Anti-Islamic sentiments surface in wake of restrictions on veils

"It's something that frightens them," Selma said in a telephone interview. "And so, when they see a woman wearing a burqa . . . ," she said, her voice trailing off.

Isabel Soumaya, vice president of the government-backed Association of Belgian Muslims, noted that only a few dozen women -- among the country's estimated 600,000 Muslims -- wear the full-face veil. Soumaya, who converted to Islam 20 years ago, wears the Islamic scarf, which covers her hair, but does not wear a full-face veil. In focusing on those who do, she said, Belgian legislators were "preying on voters' fears." She added, "It is racism and a form of Islamophobia."

The friction has grown more acute, Soumaya said, because the immigrants, many from North Africa, who came to Belgium in the 1960s and 1970s now have children and, sometimes, grandchildren who grew up here. The second- and third-generation Muslims, she said, have no intention of returning to North Africa and feel no need to "keep their heads" down, as their forebears did on arrival.

Fouad Lahssaini, a lawmaker who immigrated to Belgium from Morocco as a youth, said that most Muslims in Belgium do not favor women wearing the full-face veil and that passing a ban was tantamount to "taking out a bazooka to kill a fly." He said that requiring women to identify themselves to police or expose their face for a driver's license photo makes sense, but that a ban seems little more than resentment over the high visibility of Muslims in Belgian society.

Singling out Muslims

In the streets around the Midi Station this week, hundreds of Moroccan immigrants sat at coffee shops watching al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab all-news channel, and women shopped in full-length robes with their hair covered by scarves.

Those interviewed, who grew up in a country that practices a tolerant form of Islam, professed no desire to see women wear full veils. But they appeared uncomfortable with the new legislation, saying it singles out Muslims and could be the first step toward other problems.

"I'm against the full veil," said Faridh Boughdan, a 35-year-old pastry chef. "That is not required by Islam. I studied Islam back in Morocco. I read the Koran, and there is nothing in there about that." On the other hand, he said, women must wear scarves to cover their hair whenever they go out into the street.

This, he said, is laid down in the Koran.