# What does Mufti Abu Layth think of France banning the hijab for girls under 18?

*France: mandatory stunning and a reported headscarf ban for girls under 18*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/s/13/
- Date: 2021-04-06 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #209 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:21:35–1:28:55)
- Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ85AUzeK5w&t=4895s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/

**Topics:** Hijab and niqab; Current events commentary; Food and drink

**Question as asked:** I've been asked to speak about France and the recent legislation.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** If France has banned headscarves for girls under 18, he says it is an abhorrent breach of basic rights that he strongly condemns. He also opposes pressuring girls to wear it: it should be their genuine choice.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that if France has banned the headscarf for girls under eighteen it is an abhorrent breach of basic human rights that he strongly condemns, while he also opposes pressuring girls to wear it and holds that it should be a genuine choice.

**Evidence, his words at 1:23:35:** “I find that really shocking and abhorrent and so in clash with the basic fundamental human rights that are a cornerstone of modern civilization.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ85AUzeK5w&t=5015s)

## Longer summary

Asked to speak about recent French legislation, Mufti Abu Layth says France seems to be taking right-wing, almost Orwellian approaches, and mentions legislation on mandatory stunning of animals, possibly only chickens. He says he was shocked to read that France has legislated that no girl under eighteen may wear the headscarf, with fines and a bar on women in headscarves accompanying school trips, but cautions that media can misreport and that the exact legislation must first be checked. If true, he says, it is abhorrent, clashes with basic human rights, and he strongly condemns it, warning France that it is setting itself on a collision course with its own citizens. He adds that he is not a fan of making young girls wear a head covering, which can be inculturation but in some cases sexualises them, that he finds no proof in the Quran or Sunnah mandating it, and that pressuring or emotionally blackmailing daughters to wear it is wrong; it must be a genuine choice either way.

## Sources and names cited

- the reported French move to ban headscarves for girls under 18 (2021)
- hijab
- dhabiha (ritual slaughter)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:21:35–1:28:55)

[1:21:18] Right. So, Mhm. Let's take a look. [snorts] [laughter] Mu's got the emergency towel. I always keep Right. Let's Let's take a look at some stuff, people. Let's move on. Right. I've been asked to also speak about uh France and recent legislations.

[1:21:47] Right. Yeah. There's quite a bit of uh a bit of a right-wing um you know like some totalitarian almost Orwellian kind of approaches that France seems to be taking. Um it is really uh uh it is it is saddening to see this and there's two key issues come to mind very within a very short time span of one another and that is one the legislation

[1:22:25] to be I believe it's just gone through or going through about the stunning um legislating the uh enforced stunning of all um of of meat or whether it's just chicken sorry just chicken I think um and then of recent which I was shocked to read that France has legislated that no girl under 18 can wear the hijab the head covering um that's where I've read now I don't know because sometimes you know some

[1:23:02] things are misported in media so you we we have to first of all see what the exact legislation is. But let's go with that if if that be true that this is the exact legislation that they have put through that girls under 18 are not allowed to wear headscarves and if they wear headscarves uh there's some kind of a fine and women over 18 who wear a headscarf cannot accompany children on school activities.

[1:23:35] I find that really shocking and abhorrent and so in clash with the basic fundamental human rights that are a cornerstone of modern civilization. Honestly, I find it shocking that if that be true.

[1:23:58] So somebody's So I hope that isn't true. I hope that this, you know, that there's some misrepresentation going on in what's being said because I've seen loads of posts on social media and I just find it so shocking that that could be true. But then you never know, France does have a very, you know, it has a quite a uh I don't know like a Frankenstein approach to religion, especially Islam.

[1:24:30] So, you see, I've read people saying head covering. Now, it can't be the face covering because currently everybody's wearing a mask. [laughter] So, that would be absurd to say that they're just legislating you can't do the face covering. I've read loads of posts by Muslims just spamming the entire Insta feed with these things of the head covering.

[1:24:57] So, that's what I've read. I hope it isn't true. If it is true, you know, shame on France. I hope these things are overturned. I'm not a fan of uh making young girls wear a head covering. Um I do believe that there is an element of sexualization that is taking place there that you are saying that men should not be looking at your hair which is an element of sexualizing them.

[1:25:29] Now I also accept that in some cases it may not be that it may be just uh trying to um like a sense of culture in a sense of saying well I want you to dress how mom dresses. So because mom wears this I want so for example because mom wears shallwark the girls wear shalam.

[1:25:58] So because mom wears a head covering the girls wear a head covering. So that's a that's more an inculturation aspect but in some cases it is actually a sexualization definitely that they feel that it's something which men shouldn't really you need to get into the practice of not showing men your hair which I find that sickening that when people do that and firstly there is no even proof from the Quran or Sunnah about this head covering to to to make it such a mandated you know the you're you're you're doing this.

[1:26:36] So, um yeah. So, even though I'm not a fan of this, I mean, I don't mind people doing it, but you know, where it's kind of like they must do it like in secondary school, they will many people do guilt trip their daughters or they kind of emotionally blackmail them to wear it. And I feel that's wrong. I in fact condemn that.

[1:27:01] I don't mind you give them a choice, but you have to be honest. It is a choice. Not not an emotional blackmail trip like, oh, you know, okay, you don't have to, but you know, then you just disappoint me and you're like, [laughter] none of that stuff. If it truly is a choice, as in we totally, you know, it's totally your choice. You wear it, you don't wear it. And that's a true choice.

[1:27:27] [snorts] And in that case, if they chose to wear it, fine. You know, it's their choice. But to strip them of it forcibly and to to to make it illegal, that is just utterly out of order. That is nothing, you know, that is really just an Orwellian state.

[1:27:51] So I harshly and strongly condemn that. And if France is moving in that direction, I would really advise France to to rethink, you know, the policy makers, the legislators to rethink what they're doing because they are setting their country which has an you know France does also have an amazing history as well. It has a obviously a shocking history but it has some amazing um you know features to what it and feats to what and accomplishments as well.

[1:28:24] It's setting a state that has had a history, a colorful history as well. Not just the the bad things, but good things that has been a voice piece for liberal values, for freedoms, for human rights as well. And it's setting it on a crash course, a collision course with with its own citizens because this, you know, it will debilitate where it's going.

[1:28:50] This is just a car crash in slow motion. So yeah, Yazid, you're doing it. You're doing it. Much love for the super chat. You're doing it. Seems like France always had weird relations with Muslims since the Middle Ages. Yeah, it is true. It kind of uh I don't know about the Middle Ages, but definitely um in the during the colonial periods definitely France the age of consent is 13.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment zZ85AUzeK5w/s/13. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/s/13/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.