The Swiss Minarets

The bigotry against Muslims that is being justified in the name of secular-liberal principles is very obvious in the recent controversy over building minarets in Switzerland (see below). But there is a larger question here that needs to be addressed as well. How does this discrimination become possible within the secular-liberal legal framework? This story reveals the inner contradiction in the secular-liberal political principles that, for example, grant freedom of belief but regulate religious practice. Thus Mormon polygamy in the US and the Muslim hijab in Turkey were declared unlawful using arguments similar to the ones presented in the below story. The career of secular liberalism is not as neat and even as it is claimed to be. And before seeking secular liberalism as a solution to all "problems" supposedly pertaining to religion, it needs to be questioned and historicized as well. This controversy is yet another reminder of the call that Saba Mahmood made in her review, "Questioning Liberalism, Too" (here).

Swiss move to ban minarets

(Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6676271.stm )

A row is brewing over religious symbolism in Switzerland. Members of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, currently the largest party in the Swiss parliament, have launched a campaign to have the building of minarets banned.

They claim the minaret is not necessary for worship, but is rather a symbol of Islamic law, and as such incompatible with Switzerland's legal system.

Signatures are now being collected to force a nationwide referendum on the issue which, under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, would be binding.

The move has shocked Switzerland's 350,000 Muslims, many of whom have been campaigning for decades for more recognition for their faith.

In theory Switzerland is a secular state, whose constitution guarantees freedom of religious expression to all. In practice however mosques in Switzerland tend to be confined to disused warehouses and factories.
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But supporters of a ban on minarets say they have no intention of preventing anyone from practising their faith.

"We don't have anything against Muslims," said Oskar Freysinger, member of parliament for the Swiss People's Party.

"But we don't want minarets. The minaret is a symbol of a political and aggressive Islam, it's a symbol of Islamic law. The minute you have minarets in Europe it means Islam will have taken over."

Mr Freysinger's words may sound extreme, even paranoid, but this is a general election year in Switzerland, and the campaign against minarets is playing well with voters.

A recent opinion poll for one Swiss newspaper found that 43% of those surveyed were in favour of a ban on minarets.

"We have our civil laws here," insisted Mr Freysinger. "Banning minarets would send a clear signal that our European laws, our Swiss laws, have to be accepted. And if you want to live here, you must accept them. If you don't, then go back."
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There is also a growing fear that the debate will damage Switzerland's traditionally good relations with the Arab world.

But the Swiss People's Party is powerful. If the minaret campaign is, as some suspect, a vote-grabbing ploy ahead of October's general election, then it is a successful one; the party is riding high in the opinion polls.

A constitutional amendment forbidding minarets will have to be approved in a nationwide referendum. In the meantime, no minarets are being built anywhere in Switzerland; the controversy has created a situation in which no local planning officer wants to be the first to approve one.

In that respect, the People's Party may have got what it secretly wanted all along, an unofficial ban on minarets.

So for now, Switzerland's Muslims will continue to pray in abandoned buildings, many with the growing feeling that they are tolerated only as long as they remain invisible.
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Related SM Post: Showing the Zainabi Kirdar