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The British debate over veils began in October 2006 when the MP and government minister Jack Straw wrote in his local newspaper, the ''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'', that, while he did not want to be "prescriptive", he preferred talking to women who did not wear a ''niqab'' (face veil) as he could see their face, and asked women who were wearing such items to remove them when they spoke to him, making clear that they could decline his request and that a female member of staff was in the room. Straw said he told the newspaper this information to open a debate on the subject, and not because of the upcoming deputy leader election in the Labour Party.〔('Remove full veils' urges Straw ) - BBC News. 6 October 2006〕 Straw was Foreign Secretary at the time of the Iraq War and since 1979 had been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Blackburn, where at least one quarter of the population are Muslim. Straw later stated that he would like to see the veil "abolished" altogether, adding that he was worried about "implications of separateness".〔 Straw's views were met with a mixed response, with some agreeing to the idea of a debate, some arguing that Muslim women should not wear veils in the United Kingdom, and some, such as the newspaper the ''Daily Express'', calling for the veil to be banned. Others were opposed to Straw's intervention, and some accused him of encouraging prejudice. In 2010, Jack Straw publicly apologised over his 2006 comments, stating "If I had realised the scale of publicity that they (comments ) received in October 2006, I wouldn’t have made them and I am sorry that it has caused problems and I offer that apology." 〔(26 April 2010 )〕 ==Background to the debate: the face veil in Islam== One of the tenets of Islam is a requirement for modesty in both men and women. This concept is known in Arabic as ''hijab'', which refers to far more than Islam and clothing. The word "hijab" has entered English and other European languages with a somewhat different meaning, referring either to sartorial hijab, or to one article thereof, namely the headscarf worn by many Muslim women. Muslims follow various schools of thought (''madhhabs'') which have differences of opinions on Islamic law (''sharia''). Women who wear a face-veil tend to observe the ''hadiths'' (sayings of Muhammad) instructing women to cover all that is not essential, which some interpret as everything except the eyes and hands. This belief is a minority position. Most Muslims believe women should allow their faces to be visible, but should cover the hair (and, in many cultures, the throat as well). An even smaller minority wear all-covering garments such as the ''burqa''. These rulings (''fatwa'') are based on the understandings of modesty and the public display of the body (''awrah''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British debate over veils」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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