The eyes are the window to the soul

In the North of England there is a chain of bakeries called Greggs. It is a bit of a standing joke amongst colleagues who sit in court in my home town, but do not come from there, that the local populace have a bad habit of wandering around town eating Greggs' pasties from the paper bag. It is true and ( despite Dennis disapproving) I do it myself from time to time. It may not be elegant but they taste good and it is what people who live where I live do.

Now, there is a branch of that bakery in Blackburn. In fact their ventilation shaft empties into the air just outside court room number one in Blackburn County Court and it is nigh impossible to conduct a case there in the morning without having an overwhelming urge to purchase a pasty at lunchtime. But I particularly like queuing in this branch because Blackburn is a town with a significant Muslim population and it is possible to stand there, debating whether to choose potato and meat or cheese and onion and to be joined by ladies in all types of Islamic dress including those wearing the full face veil. (Although this may cease soon as there is much debate on line as to whether Greggs vegetarian food is in fact haram).

Personally I find this fascinating. I rejoice in the combination of the great difference in our dress and the shared heritage of going to Greggs. Others in my country however find it harder to see below the black fabric to find the humanity underneath. Difference for them relates to fear and overt religious practice is confused with terrorism. People ask, "why can't they be like us', the words, 'them' and 'us' speaking ( in my personal opinion) to a division based on ignorance and intolerance rather than an acceptance based on commonality and curiosity about diversity.

Even in the law there is debate. What if a woman wearing a full face veil is to give evidence for example? Is it possible to assess truthfulness if her facial expressions are masked? What if an advocate wanted to wear one? My experience as an advocate of talking to woman with full niqab is that with attention to the eyes and voice tone there is no difficulty interpreting meaning and demeanour. (For those interested the guidance given to Judges dealing with this issue is here).

Many complaints about the wearing of the veil focus on the 'hiding' of the face. The underlying assumption is that there is a lack of openness, a deception which is seen as incompatible with our (for which read White -Christian- British) culture. ( In fact it is more about modesty.) Ironically there is an old English Proverb The eyes are the window to the soul which is not dissimilar to the Biblical phrase The eyes are the light of the body is the eye. Is it not possible that by stripping away the (often incorrect) assumptions we make and the prejudices activated on seeing clothing choices, jewellery styles, body shape or art, and focusing on the eyes only, we come to the truest way of assessing personality?