Friday, August 17, 2007

Dear IIUM, wearing a 'tudung' is against my religion.

Have a look at Lim Kit Siang's blog regarding the issue of dress codes for IIUM's (International Islamic University Malaysia) convocation ceremony. Essentially, a very disgruntled parent wrote in complaining that non-Muslim female undergraduates were formally required to wear head scarfs (ubiquitously known as 'tudung') to the university's graduation convocation.

This is a screenshot of IIUM's webpage regarding the dresscode.

In particular, read notes (i) & (iii):

i. Covering of 'Aurah' (including head and neck) applies to Muslim as well as Non-Muslim females. Avoid wearing skirts with slits.

iii. 'Tudung' / headcover will be provided by the University.
If you read some of the pro-IIUM comments to this post on Lim Kit Siang's blog, you'd find that it basically centers around the argument that the university is entitled to to enforce dress codes, notwithstanding the fact that it is actually based entirely on religious attire.

OK, so the contention is that universities have the right to enforce dress codes on their students.

Fine, then how about the female Muslim students in France who refused to remove their head coverings in accordance with French educational dress code?

Wasn't it their argument that the dress code should not apply to them since it conflicts with their religious convictions? Didn't many Malaysian Muslim organisations, including IIUM faculty and students, support that argument?

So, what if we were to apply this argument to the IIUM convocation situation?

Isn't it reasonable that wearing a piece of decidedly Muslim religious attire (especially for the expressly stated purpose of conforming with Muslim religious norms), would be in deep conflict with the religious convictions of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu (dan lain-lain) students?

After all, Muslims are NOT the only people who believe that there can only be ONE god (ie. theirs), and any subservience / allegiance / acknowledgement of ANOTHER god is a great and terrible sin.

Therefore I put it to you that Non-Muslim IIUM students should be allowed to ignore IIUM's convocation dress code - for the same reasons that female Muslim students in France ignored the French educational dress code. To comply would be against their religion(s)!

And I would expect all Muslims individuals and organisations who supported those female Muslim students in France, to similarly support the female Non-Muslim students in IIUM. Otherwise, can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

if u dunt want tu wear tudung in IIUM,..find another university to continue ur studies,..IIUM for Muslim students,..we wear tudung at France Uni because that's is our religion ask us to do,..like u support and back up ur religion not to wear tudung,..so were we,..

Anonymous said...

If u can read, u would be able to understand that "IIUM" stands for International ISLAMIC University of Malaysia. even the University's Mission emphasizes in producing good MUSLIMS.

"Produce better quality intellectuals, professionals and scholars by integrating the qualities of faith (iman), knowledge (`ilm), and good character (akhlaq) to serve as agents of comprehensive and balanced progress as well as sustainable development in Malaysia and in the Muslim world."

Foster the Islamization of the ethics of Muslim academic and administrative staff of IIUM, and certain aspects of human knowledge- particularly in the social sciences and humanities- with the view to making them more useful and more relevant to the Muslim Ummah.

To exemplify an international community of dedicated intellectuals, scholars, professionals, officers and workers who are motivated by the Islamic world-view and code of ethics as an integral part of their work culture.

So basically, when people mention IIUM, they will automatically register in their head that IIUM=ISLAM.

One of the reason of why a non muslim student must cover her head is to respect IIUM's regulation. If you think that you couldnt accept it, then there are many other university that you can choose from which doesnt force you to wear a headcover. Nuff said

sean-the-man said...

@aishah - according to your logic, the Muslims in France should just find another country to live.

@anonymous - when the non-Muslims are paying more tax than Muslims - there are NO islamic universities in Malaysia. If there are, make sure they are privately funded!

And I note that you also agree with Aishah that the Muslims in France should either remove their tudungs or get deported.