WINDSOR ONT: The facts about the Sikh turban are not what most Canadians assume or what many Sikhs claim.
Some Sikhs contend their religion requires them to wear the turban the evidence doesn’t support that. Politicians and multiculturalists human rights groups and religious organizations too often join the debate without any special knowledge and use the turban issue to protect or extend their own turf.
The Reform Party opposes allowing the turban as part of the RCMP uniform Over 200,000 Canadians have Signed a petition to Parliament to keep the uniform as it is Next week RCMP Commissioner Norman Inkster is a defendant in the Federal Court of Canada in a law-suit that challenges an amendment he made to RCMP regulations allowing non-traditional uniforms based on “required religious beliefs. Since the amendment in March 1990 two Sikhs have been allowed to wear turbans instead of the regulation hat.
The Inkster amendment opens the way for native Canadians to wear braids and for members of other religious Sects to seek exemptions from ‘wearing any item of the uniform because of their religious beliefs.
A group of RCMP veterans is asking the court to declare the amendment unconstitutional on grounds that religious symbols have no place as part of government or police uniforms
But the social issues the historical facts and the actual significance of the Sikh turban is unlikely be resolved next week in Calgary.
Compared to the world’s most populous faiths Sikhism is a recent religion founded in the 16th century by a teacher or guru known as Nanak in the Punjab region of northern India. some teachings are based on earlier Hindu saints the Indian constitution includes it as a Hindu belief Others identify it as a blend of Hinduism and Islam based on Muslim influence in India at the time of its development and its emphasis on one God.
However Sikhs insist their faith is considered a distinct and separate religion. Much of Sikh history is concerned with this issue of identity.
In the 18th century the 10th and last guru Gobind Singh tried to give Sikhs who were initiated as his followers a Special identity. He said that baptized Sikhs should adopt five symbols (known as the 5 K’s); uncut hair a comb a steel bangle underwear shorts and a small dagger or sword (kirpan). ‘The historical underpinnings for these five symbols of Sikh identity are unclear. Whether that identity was religious political ethnic or military is still an open question needing further research
Research however is one of the central issues in this controversy until the 20th century many Indians and Scholars understood Sikhism to be Just another of the numerous Hindu Sects that abound in India. Even in the 60°s most books and courses on religion hardly mentioned Sikhism. Motivated in party by the increase in Sikh immigration and by liberal funding of multiculturalism academic interest in Canada and Britain has grown since the 70’s.
AS scholarship developed there was an intensified attack by some Sikhs against academic studies that questioned the orthodox or fundamentalist Sikh view.
The Sikh-studies program at the University of Toronto was a special target. Lengthy polemics were written to University officials charging that their scholars were “anti-Sikh” or claiming that Sikh feelings were “offended” by Standard academic research done BY professors and students. Letters to Dr.David Strangway president of the University of British Columbia urged him to fire UBC’s outstanding professor of Sikh Studies Dr Harjot S. Oberoi for similar reasons. In 1992 the first Sikh doctorate in Canada was awarded to a promising Sikh scholar Dr.Singh His research indicated that Arjan the fifth guru interpreted some words of Nanak when compiling the Guru Granth Sahib the holy book of Sikhism. This research was judged to be blasphemy. and the Sikh leaders in Punjab ordered a boycott of Dr.Singh and banned further research on the Sikh Scripture
Canada’s 150,000 Sikhs two-thirds ‘of whom reside in Toronto ((40,000) and Vancouver (60,000) have been mute Despite their claims to support human rights the record of Sikhs in Canada in the area of academic freedom of expression and freedom of religion has been alarming and disheartening
The turban issue can be viewed as Part of the struggle to control scholarship to assert dominance over the Standards of Sikh orthodoxy and to Create a public image of the turbaned Sikh as representative of the “visible minority.” The first assumption about the turban that needs further research is whether wearing it is a religious requirement at all
There are several categories and divisions of Sikhs. A long-established tradition by orthodox Sikhs holds that baptized Sikhs (amrit dhari) should wear the turban and adopt the five K’s Others who are less observant but who wish nonetheless to be aligned with Sikhism may also believe their faith obliges them to wear the turban. Yet as recently as the 20’s the chief Sikh spokesman in Punjab refused to insist that even the five symbols should be considered religious requirements.
