Hijab#See also

The Arabic word hijab ({{Langx|ar|حجاب}}) (lit. 'curtain, cloth barrier') is the verbal noun originating from the verb {{Lang|ar|ﺣَﺠَﺐَ}} (hajaba), from the triliteral root {{Lang|ar|ح ج ب}} (H-J-B), which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of hide, conceal, block.Lane, Edward William (1863), "ح ج ب", in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 515–516{{cite web | url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ح_ج_ب | title=ح ج ب | date=5 May 2019}} The term {{Transliteration|ar|ALA-LC|ḥijāb}} was originally used to denote a partition and was sometimes later used for Islamic rules of modesty. While one usage in the Quran refers to the curtain separating Muhammad's wives from visitors,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0Grq2BzaUgC&pg=PA55 |title=Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate |access-date=2013-04-20 |isbn=9780300055832 |year=1992 |last1=Ahmed |first1=Leila |publisher=Yale University Press }} other usages refers to a metaphysical barrier separating man or the world from God.

The Quran does not use the word hijab for women's clothing, but uses other terms such as jilbab (as an outer garment recommendation) and khimar (for discussions see below) in various contexts.Sahar Amer (2014), What Is Veiling?, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 25-27Lane's Lexicon page 519 and 812Contemporary Fatwas by Sheik Yusuf Al Qaradawi, vol. 1, pp. 453-455Ruh Al Ma’ani by Shihaab Adeen Abi Athanaa’, vol. 18, pp. 309, 313 The word in Turkish expresses an emotional state, shame, that is not related to clothing.General hicap duymak feel ashamed v. https://tureng.com/en/turkish-english/hicap

File:Shinzō Abe and Malala Yousafzai (1) (cropped).jpg, Pakistani education activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, choosing a loose head scarf.]]

There are seven verses in the Quran that refer in some way to women's clothing, and the two discussed below are ostensibly related to the form of clothing;Bucar, Elizabeth, The Islamic Veil. Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications, 2012.

The clearest verses on this topic are {{qref|24|30-31|c=y}}, telling both men and women to dress and act modestly, with more detail on women's position.{{Cite web|date=8 April 2003

|title=Evidence in the Qur'an for Covering Women's Hair|website= IslamonLine.net

|url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546760|access-date=2023-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626064435/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546760 |archive-date=26 June 2010 }}{{Cite web

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404160153/https://islamonline.net/en/is-hijab-a-quranic-commandment/

|archive-date=4 April 2023

|date=9 October 2003|title=Is Hijab a Qur'anic Commandment?

|url=https://islamonline.net/en/is-hijab-a-quranic-commandment/

|access-date=2023-06-01

|first=Shahul |last=Hameed }}

{{Blockquote|And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests, and not reveal their ˹hidden˺ adornments except to their husbands, their fathers, their fathers-in-law, their sons, their stepsons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, their fellow women, those ˹bondwomen˺ in their possession, male attendants with no desire, or children who are still unaware of women’s nakedness.........|}}

{{Islamic female dress}}

In Luxenberg's Syro-Aramaic Reading analysis on Qur'an, the part "Let them draw their veils over their chests" means literally as "snap their belts around their waists", an idiom, the belt was a symbol for chastity{{Cite web|url=http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=7025&eng=y|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120530155649/http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=7025&eng=y|url-status=dead|title=The Virgins and the Grapes: the Christian Origins of the Koran|archivedate=30 May 2012}} and does not order any organ to be covered with cloth. According to him, the meanings of the words in the relevant part of the verse are as follows: {{Lang|ar|خِمار}} Khimar; cummerbund, {{Lang|ar|جيب}} jyb;{{refn|group=nb|Google Translate gives similar pronunciations of this word with the same meaning in many languages; For example Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Greek, Pashto, Somali, Hungarian, Albanian, Georgian….}} sinus, sac, {{Lang|ar|وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ}}; "let them hit."{{refn|group=nb|One of the biggest difficulties in understanding the Quran for those who do not know its language may be shifts in linguistic usage over the centuries. Studies involving understanding, interpreting and translating the Quran can contain individual tendencies, reflections and even distortionsThere are occasional misinterpretations, mistranslations, and even distortions. Translating the meanings of the Holy Quran has always been challenging for translators, as the Quran has an exoteric and an esoteric meaning.

