TEHRAN - A federal court in Berlin recently issued a verdict banning female teachers who wear headscarves from teaching in German public schools. In the verdict, court officials argued that the scarf is a religious symbol and wearing it while teaching is a violation of the rule on religious neutrality in public schools.

Following is the text of an interview conducted with Professor Irmgard Pin, a sociologist teaching at a German university, in which she discusses the issue.

Q: Dr. Pin, a federal court in Berlin recently issued a verdict forbidding Mrs. Fereshteh Odine, a Muslim teacher of Afghan origin who wears a headscarf at work, from continuing in her job as a teacher at a German public school. What can you say about this verdict from the sociological point of view? A: I believe that the verdict will have very negative consequences regarding the peaceful coexistence of Germany's religious communities.

The gap between followers of different religions, particularly between the German Muslim society and the non-Muslim majority, is already very wide. The verdict approves and aggravates the situation.

Q: Members of the jury of the federal court which handed down the verdict argued that the complete neutrality requirement in schools will be void if a teacher wears a scarf while teaching. Do you agree? A: I think this neutrality requirement is generic in character. Anybody wearing a particular dress automatically takes on a special identity. He or she introduces his or her way of life by the type of outfit he or she chooses to wear. No one is neutral, whether he is in school or anywhere else.

In fact, the dress one wears shows one's ideology, one's way of life and also reveals one's values.

And, it is now becoming clear that the German society and government does not want the Islamic way of life and Muslim citizens. This is the whole truth.

Q: Women here come from different social classes.

Let's cite examples. For example, there are women who dye their hair in different colors. There are also those who use scarves not as a religious covering but simply because they are in fashion.

What about these women? Will they be allowed to teach in classes with such an appearance? A: As I said, the way of life and way of dressing of a person should be that which is accepted. This means that a particular dress is accepted for a German citizen but another attire, which is peculiar to people of other nationalities, is not acceptable.

Q: Can members of the jury of the federal court remove religious symbols from society by imposing the neutrality requirement? A: No, not all symbols, but only those which German society considers to be anti-feminist, fanatic and associated with terrorism. From the sociological point of view, we say these types of people are ideologically brainwashed.

Q: In your opinion, how should juries decide this type of case, with a view to giving people a better life? A: You should bear in mind that German lawyers are very conservative people with extremist Western points of view. Normally they don't associate with Muslims. At most, they may have seen Turkish women clean their houses. Their knowledge about Islam is very limited. They rarely travel to Islamic countries and don't associate with German Muslims either. In fact, media people have broader insight than lawyers. To deal with this shortcoming, more should be invested in training lawyers here. They are supposed to have at least the minimum required knowledge on values and beliefs of followers of other religions because they are supposed to render judgments on German citizens of all religions. They should acquire more information about the over three million Muslims living in Germany. Furthermore, more information dissemination work should be done.

I believe that making the very simple issue of hejab so complicated is useless. On the contrary, more effort should be exerted to enhance mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. When you have students from different nationalities, you will find that they all play together, get along very well, and, occasionally, may notice that their teacher wears an outfit different than their mothers'. Probably, out of curiosity, a student would ask about the dress and when the teacher explained why she was dressed in that particular dress, everything would be logical. I, as a sociologist, have encountered many of these situations. Children adapt themselves to people wearing different types of dress very quickly.

Adults are the ones who act foolishly.