Resume about the french niqab ban

Marginal notes to a CNN Debate on Niqab........:

SoubhanAllah CNN couldn't find someone more knowledgable about islam than Mona Eltahawy? An egyptian "award-winning columnist and an international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues" as she calls herself on her own homepage (http://www.monaeltahawy.com/), who is embarrassing herself with showing off her lacking knowledge of Quoran in an open debatte on CNN about the french niqab ban. This debate was supposed to show how divided the opinion of US muslims is regarding the french niqab ban. But can we consider someone who is obviously not following any principles of islam as a public speaker about islamic issues???  (main principle of islam is the submission..... to Allah, his word ( the Quoran) and his Messanger (s.a.w.)... Ms Eltahawy is kindly ignoring the verse in Quoran, which says:
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, headcover, apron), and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband’s fathers, or their sons, or their husband’s sons, or their brothers or their brother’s sons, or their sister’s sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of feminine sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allaah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful”  
 [al-Noor 24:31]

"O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils)* all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way).  That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed.  And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
  [Al-Ahzab 33:59]

    *the arabic word here is Jalabeeb (plural of Jalbaab), which is the loose outer garment that covers all a woman's body.  It says here to use the Jalabeeb to cover all, and scholars say this means to use it to cover her head (agree upon by all scholars) and her face (agreed by many scholars, not all) and one or both eyes, in order for it to be known that she is a free woman and so not to be exposed to any harm.

She simply claims in this debate: "its not in the Quoran, its not an obligation for muslim women to cover their face...." Well, so far about niqab wether it is obligation (fard) or moustahab (highly recommended) or sunnah...... we can find different kind of understanding and explanations from scholars. Some says it is fard, some says it is moustahab (highly recommended). But to claim it wouldn't be described in the Quoran showing lacking knowledge of islam. Also there are several hadeeths which clearly describes that the wives of our Prophet (s.a.w.) and the wives of his sahabas were covering their faces. Here a few of them, suggesting Ms Eltahawy to read them before her next debate on this subject:
Hadith - Bukhari 6:282 'Aisha used to say: "When (the Verse): 'They should draw their veils over their necks and bosoms,' was revealed, (the ladies) cut their waist sheets at the edges and covered their faces with the cut pieces."

The general understanding in Islam regarding Sunnah, is that if the Prophet (s.a.w) or any of his wives (RA) or companions (RA) are recorded in authentic hadith to have engaged in an act that is not haram (prohibited) as defined by Qur'an or Sunnah, then the act is declared halal (permissible).  If the companions engaged in an act that the Prophet (saw) was aware of and did not speak out against, it is halal.

     It is well-known that the wives of the Prophet (s.a.w) covered their faces any time non-mahram men were near.  A woman named Asma, who was not a wife of the Prophet (saw) , was also recorded as covering her face.  Easily, one can conclude that wearing veil is halal (permissible).

    In Fathul Bari, chapter Hajj, a tradition reported on the authority of Aisha (RA) says:

        "A woman in a state of Ihram (during Hajj and Umrah) should stretch her head - cloth over to her face to hide it."
       Hadith - Recorded by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and ibn Majah, Narrated 'Aisha. [In his work Jilbab al-Marah al-Muslimah, al-Albani states (p. 108) that it is hasan due to corroborating evidence.  Also, in a narration from Asma, Asma also covered her face at all times in front of men.]
        Narrated 'Aisha (RA) who said, "The riders would pass us while we were with the Messenger of Allah (saw).  When they got close to us, we would draw our outer cloak from our heads over our faces.  When they passed by, we would uncover our faces."

So CNN brought up someone to debate about islamic issues, who is lacking knowledge about the Quoran and the Hadeeth, who is missing her (FARD!!!) prayers (or at least performing uncomplete abolution making her prayer so null and void - as she is obviously wearing nailpolish which makes impossible to perform a complete wozou since the water wouldn't touch her nails), not following the FARD of hijab (about the hijab there are NO divided opinions under the scholars...... they all say it is FARD), who think that women disappear if they are not defined through their looks, but through their knowledge and faith, who is calling Sarkozy a racist while she herself can't tolerate other opinions than her own, who clearly says in an interview, she "detest niqab and detest the face-veil", which is equally to saying: "i detest what the wives of our Prophet (s.a.w.) and the wives of his sahabas did". Astaghferillah. Poor performance, CNN. Why not calling the interview: debate between an educated niqabi and an intolerante journalist with arabic/muslim familybackground yet lacking basic knowledge about islam???

