‘Muslim women should be able to wear hijab at work’
The Imam called for a government directive on workers wearing the hijab in the public and private sector during the Prime Minister’s recent visit to the Mariam Al Batool School. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
More Muslim women would join the workforce if the Government issued a directive clarifying that the hijab headscarf could be worn at work, Imam Mohammed Elsadi said.
“Some ladies who wear the hijab do not apply for jobs because they worry they will be forced to remove it,” Mr Elsadi said.
The Imam was recently speaking to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on the topic of wearing the hijab at work.
He told The Times when contacted that he would like the Government to clearly state women were allowed to wear it in both the public and private sector.
Two Muslim women working in non-medical jobs in Malta’s health sector had been forced to remove the hijab, he said. He also knew Muslim women teaching in Government schools who did not wear the garment at work.
“I don’t know if this is because they are forbidden to wear it, whether they remove it out of fear or whether they choose not to wear it,” he said.
Asked if he would like the directive to include the right to wear the niqab (face covering) at work, Mr Elsadi said he was focusing only on the hijab.
He added that Maltese authorities and the public were generally very tolerant of Islamic dress.
“We appreciate very much their attitude towards Muslim women,” he said.
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28 Comments
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Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 10:32
BEFORE glibly implying a prohibition of the wearing of the hijab by Muslim women at work in Malta the Imam should have ascertained the true facts instead of his "I don't know if ... they were forbidden to wear it" or " ... whether they chose not to wear it". We have a right that our good name not be sullied. Muslim women wear the hijab ostentatiously and without annoyance all over Malta.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 09:40
I am going to ask our Archbishop to ask the Prime Minister to issue a directive that I must not be forbidden from wearing a small crucifix in my lapel. So there!
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 11:09
Were you ever stopped? In which case you should. I'm going to ask our Archbishop to distance himself from certain intolerant persons who pretend to defend Catholicism and teach them some Catholic doctrine
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 12:42
@MichaelGrech.
My comment was addressed to those who would recognize irony when it stares them in the face. In tolerant Catholic Malta no one forbids either the wearing of the hijab or the crucifix. But there are atheists and secularist who would like to forbid both of them while hypocritically appealing to the archbishop to distance himself from his Catholic flock..
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 17:01
While not being an atheist myself, I think you are chasing ghosts. No atheist or secularist (I don't know what you mean by this) that I know of would like to forbid one from wearing a crucifix on his/her lapel or a hijab on her head, provided it is his/her head and/or lapel, and not that of others.
Alexandra MalliaBorg
Jan 22nd, 19:05
Yes ofcourse try wearing a crucifix in Iran or some other Muslim country, i wonder what the outcome would be, don't know just asking????????
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 21:17
@MichaelGrech today 17:01.
I am reacting to a flesh and blood Imam and his documented glib assertion that Muslim women in Malta are not allowed to wear the hijab - therefore you are not correct in thinking that I am chasing a ghost. You and I may be convinced that no one in Malta is forbidding the wearing of the hijab but the Imam dies not agree with us and wants the prime minister to intervene.
Michael Grech
Jan 23rd, 09:22
@ F Saliba. The Imam referred to CASES of discrimination and to WORRIES that some Muslim women who wear the hijab have (reading some of the intolerant comments here, it is no wonder they have such worries). He did not claim that there is a POLICY of discrimination, which is something else. Moreover in your last comment, to which I replied, you referred to atheists and secularists not the Imam
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 24th, 19:28
@MichaelGrech
On his own admission, the Imam was NOT referring to any definite case for which he had any proof. He said that he did not know. And on that state of ignorance he expected the prime minister to issue directives that would imply wrongly that the Imam's suspicion was well founded.
Michael Grech
Jan 26th, 17:45
Frans if more than one person tells you that people in a certain organisation (in this case the public service) have discriminated against him/her, I find nothing objectionable in calling on the person in charge of this organisation to make it crystal clear to the organisation's employees that no such discrimination is to be tolerated. The Imam asked nothing more than that.
Dave Alan Caruana
Jan 22nd, 08:42
There is no law against wearing a hijab in public. Companies do have a right to impose dress codes, though, which shoukd be consistent irrespective of religious orientation.
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 08:39
As long as they do not force it on non-Christians and on Muslims who do not want to wear it (and the Imam is not suggesting anything of the kind), I don't know why it should be an issue in the first place. The onus should be on those who seek to ban it to provide a valid reason (there isn't) for banning it; not for one who decides to wear it to justify her choices.
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 08:59
sorry...the first line should read 'non-Muslims' and on Muslims who do not want to wear it
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 08:39
Just as others are not entitled that I give them an account of why I wear the clothes I do wear, I do not expect them to give me an account about theirs, unless there is some reason that concerns security. Anything else is pure intolerance. This is what, rightly, the Holy Roman Catholic Church teaches.
R. Azzopardi
Jan 22nd, 07:41
I will tolerate it when they tolerate my culture especially when living in my country.
Kurt Waschnig
Jan 22nd, 08:06
Not tolerate, you should respect them and treat them with dignity. It is important that human beings with different cultures, customs and values live side by side in peace and harmony and there shall be a never ending dialogue to understand one another much better.
Judy Vassallo
Jan 22nd, 09:30
I agree with you when they respect your country, your way of life and your religion and customs. They are the ones that came to your country supposedly for a better life.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 10:48
Kurt is imputing "lack of respect" and not treating Muslim women "with dignity" when the Imam himself admits that he doesn't know if they were forbidden anything or if that was the women's choice.
We Maltese, in our home, deserve to be treated with "dignity", "respect" and "tolerance" by foreigners whether local residents or from abroad.
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 22nd, 11:24
@KurtWaschnig
Tolerance and non-discrimination are fundamental human rights. Respect must be earned and it may be easily thrown away and lost by those who deny it to others who are more entitled to respect.
Mr E Phillips
Jan 22nd, 23:34
Francis,
'Tolerance and non-discrimination are fundamental human rights' And how does that match up with your opinion on gay marriage or adoption? Hypocrisy springs to mind......................
Francis Saliba M.D.
Jan 23rd, 09:20
@ E Phillips
My views about "Tolerance and non-discrimination (being) fundamental human rights' do not conflict with my fundamental human right to hold and express my opinion against gay marriage and adoption. Nowhere does the UN Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights hint that gay marriage and adoption by gays are genuine rights. They are only PRETENDED rights by the LGBT.
Kurt Waschnig
Jan 22nd, 06:54
Imam Mohammed Elsadi said “We appreciate very much their attitude towards Muslim women, “
There should be no hindrance for Muslim women to wear the hijab. Diversity is always an enrichment for any society and Malta has started the same way to live with people with a different cultural background like Germany.
John Azzopoardi
Jan 22nd, 12:02
Kurt we are not germany. STop imposing your germany thoughts on us. WE don't want your thoughts here in Malta.
Connie Deguara
Jan 22nd, 01:58
To the Imam. You can not tell woman what to wear you have no right. They probable don't like to wear the higab. Why dont you try to wear it in summer.When you are Rome do as the Roman do.
Paul Sammut
Jan 21st, 22:08
MUSLIMS it seems they want everything their way. They should learn to respect others first and the culture and laws of other countries.
Michael Grech
Jan 22nd, 08:41
Wearing a hijab is not illegal in Malta. Moreover, they are not asking you to wear one
Judy Vassallo
Jan 22nd, 09:32
So true Paul, they should learn to live to the laws of the country they chose to live in.
Claire Busuttil
Jan 22nd, 09:57
@Sammut-I agree
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