed his plan to make Muslim women uncover their hair whilst having their passport photos taken. The audience upon hearing this proposal simultaneously booed and shouted Sarkozy down. After this incident was splashed across the French press and the frosty reception he received was uncovered, a debate began to rage over the place of Islam in French society.

Ils détestent Islam (they hate Islam)

In July, Chirac launched a commission to look into the ‘headscarf', a discussion he pre-empted by revealing his own views. The commission was an attempt at showing that a decision to ban was no inevitable. Whilst Chirac painted himself as an obstacle to the Anglo-American ‘crusade' in Iraq, he was adopting his own domestic ‘crusade'. He painted this commission and what it was designed to achieve as a reclamation of ‘secularism' from the rising tide of Islam. This is represented by the 10% of France's population who are Muslim, a number which is rising due to disparity in birth rates.

Jean-Claude Imbert, editor-in-chief of the conservative weekly magazine, "Le Point" and a member of the Stasi Commission showed the commission's anti-Islamic leaning when he declared himself proud to be ‘Islamophobic'.

Ils craignent des Musulmans (They fear Muslims)

France is not alone in its fixation with the Islamic dress code for women. Germany has started to outlaw the wearing of the Khimar (head scarf) for women in the classroom, a court ruled an outright ban illegal under the present constitutional order, yet it left the decision to ban or not to ban to the individual states, an offer some states have begun to take up.

Turkey, recently presented by Bush as the country which exemplified the natural synergy between Islam and Democracy, has been a vehement opponent of the Islamic covering. Since its modern inception as a republic under Mustafa Kemal, the system in Turkey has taken succour from the Modernity prevalent in the West with all it had to offer. This included secularism as its guiding pillar. The thoughts and systems and all governments that followed had to accept this as the basis for government and society. The Army Generals ensured that those who merely spoke out against this false basis were subject to the full force of the secular order. The Turkish establishment took a firm stand against the outward show of Islam in the public spheres, which the state controlled. The battleground for this, as elsewhere, was inevitably the classroom. Muslim women were given an ultimatum, be educated or as a punishment for going against the secular order remain outside the classroom. The secular establishment looks upon the Islamic dress as a political stand against secularism, and there is no reason why this shouldn't be the case. The recognition that obedience to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) transcends adherence to Kemalism is just as revolutionary a concept as it was 1400 years ago. Obedience, in this is a challenge to the state and not a mere decision to implement a strict dress code. In those areas of life's affairs in which the state is represented, any open signs of Islam will not be tolerated in the strictest adherence to Turkey's secularist tenets.

le sécularisme est irrationnel (Secularism is irrational)

Although a number of countries have been singled out for their enmity towards the Islamic dress code for women, they are by no means in an isolated raft far removed from the rest of ‘civilisation'. The entire Capitalist West and the governments of what are commonly erroneously referred to as ‘The Islamic States', adhere to secularism to a greater or lesser degree.

Secularism shaped the origins of Capitalism. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as its basis. Following a bitter conflict between those who believed that the Church's influence on society via the state should be maintained and those intellectual's who propounded the view that rationality and reason must be accepted over religious dogma, the matter settled on a compromise which resulted in the following. Neither should religion be wiped out from the lives of individuals yet neither should it be allowed to stop progress. Therefore the Church's influence was diminished. In the aftermath of this, human beings were placed in the position, which once the teachings of the Church dictated. Despite the fact that some societies adopted this though revolution, whilst for other societies it was a culmination of a more evolutionary series of events, nonetheless western societies settled upon this idea. Although Britain, France, Germany, the US as well as the other Capitalist societies determined the shape of their state via the origins of their history, they still adhere to this idea.

Secularism is not about focussing on whether God exists or not, but that this is an individual choice. Those who accept the fact that God exists as well as those who deny God must accept that, in determining the systems and laws that govern the lives of human beings in society must not be determined by God, but by man.

That is why Bernard Stasi the head of the blue ribbon commission which was tasked with looking into the issue of the Islamic dress code declares himself to be a Christian. Yet this has no bearing on his belief in France's secular foundations.

This is where we trace the in-built contradiction of secularism. The core issue must be whether the Creator exists or not, if he doesn't that's all good and well, but when we know that he does, how can we accept to divorce his guidance from society? It is only Islam today that stands against the tide of secularisation, as Muslims we do no not accept that Allah is to be relegated to worship in the private realm, but that he laid the blueprint for how Muslims interact in all aspects of life, society and state. This is why the calls to bring back Islam comprehensively today is one shared by Muslims the world over.

The reaction to this call should not therefore be one of surprise, as it's a natural extension of secularism. Our reaction to the choice we are presented as to whether to obey Allah or the secular laws, is best exemplified by the reaction one reporter was given on the streets of Paris,

''If you make me choose between breaking the law and breaking the Quran, I'll break the law. Today, they forbid us from wearing veils. Tomorrow, they'll forbid us from being Muslims.''

Therefore we say ‘Aucun séparation d'un dieu de la vie' (No separation between God and Society).

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"It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter that they should have any say in the matter. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed into error." [TMQ Al-Ahzab: 36].

Khilafah.com Journal
24 Shawwal 1424 Hijri
18 December 2003