While checking my email, I came across this rather surprising story:
DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country's universities, as similar moves in Europe spark cries of discrimination against Muslims.
The Education Ministry issued the ban Sunday, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly. The ban affects public and private universities and aims to protect Syria's secular identity, he said.
Here is the whole story.
Of course, this is very similar to the situation in France where they also did this. France then went one further and banned covering one's face in public totally.
I'm no expert on Syria. The article states that the amount of veiling in Syria has been increasing, but not what sect has been doing it. Syria is predominately Sunni, but the ruling sect are Alawites - a Shī‘ah offshoot. That leads me to believe this is happening among the Sunni groups. The Muslim Brotherhood is actually banned in Syria and being a member of that group will get you arrested. Because the Shī‘ah population is only 13% of the country they do not want people to start thinking along the lines of religion when it comes to making important decisions. Many analysts feel that the Syrian leadership has no interest in peace with Israel as it needs and outside enemy as a foil to keep themselves in power.
I will be curious to see what, if any, reaction there is to this. France is a democracy and Syria is a dictatorship so one can't expect the same standards of behavior from both. But at the very least, the French (and other European nations considering this) will be able to point to this and claim that since a Muslim country is doing it too, then it does not automatically follow that doing so is anti-Muslim.