Alabama State allow head coverings to be worn in driver's license pictures
March 01, 2004
Alabama state Sikhs won an important concession Friday when the Department
of Public Safety issued a directive allowing head coverings to be worn
in driver's license pictures for certain religious and medical reasons.
Sikhs, Muslims and the ACLU addressed lawmakers Feb. 11 after two Muslim women were denied licenses because they refused to remove their head scarves. DPS changed course last week, announcing a new rule that says, "head coverings and headgear are only acceptable due to certain religious beliefs and medical conditions, and even then, may not obscure any portion of the applicant's face."
Veils are still forbidden.
Dr. Surjit Sidhu, of Killen, was one of eight Sikhs from his Huntsville gurdwara, or congregation, who went to Montgomery to protest the rule banning head coverings. For a Sikh to remove his turban, especially in public, is a rejection of his faith.
"It is essential for a Sikh to cover his uncut hair by a turban," Sidhu said. "No Sikh would think of removing his turban and not be declared as an apostate (deserter of one's faith)."
Manjit Singh, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, said the importance of the turban in his faith stems from two sources.
When Guru Nanak founded Sikhism in Punjab, India, in the late 15th century, only members of the royal family were permitted to wear turbans. Singh said Nanak wore the turban to show he recognized the ultimate supremacy of only the Divine Being.
The source for the turban's importance, Singh said, comes from the south Asian tradition of wearing a turban when in the presence of one's elders as a sign of respect. Sikhs believe the Lord exists within all beings, so they wear the turban at all times.
"To ask a Sikh to remove his turban is very demeaning, very insulting," Singh said. "It is considered an affront to the practice of his faith."
For some Muslim women, wearing the hijab is as much a matter of personal choice and cultural norms as religious practice.
Though some choose not to wear the hijab, the Quran states, "that (women) should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers . . ." and certain other men.