The Ban on Minarets: Was It a Setback for The Secular Fabric of Switzerland?

The Ban on Minarets: Was it a setback for the secular fabric of Switzerland?

Image via Wikipedia :The Swiss Federal Council, 2008

Image via Wikipedia : The Swiss Federal Palace in Bern, Switzerland

Image via Wikipedia :Swiss Federal Council, 2009

Image via Wikipedia

On 29/11/2009, 57.5 % of the people of Switzerland who took part in the direct referendum conducted by the Federal Government of Switzerland voted in favor of the ban on building minarets in Switzerland.

In fact the Swiss Federal Government was initially not serious about the referendum and they even expected a rejection of the proposal that was put to vote. But the outcome of the referendum was very surprising to them; bowing to the verdict of the referendum, the Swiss Government has held that it respected the people’s verdict and henceforth no minaret would be permitted to be built in Switzerland.

Though there are as many as 200 mosques in Switzerland, only 4 of them have minarets including the minarets at Geneva and Zurich.

A minaret is a tower built over a mosque, used by the Muslim religious heads to invite their people for prayer; in the modern days even a loudspeaker is used in the minaret for making announcements.

The factors that prompted the ban have to be traced backwards. The move for the ban on minarets was initiated by the right wing parties of the Switzerland. They considered that a minaret built on a mosque signified the Muslim power. For the past few years, some 350,000 Muslim people had migrated in to Switzerland mainly from Yugoslavia and Turkey and it had gradually created a growing influence of the Muslims in Switzerland. Therefore, the right wing political parties in their bid to check the growing influence of the Muslims and keep the secular fabric of Switzerland intact took the issue of minarets; The outcome of the referendum shows how actively and vigorously they campaigned among the Swiss people in favor of the issue.

The French President Sarkozi expressed his displeasure against it, but bowed to the people’s verdict. However, the ban on minarets has created a furor among the international Muslim community. The General Secretary of Organization of the Islamic Countries openly condemned the verdict. Muslim fundamentalists have even called for the withdrawal of funds deposited into the Swiss banks. They even called the referendum as an act of hypocrisy of the Swiss Federal Government.

In Switzerland, the outcome of the referendum has actually sparked off yet another important controversial issue. Ever since the referendum was over, there have been hectic parleys in the political circles; even opinion polls are conducted among the people to highlight the issue: ‘Whether the Swiss Federal Government has to refer such sensitive issues to the people’s referendum.’