US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT3094

UNCLAS KUWAIT 003094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KPAO, KISL, PREL, KWMN, KU 
SUBJECT: HIJAB HIJINX: COLUMNISTS DEBATE APPROPRIATE 
ISLAMIC DRESS 
 
1. SUMMARY: In an interesting but likely coincidental 
juxtaposition, two editorialists -- one a liberal Shi'a 
former minister, the other a Sunni Islamist -- discussed 
the issue of appropriate Islamic dress for females in their 
regular July 9 columns. The liberal decries regulations in 
some ministries, which place dress above education in 
employee advancement. The Islamist sees hijab-wear as 
threatened, and calls for an international defense of the 
practice. The divergent views of the writers reveal the 
debate the issue of proper Islamic dress invokes even in a 
country such as Kuwait where Islamic practices are enforced 
by law and Sharia is ensconced in the Constitution. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
"Protect And Support Our Muslim Sister" 
--------------------------------------- 
 
2. Osama Al-Shaheen, a Kuwaiti Islamist, writes for Al- 
Watan newspaper, an Arabic daily known for its large roster 
of Islamist columnists. In his eyes, the hijab is under 
siege, particularly in countries such as France, the U.S., 
and Great Britain, and Muslim leaders are failing to act. 
"It is regrettable that the right of our Muslim sister to 
wear the Islamic veil has not been protected or addressed 
within the Arab world," he writes. Al-Shaheen cites as an 
example the Mufti of Al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt, Shaykh 
Mohammed Tantawi, who issued a religious edict declaring 
that hijab regulation is a matter to be decided by the 
"authorities in every state." 
 
3. Al-Shaheen outlines a three-point plan to "protect and 
support our Muslim sister in the Arab world and in the 
entire world." First, he calls for individual action: using 
the media, petitions, and the Internet, such as the site 
www.prohijab.com, to urge hijab-banning governments to 
withdraw such edicts. Second, he calls for coordinated 
group efforts "to provide aid and protection to our Muslim 
sisters," beginning with an information collection phase. 
And last, Al-Shaheen suggests establishing a "Muslim Hijab 
Funding Foundation," to finance all of these efforts, and 
also pay private school tuition for hijab-wearers in 
countries where public schools prohibit the practice. 
 
"A B.A. Degree Or A Niqab?" 
--------------------------- 
 
4. Columnist Ali Al-Baghli believes that rather than facing 
worldwide persecution, the hijab, at least in Kuwait, is 
the ticket to success. Writing in the liberal, pro- 
government daily Al-Qabas, Al-Baghli, a Shi'a former oil 
minister, relates an anecdote told to him by a friend 
regarding the man's daughter, who does not wear the hijab. 
The friend asked Al-Baghli what he considered more 
important for a young lady to have in a job search: a 
bachelor's degree or a niqab [full facial veil]? "The B.A. 
of course," he responded. His friend replied, "You are 
wrong again my friend." 
 
5. Al-Baghli writes that his friend's daughter, after 
graduating with a degree in journalism from Kuwait 
University, was assigned to work in the Ministry of Awqaf 
and Islamic Affairs. However, the Ministry refused to 
accept her unless she wore the hijab. Female employees of 
the Ministry, even those without the education of Al- 
Baghli's friend's daughter, were hired simply because they 
wore the hijab, and not on the basis of their educational 
qualifications, Al-Baghli wrote. "Anywhere else in the 
democratic world my daughter and her colleagues would have 
been compensated for this discrimination," Al-Baghli quotes 
his friend as saying. "But not here." 
 
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