{{cite web|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613311.pdf|title=Itineraries in the Translation History of the Quran: A guide for Translation Students|first=Reima|last=Al-Jarf|date=14 June 2014|publisher=University of Tartu|website=files.eric.ed.gov|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250331230245/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613311.pdf|archive-date=31 March 2025|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.jspt.ir/article_167055_d4455677421c8d1c8ab05b048e5fb3a9.pdf|title=Ideologic Presuppositions Behind Translation: A Case Study of the Orientalist English Translations of the Quran|first=Abdur Raheem|last=Kidwai|publisher=Aligarh Muslim University|website=www.jspt.ir|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111075133/https://www.jspt.ir/article_167055_d4455677421c8d1c8ab05b048e5fb3a9.pdf|archive-date=11 November 2024|url-status=live}} caused by the region, sect,{{cite web|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/19576529.pdf|title=The Ideological Factor in the Translation of Sensitive Issues from the Quran into English, Spanish and Catalan|first=El Hassane|last=Herrag|date=2012|publisher=Autonomous University of Barcelona|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822074223/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/19576529.pdf|archive-date=22 August 2024|url-status=live}} education, religious ideologyTherefore, it can be noted that the ideology of religion, attitude, and social context of the translators, as well as the involvement of the state, might affect the translation of the Holy Qur’an into various target languages. Gunawan, F. (2022). The ideology of translators in Quranic translation: lessons learned from Indonesia. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2022.2088438 and knowledge of the people who made them.}} (See also:Revisionist school of Islamic studies)

A statement ın Al-Aḥzāb: 59 is as follows; {{Blockquote|O Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (the plural form of jilbab ({{Lang|ar|جَلَـٰبِيبِهِنَّ}})) over themselves. That is more suitable "so that they will be recognized and not be harmed". And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.

|}}

This was a statement that tells women to wear their "outer garments" when going out for various needs (such as defecation), interpreted by some as a command and by others as a recommendation of protective measures against sexual harassment in Medina.{{cite web | url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/06/45564/hijab-is-not-an-islamic-duty-scholar | title=Hijab is Not an Islamic Duty: Muslim Scholar | date=26 May 2022 }}{{refn|group=nb|Beyza Bilgin states that the expression 'let them put their outer coverings over themselves' in the 59th verse of Al-Ahzab was revealed because they harassed women under the conditions of that day, considering them to be concubines, and commented as follows:{{Cite web |last= |date=28 May 2008 |title="Örtünmek Allah'ın emri değil" |url=http://www.haberturk.com/yasam/haber/76927-ortunmek-allahin-emri-degil |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220131809/http://www.haberturk.com/yasam/haber/76927-ortunmek-allahin-emri-degil |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=7 February 2017 |website= |publisher=haberturk.com |language=Turkish}}

"In other words, veiling is a security issue that arose according to the needs of that period. These are not taken into consideration at all and are reflected as God's command. Women have been called God's command for a thousand years. Women said the same thing to their daughters and daughters-in-law."

"They tell me; 'Do you cover yourself while praying?' Of course, I cover up when I'm in congregation. I am obliged not to disturb the peace. But I also pray with my head uncovered in my own home. Because the Quran's requirement for prayer is not covering up, but ablution and turning towards the qibla. This is a thousand year old issue. It's so ingrained in us. But this should definitely not be underestimated. Because people do it thinking it is God's command. But on the other hand, we should not declare a person who does not cover up as a bad woman."}}

Those who perceived the statement as a command were also divided into two; while most scholars consider it won't to include face, a small group arguing that "the purpose of the veil is to prevent women from being recognized", hence the face is included.{{Cite web |last=Kandhlawi |first=Idris |title=Tafsir Surah Al-Ahzab - 59 - Ma'arif al Quran |url=https://quran.com/33:59/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Quran.com |language=en}} The statement in question is as follows: ({{Lang|ar|ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰٓ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ}}) literally "so that they will be recognized and not be harmed."{{Cite web |title=القرآن الكريم - تفسير ابن كثير - تفسير سورة الأحزاب - الآية 59 |url=https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura33-aya59.html#katheer |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241221071755/https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer/sura33-aya59.html |archive-date=2024-12-21 |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=quran.ksu.edu.sa}} In order to understand the expression, some narrations can give clues about the sociological infrastructure of the period. It is reported that Umar prohibited female slaves from resembling free women by covering their hair,{{cite book|author=Khaled Abou El Fadl|title=Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FU4QBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT198|date=1 October 2014|publisher=Oneworld Publications|pages=525–526|isbn=9781780744681}} no different from earlier social practices in which noble women who could wear ornate female headdresses were easily distinguished from slaves as in Mesopotamia, Assyria and ancient Greece.{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=15}}{{Cite book|last=El Guindi|first=Fadwa|title=Hijab|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|author2=Sherifa Zahur|year= 2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=9780195305135}}{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=27–28}} According to well-known explanation of the verse, by Al-Qurtubi the verse was an expression directed towards free and Muslim women, not slaves or non-Muslim women, for which Tabari cites Ibn Abbas. Ibn Kathir states that the jilbab was distinguishing free Muslim women from those of Jahiliyyah, so other men know they are free women and not slaves or prostitutes, so they are not harassed.

