For some time now, Nigerien women have been increasingly attracted to the veil in all its forms, ranging from a simple head scarf to a full veil. This craze for wearing the veil has spared no age category. Open the door of any school and you will see female students wearing the veil either over their school uniform, or instead of it! It is also not uncommon to see 4/5 year old girls wrapped, from head to toe, in a black or white sheet, leaving only their round faces and little hands visible.

 According to certain imams and self-proclaimed sermonizers from mosques in working-class neighborhoods of Niamey, adopting the veil and “cut” pants means rising to the level of a religious “elite.” These imams and pseudo-imams take advantage of the ignorance of many Nigeriens about Islam to develop a discourse that makes the wearing of the veil and cut-off pants look like religious prescriptions! Religion is used to create mental boundaries between the veiled and others: non-believers, non-Muslim believers, but also Muslims who do not think like them. According to these imams, enclosing oneself in a black sheet from head to toe, or wearing cut-off pants, is to become an “authentic” Muslim, it is to get closer to the Prophet, it is to access paradise.

During their sermons, these preachers transmit an idea of ​​religion so sublimated that they make people dream and cry, especially women and young people. They give such a rewarding image of religion at the time of the Prophet and of life after death, that in the end everyone wants to imbibe it. And that's where the exterior look comes into play. We need to identify ourselves mutually in this vision of things, we need to distinguish ourselves from others, from the impure, from the unbelievers... So we wear the veil and cut pants, and out of loyalty to the Prophet, we apply everything to the comma close. Did the Prophet eat from the ground with his hands? Well, us too. The Prophet had a beard of so many centimeters? Well, us too. Did the Prophet's wives wear a veil? Well, us too. And here we are all locked in a religious bubble, unable to think independently. By the way, did the Prophet use a cell phone and the Internet to communicate?

To accommodate this new vision of Islam, to be indifferent to wearing the full veil, amounts to showing little respect for this great religion that is Islam. It is emptying it of its essence and reducing it to a handful of prohibitions and rituals. Accepting everything “in the name of Islam” amounts to having very poor regard for the Koran and its teachings. This new vision of Islam has the particularity of stopping time. Instead of being an explanation of today's world, religion becomes, in this case, a simple instructions for how to live as in the time of the Prophet.

Let's think for a moment. Let's not let the neighborhood preachers do the thinking for us! Let's ask ourselves a few simple questions: Islam being a universal religion, what should Muslim Inuit living in Greenland do? Should they get rid of their traditional clothes and wear veils and cut-off pants? And if the Prophet had been born in Greenland, don't you think that in Niger we would have had some difficulty wearing leather and fur clothes, especially in April and May?!! In the 7th century   , in Arabia, notables left their robes hanging to display their wealth in public. The Prophet criticized this sign of pride. Today, in the 21st century , by wearing normal pants or traditional clothes that cover their ankles, are Nigerians showing pride?!! 

Why want to import and impose an Arab Islam (in the cultural sense of the term) in Niger? When Islam was integrated into China, clothes and mosques naturally took the form of Chinese culture. So let's separate the cultural from the religious: Islam does not necessarily involve Arabness!

Let's be reasonable: there is no such thing as "Muslim clothing." The way of dressing is necessarily linked to cultural traditions. The only recommendation of Islam and all other religions is for men and women to dress in a sober, dignified and chaste manner. Each Muslim can apply this recommendation according to the custom of the country where he lives. In Niger, the parents, grandparents and ancestors of today's veil enthusiasts understood this well. They understood that if we want to find something Muslim in the way of dressing, it is rather the spirit than the model... To be faithful to the sacred, we must preserve the spirit of this sacred.

Why build such an excessive relationship with the veil and cut-off pants? Why talk about “Muslim clothes” as if it were one of the pillars of Islam, just like prayers? The knowledge and practice of spiritual and universal qualities, such as generosity, empathy, honesty, justice, kindness, forgiveness, are a thousand times more important than wrapping oneself from head to toe in a black or white fabric… In 7th century Arabia , it was the veil that best protected the dignity and personality of women. Today, what best preserves the dignity and personality of women is education. It is thanks to education that women can defend themselves against any attack on their femininity and dignity, and that men can learn to respect and look at women differently. Today, the veil of the Muslim woman in Niger is the compulsory education of all the sons and daughters of this country. And we make it clear that it is indeed education and not simply instruction.

Islam encourages the search for knowledge and the use of reason. Every human being has the fundamental duty to develop his knowledge by looking at the world through his own eyes and not through those of others. We must not adhere to a way of thinking simply out of tradition or mimicry, but we must form our own ideas. Let us therefore not be afraid to seek the truth independently. Let us also remember that “religion” comes from the Latin words relegere (to welcome) and religare (to connect). Religions are there to help the believer recharge his batteries in his relationship with God in order to reach out to others, all others, and work for the common good of all humanity.

“True” Islam is an Islam of beauty, openness, intelligence and light. Let’s reconnect with this Islam.