A 34-year-old woman is suing the state for suspending her Florida drivers license after she refused to have her photo taken without an Islamic veil. Sultaana Freeman, a former evangelist preacher who converted to Islam about five years ago and wears the traditional niqab, says her religion doesn't allow her to show her face to strangers. "I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males," Freeman said in an interview at the office of her American Civil Liberties Union attorney. Only her emerald-green eyes and mascara showed through her veil.
Ummm... Sez right here in the state driving regulations that you can't wear a mask when getting your license picture taken. Sez right here, in the Fundo Rule Book, that women aren't allowed to drive anyway. Now, if you don't drive, and you need your license only for identification, how the hell are they supposed to identify you if they can't tell what you look like? Further proof that no IQ test is required to convert.
Najat Tamim-Muhammad, 41, is battling the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles over the agency's requirement that she remove her head covering, a scarf called the "hijab," for her photograph on a state-issued identification card. State law, which also applies to driver's licenses, requires a full-face photograph. "To take it off would be the equivalent of some other woman being forced to remove her blouse," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Mr Hooper appears regularly on cable teevee news shows as a spokesman for US Muslims. Many of his statements make no sense at all. And he wears what looks like a brassiere cup on his head. |