Some later scholars like Ibn Hayyan, Ibn Hazm and Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani questioned the quoted explanation. Their reasons were that slaves were not explicitly excluded in the verse or hadith, and that they could attract lust more easily, and that the prohibition of adultery and molestation should also apply to slaves.{{rp|114}} What is said about the dimensions of the Jilbab varies; While Qurtubi reports that jilbab covers the whole body, Ibn Arabi considered that excessive covering would make impossible for a woman to be recognised, which the verse mentions.{{Cite book|editor1-last=Gabriel|editor1-first=Theodore

|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2IdgumzY9VgC&pg=PT112|title=Islam and the Veil: Theoretical and Regional Contexts|editor2-last=Hannan|editor2-first=Rabiha

|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing

|author1-last=Hasan | author1-first=Usama

|author2-last=Hannan | author2-first=Rabitha

|chapter= 6. The Veil: Between Tradition and Reason, Culture and Context; 7. An Exploration of the Debates Pertaining to Head Covering and Face Veiling of Women in the British Muslim Context

|isbn=978-1-4411-6137-6

|ref={{sfnref|Gabriel and Hannan|2011}}

}}{{rp|111–113}}

{{Main|Sīrah|Sunnah}}

File:PLATE8CX.jpg women; It can provide clues in understanding some of the Quranic emphases such as ma'ruf / Urf, as well as sunnah and bid'a]]

The word ḥijāb in the Qur'an refers not to women's clothing but to a spatial partition or curtain as in other early Islamic texts in literal usage{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=53–54}} while in other cases the word denotes separation between deity and mortals (42:51), wrongdoers and righteous (7:46, 41:5), believers and unbelievers (17:45), and light from darkness (38:32). Available evidence suggests that veiling was not introduced into Arabia by Muhammad, but already existed there, particularly in the towns, although it was probably not as widespread as in the neighbouring countries such as Syria and Palestine.{{cite book |last=Ahmed |first=Leila |title=Women and Gender in Islam |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1992 |location=New Haven |pages=55–56}} Similarly to the practice among Greeks, Byzantines, Jews, and Assyrians, its use was associated with high social status.{{refn|group=nb|It is reported that Umar prohibited female slaves from resembling free women by covering their hair.{{cite book|author=Khaled Abou El Fadl|title=Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FU4QBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT198|date=1 October 2014|publisher=Oneworld Publications|pages=525–526|isbn=9781780744681}}}}

The current understanding of hijab can be traced back to the verse in Sura 33:53 which is believed to have been revealed in 627;{{cite book|last=Aslan|first=Reza|title=No God but God|year=2005|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-6213-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/nogodbutgodorigi00asla/page/65 65]|url=https://archive.org/details/nogodbutgodorigi00asla/page/65}} states, "And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts".{{cite web |title=Surat Al-'Ahzab |url=http://quran.com/33/53 |access-date=1 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207003453/http://quran.com/33/53 |archive-date=7 February 2013 |url-status=live }} As Muhammad's influence increased, he entertained more and more visitors in the mosque, which was then his home. Often, these visitors stayed the night only feet away from his wives' apartments. It is commonly understood that this verse was intended to protect his wives from these strangers.{{cite book|last=Aslan|first=Reza|title=No God but God|year=2005|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-6213-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/nogodbutgodorigi00asla/page/66 66]|url=https://archive.org/details/nogodbutgodorigi00asla/page/66}} Leila Ahmed adds that Muhammad's concubines did not wear veils, while his wives did, and emphasizes that the term "darabat'ül hijab" was used among Muslims over time to mean "she entered among Muhammad's wives."{{cite book |last=Ahmed |first=Leila |title=Women and Gender in Islam |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1992 |location=New Haven |pages=54–55}}

Some have also offered different interpretations of this barrier; A visual barrier between Muhammad's family and the surrounding community, a physical barrier is used to create a space that provides comfort and privacy for individuals, and an ethical barrier, such as in the expression purity of hearts in reference to Muhammad's wives and the Muslim men to make something forbidden.

