Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Stephen Rice
When we stand in front of the wardrobe in the morning, we can choose anything we want to wear.
No one has the right to make that decision for us. And neither should they.
But right now in Australia, moves are underway to take that choice away from Moslem women.
Some of our politicians want to ban the head-to-toe Burka.
Already in other countries, restrictions have been placed on the traditional head scarf or hijab.
It's all part of an international backlash against the Moslem community that's made the Islamic veil a symbol of fear and suspicion.
Read Liz Hayes's blog on this story and have your say
Full transcript:
STORY -
LIZ HAYES: Sunday afternoon out in Sydney's west and the Lakembaroos are out to make their mark. This is a fiercely competitive bunch of women, women who don't take losing lightly. But their biggest battle isn't on the field. In what these women see as an attack on their Muslim faith, soccer's international ruling body, FIFA, has banned the wearing of the hijab, their headscarf.
HIBA AYACHE: I'd be very devastated for someone to even consider telling me, "OK, you can't play soccer because of your headscarf."
LIZ HAYES: Australian officials have so far resisted the ruling, but many Muslims feel the ban is part of an anti-Islamic backlash sweeping the world.
LAKEMBAROOS PLAYER: I mean, if you're starting to ban wearing the hijab then is it going to stop there? You know, are you going to stop us from wearing other things? You know, as women - not even as a Muslim female, but as women.
LIZ HAYES: But it's not just FIFA. Internationally there are moves to ban the burqa - the full-face veil worn by some Islamic women and considered one of the most powerful and visible Muslim symbols. Lakembaroos captain Hiba Ayache has no doubt what's really behind it all.
LIZ HAYES: What do you think is going on then? Is it fear?
HIBA AYACHE: It's September 11. It really is. Like, you don't really like to talk about it, but it's September 11.
LIZ HAYES: So it is fear?
HIBA AYACHE: Yep.
REVEREND FRED NILE: What woman would want to put on a burqa and cover her face in Australia - with our temperature, in our summer temperature, and so on - what woman would want to do that voluntarily?
LIZ HAYES: Many who want the burqa banned, like NSW MP the Reverend Fred Nile, claim they're defending women's rights. This week he tried to introduce his own legislation to outlaw the Islamic veil.
REVEREND FRED NILE: Well, I'm very concerned about what I believe is the oppression of Muslim women. All the evidence points to directions from either the husband or males in the family or from the Islamic leaders in the mosque.
LIZ HAYES: So you're doing this for women?
REVEREND FRED NILE: For women, definitely.
LIZ HAYES: You're not doing it because you don't like the look of the burqa?
REVEREND FRED NILE: I don't like the look of it either.
LIZ HAYES: The legislation Fred Nile is proposing is exactly what European countries like France and Belgium are already introducing. Muslim women there will be banned from wearing the burqa anywhere in public. Switzerland has said no more Islamic minarets, and in Holland anti-Islamic politicians are winning votes.
GEERT WILDERS: People feel not only threatened, but they feel they are losing their country, they are losing their values, and the Islamisation - the tsunami of Islamisation, as I often call it - is something that people are, for good reasons, concerned about.
LIZ HAYES: When a tolerant nation like Holland starts supporting an intolerant politician like Geert Wilders, you know Muslims have a problem.
GEERT WILDERS: If you have a burqa in the Netherlands today you will not get a Dutch friend. You will probably not get a job. You will have almost terrible things you will find yourself into. Without a burqa you will get a Dutch friend, you will assimilate, you will get a job more easy.
LIZ HAYES: His once unpalatable policies are now winning Wilders 20% of the national vote and a seat in the European Parliament. But it's not just the burqa that's in his sights.
GEERT WILDERS: I have a very clear message to Muslims in Holland - if you are here already and you abide by our laws and our constitution, you are not only welcome to stay but we will even help you integrate with everything. But if you don't - this is the red line - then we will extradite you.
LIZ HAYES: The French were the first to draw a line in the sand. Six years ago they banned women and girls from wearing headscarves in public-funded schools and government offices. Now there is a proposal to ban the burqa, the full-length veil that covers all but a woman's eyes, and prevent her from wearing it in public places. For a country that is now home to 5 to 6 million Muslims, this latest plan sends a very clear message - it's the French way or the highway. This is a nation that has consistently grappled with a clash of cultures, simmering tensions between Muslims and French authorities that have often boiled over into violence. Now banning the burqa is seen by Muslims as just another provocation.
NOOR ALI: They're playing a game. They don't realise how dangerous it is.
LIZ HAYES: And how dangerous is it?
NOOR ALI: It's dangerous because we know that Europe has a very sad history with what they did to the Jewish people when they started to discriminate against them. They're repeating history. They don't see what they're going to do.
LIZ HAYES: Noor Ali is a student at an Islamic school in Paris - where she can wear a headscarf because it's not publicly funded. She sees the burqa ban as nothing more than a political manoeuvre, just another way of vilifying Muslims.
NOOR ALI: The majority of the Muslims don't really believe that it is compulsory to wear that.
LIZ HAYES: So you're saying, "Why did they bother if there are so few people wearing it?"
NOOR ALI: It's obvious, it's just something... It's just a manipulation.
LIZ HAYES: This could be a street scene in any Muslim country, but it's not. This is Birmingham, in the middle of England, which has one of the biggest Muslim communities in the UK.
SAIRA KHAN: I just feel like these kind of places have sprung up and it's like Muslims only and that's it - no-one else allowed. And that's a problem and that's a bit sad.
LIZ HAYES: Even Saira Khan, a Muslim herself, believes if Muslims choose to live in a Western country they need to integrate.
