TORONTO - The Muslim Canadian Congress has expressed concern and disappointment that the Hijab is once again being used as a political tool by Islamists to further their agenda in Canada

Recently, a Tae Kwon Doo team composed of five Muslim girls, some of whom wear the hijab, withdrew their participation from a tournament in Quebec as an act of defiance, after they were advised to remove their hijabs from underneath their protective helmets.

"The helmets were sufficient substitutes for the hijab," said Munir Pervaiz, Secretary General of the Muslim Canadian Congress. "However, the parents of these very young girls--who are not required to wear the hijab even according to the strictest interpretations of Quranic injunctions--decided to turn this into a political statement of Muslim identity," he added.

"It is quite astonishing that the right to wear the hijab often trumps safety considerations. These are young children and their safety ought to be paramount in any controversy on the hijab" said Pervaiz.

He further noted that even the consensus of orthodox and contemporary scholars of Islam, has yielded the conclusion that Muslims living as minority communities in a country are required to follow the laws of the land, wherever a conflict emerges between such laws and their religious practice. Rather than view every conflict as an infringement on their religious freedoms, Muslims must demonstrate grace in dealing with such issues, and compliance to regulations imposed by local authorities.

Munir Pervaiz further stated that there is not a single verse of the Quran exhorting Muslim women to cover their heads. "What we have is a lot of commentary based on the Quran and Hadees, but these interpretations are outdated, to say the least," he added.

"The state is not asking these girls to make any concessions in their religious practice privately, however if they wish to participate in public sports, they must comply with the same rules that other athletes adhere to," the MCC Secretary General concluded.