The security argument: Many burqa-clad Muslim women claim they don the veil out of choice. In a world of growing sexual harassment and violence, you are not treated like a sex object and you feel more secure in a burqa, it is argued. But last year, the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights conducted a survey and found that contrary to anecdotal accounts, 80 per cent of Egyptian women faced sexual harassment and that the hijab offered little protection.

The convenient cover argument: To young Muslim women from conservative families, the burqa is a handy garment. You get to spend time in the company of male college friends or even with your boyfriend and your parents are none the wiser. If that’s the only way you can get around parental curfew, I for one am happy to buy this one.

The freedom to choose argument: In response to Sarkozy’s remarks, Muslim leaders and organisations across the globe have invoked the freedom to choose principle. This begs the question: Should Muslim women only have the freedom to choose to wear a burqa in France, Denmark or Italy? What about their right not to wear a burqa or chador in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan under the Taliban?

The piety argument: There is a widespread perception among Muslims in India and throughout the Islamic world that it is a religious obligation to cover their heads or their entire bodies. But any number of Muslim theologians and scholars, both men and women, now argue that with the exception of the wives of Prophet Mohammed, all that the Quran asks of Muslim women, and men, is to dress modestly. Any Muslim will tell you that the burqa (or hijab, jilbab or niqab) which was going out of vogue in the post-colonial era, is back with a vengeance in the last two decades or so. This is thanks largely to Saudi Wahhabism bent on exporting a rigid, misogynic, monochromatic Islam throughout the Muslim world. Call it inducement with petro-dollars for “sectarian conversion” of all Muslims to an intolerant, Islamic supremist worldview.

... contd.