She could claim: it is not compulsory and arguing with the opinion of some scholars, who says it is moustahab not fard, still she should respect: there are muslim women out there who cares less about wether they "appear" or "disappear" for men but about starving for jannah, as i respect her personal wish and not forcing her to wear it (i might ask Allah to guide her, but not forcing her or ban any piece of her cloths) and wish she would respect the wish of those women too who wants to wear it for the sake of Allah.

Also the argument, the niqab ban would liberate women who are oppressed from their husbands / families to wearing it, is quite a stretch, as authentic statistics has proven: in France are around 2000 niqabis, most of them converts, who chose themselves to wear the niqab. They chose islam for their own, no oppressing families behind who would force them to wear it. (In fact most of them facing issues and rejection in their private life for the sake of Allah) They feel the face-veil is liberating them from sexual objectification. 

And what is worse: the niqab ban is really goin to imprison those few, who are probably compelled by their husbands to wear the face-veil, as those men, who are forcing their wives to wear it against their will, will most probably force them to stay at home and not to leave the house at all, if they can't do it in niqab-
But lets see a short story from a french convert niqabi lady, on her experiences regarding the ban:
(source: www.guardian.co.uk)

Anne [not her real name], 32, is French and lives in a village south of the Burgundy town of Mâcon. A mother of four, she converted to islam at 18 and has worn the niqab for five years
I've got a pregnancy scan on Friday. My doctor supports me wearing the niqab, but I'm not sure I'll be allowed into the hospital. I could wear a medical facemask, bird-flu style. Other women have told me they'll wear them to get round the ban and to keep their faces covered in state offices.
My husband, whose parents are Algerian, is afraid for me, but I won't take the niqab off. I won't change. That would be to renounce my values. I'm French, I was educated to believe in liberté, égalité, fraternité. My grandfather was an army officer on the beaches of Dunkirk and was imprisoned in Germany during the war. He always taught me: "If there's an injustice in life, you can't stay silent."
I will still take my sons to football, collect my daughter from horse riding, shop in the organic store. In the countryside, people know me. I don't think they'll call the police if I go to the shops. I'm the only woman in a niqab in the village. I think there are only two of us in the whole of Mâcon.
Three-quarters of women in a niqab won't take it off. You either have to play a game of cat and mouse, dodging discrimination, or you don't leave home.
For the last six months, I've felt a rise in Muslims being stigmatised. People in the street have said to me: "Go home." I say: "I am home. My family have lived in this region since 1600." I've stopped shopping at big hypermarkets. I noticed more aggression in the street as soon as [Nicolas] Sarkozy announced a consultation on the burqa. Suddenly, security guards started watching me, old women accused me of deliberately provoking them by standing in a queue. People look at my children differently. When we're out and my husband calls me by my very French first name and maiden name, people are shocked. They realise they've fallen for a cliche and I'm not what they think.
In November I was stopped by police in Mâcon for driving in a niqab which they said "obstructed my vision". One police motorbike went past me, no problem, but the second pulled me over and wanted to fine me for wearing a niqab. When I told him the law wasn't in force yet he didn't know what to do. Lots of drivers were committing all sorts of faults but he only stopped me and a Moroccan man.
Unfortunately, lots of people like me really don't feel at home any more. I was fined €22 (£19), and I challenged it but my objection was rejected. I could have gone to a tribunal but I didn't want to be lynched by the media.
I refute the current debate in France about women who convert, that they're the most extremist, or psychologically disturbed. I'm not stupid, this is an intellectual decision. It had nothing to do with marriage, I married much later. The niqab ban isn't the first injustice against Muslims in this country and it won't be the last. It's deliberately done to humiliate people. Muslim women are being scapegoated. France is stigmatising a whole faith, and we know from this country's history that stigmatising a whole people never got us anywhere.