In the 1430 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib consisting of 3384 hymns there is only one passage by any guru that refers to the turban apparently addressed to a Muslim audience. Guru Arjan Says “Purify your impure mind and let living in God’s presence be your Hadith. Keep the God-given form intact with a turban on your head.
There are three other incidental references in the scripture to the turban all by Hindu or Muslim saints living before Guru Nanak even established Sikhism.
Not one reference in the Granth declared that the turban is a religious requirement Indeed there is a strong religious argument in Sikhism against Sikhs being required to wear the turban. Guru Nanak emphasized that external symbols were undesirable in religion and a deterrent to spiritual awareness. ‘The turban was widely worn in India before Sikhism was established. The Oxford English Dictionary points out that the origin of the turban is Turkish and that as a symbol it is identified with Islam. It would fly in the face of a massive amount of linguistic historical literary and religious evidence to claim that the turban is a Sikh religious symbol. Only when the turban is joined with the five k’s on a baptized Sikh can it be considered part of Sikh identity. But what is that identity? Is it ethnic cultural political military religious racial or something else? In the most significant British legal case on the turban the Sikhs argued that they were mice so as to receive the advantages and protection of the Races Relations Act. ‘There is strong evidence that the most important revival of the Sikh turban and the five k’s had little to do ‘with religious beliefs.
The turban was promoted by the British military in the early 1900s as a method of building an effective Sikh army to serve the Purposes of the British. One scholar ‘of Sikhism at the time wrote “A true Sikh will let his body be cut to pieces when fighting for his master A Sikh who shows the least sign of reluctance to go or goes with an expectation of remuneration when called upon by his benefactor the King-Emperor to fight His Majesty’s enemies matter how strong they may be will be condemned by the Gurus.” Had it not been for the revival of Sikhism as a military force by the British there are those who believe Sikhism would not have survived
The most recent revival of the wearing of the turban by Sikhs tock place some after the attack by the government of India on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984 There was little in the way of what could Property be called religious beliefs involved.
The action was political Sikhs also claim they are a political group and some are new demanding that political territory be severed from India for a Sikh state. This has hurdle to do with freedom of Religion freedom to Worship or freedom to develop Spiritually In this context the turban is meant as a political Statement of a Political group
The general Principle has usually been that to be claimed as Religious dress one must be primarily involved in Religious behavior for an essentially religious lifestyle The nun’s habit the priest’s frock the monk’s robes all are religious uniforms indicating that spiritual development is the central life pursuit. The Sikh turban and the five k’s clearly do not fit into that Category of religious dress There is also the dress of the Amish the Mennonites and Hasidic Jews: in these examples the secular life is Practiced but usually limited to association with individuals following o Similar religious lifestyle. None of these groups has demanded their uniform or clothing be accepted as a secular uniform in a secular occupation and be given a higher priority than the designated uniform. Canadian society may be willing to make changes with respect to these and other groups but brought to know what the clear historical academic and religious facts are. It should not rely solely on the statements of the groups that want to claim exemptions All Canadians are involved in this dialogue and the fullest disclosure of the facts and implications should be made.
Is the headdress of Yasur Arafat religious political or ethnic? What about the fez of the Moroccans? Where do we fit the Parsi cap or the lamb’s wool hat worm by Kashmiri Muslims?
It would not be difficult for any of these groups to claim their headdress is religious. But what are the criteria that ought to be met to make such 3 claim? This needs analysis before we can draw conclusions about the Sikh turban. Legal decisions or further government regulations about the turban or any other headgear should not be made until we examine the factual evidence
Invalid assumptions and hostile exchanges have become too much a part of this cultural dialogue in Canada. Even if all the evidence is not of the strictly historical or academic variety we must also consider Sikh customs beliefs and practices. Sikhs should try to be sensitive to Canadian institutions and practices and appear less provocative. This is especially true with long-established and distinguished Canadian institutions such as the Royal Canadian Legion where several clashes over the Sikh turban have occurred.
There is a story that Gobind Singh when travelling to a distant Village was welcomed with a shawl on his shoulder and tied the sheet around his waist one of his followers objected that this was improper dress .
It is regrettable that this issue is being fought as if were a matter of legal rights. “Rights” May turn out to be the weakest argument for all sides. The larger issue is mutual respect and sultan and expert witness on Sikhism to the human-rights commissions of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.)
Article extracted from this publication >> January 28, 1994