SAIRA KHAN: I think the burqa should completely be banned. As a woman, I'm completely... As a Muslim woman, I am completely abhorred by it. Why would you... I mean, I've worn one just to see what it's like. I felt isolated. I felt I wasn't part of society. It didn't give me any freedom. It restricted what I could see. We have to now in public be able to see people's faces so that we can identify people and we don't feel scared or threatened.
LIZ HAYES: So it's a security measure to ban it?
SAIRA KHAN: It is a security measure. It is a security measure. You know, how do I know that an extremist wouldn't wear the burqa to enter somewhere like Harrods and blow it up?
LIZ HAYES: Saira's parents came to the UK from Pakistan and she was raised in a strict Muslim household, but she understands how more and more British people have become angry and suspicious of Muslims.
SAIRA KHAN: You've got your halal shops, you've got your mosques, we've allowed you to be educated in this country, we've welcomed you, we've given you work - you know, you've participated - and now you're blowing up British citizens. What do you want non-Muslims to say? I'm not surprised we're on notice.
LIZ HAYES: Not surprisingly too when you meet British-born Muslim Anjem Choudary.
LIZ HAYES: For those who choose not to wear any covering, does it make them a bad Muslim?
ANJEM CHOUDARY: No, well, that would make you, obviously, sinful for not abiding by the sharia.
LIZ HAYES: So if you don't wear the burqa or head covering of some sort, you are sinning and you are a bad Muslim?
ANJEM CHOUDARY: Oh, absolutely. And that is something they will be accountable for.
LIZ HAYES: Choudary preaches a strict interpretation of Islam and his ambition is for Britain to become an Islamic state.
LIZ HAYES: What would happen to a woman under sharia law if she had an affair outside her marriage?
ANJEM CHOUDARY: If a man or a woman had an affair outside of their marriage and there were sufficient witnesses for either or both of them they would be stoned to death.
LIZ HAYES: Do you believe you're a superior being?
ANJEM CHOUDARY: A Muslim will always be superior to a non-Muslim, absolutely.
LIZ HAYES: You are a better person than me?
ANJEM CHOUDARY: In terms of...in the eyes of God, that would certainly be the case, yes. My dear Muslims, we live in the time of fitna...
LIZ HAYES: At 43, Anjem Choudary spends much of his time conducting his version of a sharia court and preaching to young Muslim men his views on anything from women to Americans and their pets.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: You can see, my dear Muslims, that in America, in at least 28 states, you can even get married to an animal. Bestiality is halal as long as you have relationship in your own home. This is the downfall of Western civilisation.
LIZ HAYES: You told a recent court that in 28 states in America you can get married to an animal.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: Bestiality. I mean, I did my research - that is true.
LIZ HAYES: That is an absolute lie.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: Find out, research it yourself.
LIZ HAYES: You cannot marry an animal.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: You can. It's true, it's true. Bestiality is completely legal in America.
LIZ HAYES: You are shameful. That is a lie.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: It's true. That is true. Do your research. You will see. That is the fruit of Western civilisation.
LIZ HAYES: You tell young, impressionable people lies.
ANJEM CHOUDARY: No, the reality is very difficult to swallow sometimes. In Britain, for example...
LIZ HAYES: No, it's hard for you to swallow.
LIZ HAYES: Such extremist nonsense is only feeding the worldwide anti-Muslim backlash and opening the way for politicians like Fred Nile to pursue a burqa ban.
LIZ HAYES: You see it as an unwanted symbol of Islam?
REVEREND FRED NILE: Certainly, and an un-Australian symbol. It's not part of our culture and I don't want it in our nation.
LIZ HAYES: Reverend Nile, as a Christian, aren't you being un-Christian?
REVEREND FRED NILE: No, I'm being a Christian.
LIZ HAYES: Aren't you being quite discriminatory?
REVEREND FRED NILE: No, I want... Those women are the ones who are being discriminated against.
LIZ HAYES: Aren't you being quite intolerant?
REVEREND FRED NILE: No, I think it's actually a form of domestic violence where the husband or the rulers of the mosque are trying to enforce these rules on Muslim women.
LIZ HAYES: Aren't you being divisive?
REVEREND FRED NILE: No, wearing the burqa is what's divisive. That's the whole point I'm making. That's what's dividing our society.
LIZ HAYES: Is it the case that you just don't like Islam?
REVEREND FRED NILE: Well, I'm certainly concerned about Islam. I certainly don't want to see Islam in any position of authority in Australia.
HIBA AYACHE: It's not nice. It's really a big slap in the face. It's disappointing, and it does, like, it does affect the way you see Australia - I have to admit that.
LIZ HAYES: At 24, Hiba Ayache can't believe that the only home she's ever known, Australia, is treating her like an alien.
HIBA AYACHE: I'm Australian, yeah, I'm born and bred here. I'm a typical Aussie. I love my barbecues, my beach, family gatherings - like, the only difference between an Australian gathering and a Lebanese gathering is we just have more food.
LIZ HAYES: If you had the opportunity to talk to a politician who wanted to ban the burqa or the headscarf, what would you say?
HIBA AYACHE: Well, my vote counts so to those politicians out there - "You want my vote then you have to earn it."
LIZ HAYES: This young mum is the face of a Muslim community that rejects fundamentalism but demands the kind of fair go that Australia has always prided itself on.
HIBA AYACHE: I go to Anzac Day memorials and people look at me going, "What the hell is she doing here?" But no, you know - tribute to my soldiers. I do all that and don't take it away from me. I'm an Australian more than anyone else here. If you're going to judge me by my hijab then really that's your problem.
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