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Religious 'ghosts' haunt coverage of hijab controversy at Georgia State
Georgia State student Nabila Khan was asked by a professor to remove her niqab in compliance with Georgia’s Anti-mask laws. Photo Illustration by Dayne Francis | The Signal
September 23, 2016
by Jim Davis
Muslim college student fights for her right to wear a hijab: good, controversial piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
At least until you see that much of the article was drawn from the campus newspaper, the Georgia State Signal. And both stories are haunted by religious "ghosts" – the omission of the faith-based objections underlying the student's protest.
You’ve no doubt read about hijab cases before, often involving students or office workers. Nabila Khan's story is a more extreme case, an acid test for individual freedom: the niqab, which not only covers a woman's hair and neck, but envelops her face except for her eyes.
So her story carries a greater punch, which the Constitution adroitly summarizes:
During her first week of school, a Muslim student was asked to remove her veil by a Georgia State University teacher. She refused.
Nabila Khan, a first-year student, is now at the center of a controversy about religious freedom.
She told The Signal, the school’s newspaper, that the teacher held her back after class and asked her not to conceal her face while in class, as was written in the syllabus. Khan refused, and said she believed being required to remove her niqab violated her rights to freedom of speech and religion.
Khan said in the article that she chooses to wear the niqab, which is a veil that covers all but the eyes, to work and school.
“Many people have this misconception that, as Muslim women, we’re oppressed or forced to wear it. For me, it’s a choice. My parents never forced me to wear it,” she said.
Nabila Khan, a first-year student, is now at the center of a controversy about religious freedom.
She told The Signal, the school’s newspaper, that the teacher held her back after class and asked her not to conceal her face while in class, as was written in the syllabus. Khan refused, and said she believed being required to remove her niqab violated her rights to freedom of speech and religion.
Khan said in the article that she chooses to wear the niqab, which is a veil that covers all but the eyes, to work and school.
“Many people have this misconception that, as Muslim women, we’re oppressed or forced to wear it. For me, it’s a choice. My parents never forced me to wear it,” she said.
http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/9/23/religious-ghosts-haunt-coverage-of-hijab-controversy-at-georgia-state
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/georgia-state-student-refused-to-remove-muslim-vei/nscYq/
http://georgiastatesignal.com/niqab-wearing-muslim-student-refuses-teachers-request-unveil/
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