A woman embroiled in a bitter debate about wearing the niqab said the Muslim community has a duty to educate people about its use.

Ayshah Ismail, a teacher from Preston Muslims Girls School, took up wearing the niqab last year. She argued for the use of the veil during a public forum in the Gulf State of Qatar which branded the veil “a barrier to integration in the West”.

The 24-year-old, from Frenchwood, blamed the controversy on “ignorance and media hype”. She said: “I started wearing the veil a year ago because it was a natural progression of my faith from my understanding of Islam. I’m not imposing it on anyone. It was about taking a leap of faith for me.”

Ayshah, who was invited to go to Qatar after speaking out about the veil at Stop The War rallies, added:

“As for people who say the veil is a barrier to integration I go to the gym, I work, I drive, I pay taxes – what else can I do to integrate myself? We need to teach people more about the niqab and some of that duty lies with the Muslim community. It is about compromise. We are living together so how about helping each other understand what we’re about? We are lucky in Britain we can be diverse and celebrate our differences.”

The forum’s heated discussion, which will be broadcast by BBC World Service, revealed 57% per cent of the audience there thought the niqab hindered integration in the West.

The Doha Debate programme will be broadcast on Saturday March 10 at 12.10pm and 8.10pm and on Sunday March 11 at 1.10am, 8.10am and 5.10pm.

Lancashire Evening Post, 26 February 2007

A niqab wearing mum has claimed she was called a “Paki” and “terrorist” in front of her children during her routine school run.

Ruby Sandhu, a Muslim convert was driving in a quiet neighbourhood off Jenner Road in Hackney, East London, on February 7, when she was blocked off by a scaffolding truck. Realising she was late, Sandhu requested the driver move his vehicle, at which point the driver’s passenger got out of the truck and approached her car and demanded she got off her phone.

Sandhu relates to The Muslim News what happened: “I said to him, say ‘please.’” At the time she was on the phone to her friend, when the man demanded she, “Get off the f***ing phone.” Ruby shaken replied, “You racist” To which he replied, “You must be a right old ugly b****, or a smelly Paki. Is that why you wear a mask?”, referring to the niqab that Sandhu wears. Sandhu said she was shaking at that point.

After repeatedly accusing him of racism the accused told her to “stop blowing up, you’re good at blowing up, why don’t you go blow up somewhere else. You’re a terrorist.” Sandhu said what disturbed her most that it was, “done in front of my children. He didn’t care that my kids were in the car.”

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A girl aged 12 yesterday lost her bid to be allowed to wear the niqab in class when the high court supported her school’s decision to ban the full-face Muslim veil.

Lawyers for the girl, known in court as X, had argued the Buckinghamshire school’s actions were irrational and infringed her human rights, because it had allowed her three elder sisters to wear the niqab for nine years.

Mr Justice Silber found the veil ban was “proportionate” for identification reasons and because the niqab could jeopardise communication between teacher and pupil. He also accepted the importance of enforcing a school uniform under which girls of different faiths would have a sense of equality and identity within the school’s “ethos”, and the need to avoid peer pressure on other girls to take up the veil.

Last September, when X began wearing the niqab after reaching puberty, she was told it was unacceptable, because teachers felt it would make learning and communication difficult. During the hearing, the judge was told the girl’s sisters all played an active role in the school, that staff had not objected to their niqabs, and that they had achieved high A-level results, disproving the learning impairment argument.

But the court heard they left school some time ago, and since then security concerns had heightened. Of 120 Muslim girls in the 1,300-pupil school, half wear a headscarf or hijab but none wears a niqab.

Lawyers for X, protected by an anonymity order, argued the ban thwarted her “legitimate expectation” she would wear the niqab, and breached her freedom of “thought, conscience and religion” under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The lawyers said last night she and her family were “bitterly disappointed” and considering an appeal.

Guardian, 22 February 2007

See also BBC News, 21 February 2007

Hardly a surprising judgement, given Mr Justice Silber’s earlier comments.