The Hadiths sources specify the details of hijab for men and women, exegesis of the Qur'anic verses attributed to the sahabah, and are a major source which Muslim legal scholars used to derive rulings.{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualmosque.com/ummah/women/hijab-niqab/hijab-fard-obligation-or-fiction/#footnote_7_22932 |title=Hijab: Fard (Obligation) or Fiction? |publisher=virtualmosque.com |date=15 October 2012 |access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109024735/http://www.virtualmosque.com/ummah/women/hijab-niqab/hijab-fard-obligation-or-fiction/#footnote_7_22932 |archive-date=9 November 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2017/09/25/how-should-we-understand-the-obligation-of-khimar-head-covering/ |title=How Should We Understand the Obligation of Khimar (Head Covering)? |publisher=seekershub.org |date=25 September 2017 |access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108224726/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2017/09/25/how-should-we-understand-the-obligation-of-khimar-head-covering/ |archive-date=8 November 2018 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book

| last =Kamali

| first =Mohammad

| publication-date =2005

| year =2005

| title =Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence

| edition =3

| publisher =Islamic Texts Society

| page =63

| isbn =0946621810

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Eb-JMQEACAAJ&q=principles+of+islamic+jurisprudence

| access-date = 8 November 2018}}

Sahih al-Bukhari records Aisha saying:

{{Blockquote|`Umar bin Al-Khattab used to say to Allah's Messenger "Let your wives be veiled" But he did not do so. The wives of the Prophet used to go out to answer the call of nature at night only at Al-Manasi.' Once Sauda, the daughter of Zam`a, went out and she was a tall woman. `Umar bin Al-Khattab saw her while he was in a gathering, and said, "I have recognized you, O Sauda!" He said so as he was anxious for some Divine orders regarding the veil. So Allah revealed the Verse of veiling.{{sfn|Anwar|2006|p=170}}{{sfn|Bukhārī|1997|p=146|loc=Vol. 8, no. 6240}}}}

Aisha also reported that when {{qref|24|31|b=y}} was revealed,

{{Blockquote|...the men of Ansar went to the women of Ansar and recited to them the words Allah had revealed. Each man recited to his wife, his daughter, his sister and other female relatives. Each woman among them got up, took her decorated wrapper and wrapped herself up in it out of faith and belief in what Allah had revealed. They appeared behind the Messenger of Allah wrapped up, as if there were crows on their heads.{{Hadith-usc|abudawud|32|4090}}{{rp|118}}}} Although these narrations imply black clothing, other narrations indicate wives of Muhammad also wore other colored-clothes like yellow or rose.{{cite news|author=Mariam al-Jaber|title=Saudi cleric al-Ghamdi: Abaya is not mandatory as per Islam's teachings|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2018/03/28/Saudi-cleric-Al-Ghamdi-Abaya-is-not-mandatory-as-per-the-teachings-Islam|publisher=Al Arabiya|date=2018-03-28}}{{rp|124}}

• Safiya bint Shaiba, said that 'A'ishah mentioned the women of Ansar, praised them and said good words about them. She then said: When Surat an-Nur came down, they took the curtains, tore them and made head covers (veils) of them.{{Hadith-usc|abudawud|32|4091}}. This hadith is often translated as "...and covered their heads and faces with the cut pieces of cloth,"{{Cite web |url=https://sunnah.com/urn/44370 |title=Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 282

|publisher=sunnah.com

|access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103145643/https://sunnah.com/urn/44370 |archive-date=3 November 2017 |url-status=live }} Some commentators, such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fatḥ al-Bārī, claimed that covering also covers the face, based on the word ({{langx|ar|فَاخْتَمَرْنَ|links=no}}) in the text of this hadith.

• According to some hadiths from Bukhari, Abu Dawud and Nasai, during the time of Muhammad, male and female Muslims were performing ablution from the same water bowl. "We used to perform ablution collectively, men and women, by lowering and dipping our hands into the same bowl." indicating that women could perform ablution in the presence of men. In this case, the arms up to the elbows, feet, face and the part of the head that are essential for ablution and wiping can be considered as free zones.Those who show sensitivity to close these places at times other than ablution are respected, but those who do not do this are not despised Prof. Dr. Yaşar Nuri Öztürk - Islam in the Quran – P. Number: 615-616

{{Main|Women's prayer in Islam}}

• Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Qunfudh that his mother asked Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "What clothes can a woman wear in prayer?" She said, "She can pray in the khimār and the diri' ({{langx|ar|الدِّرْعِ|links=no|lit=shield, armature}}, {{Translation|'a woman's garment'}}) that reaches down and covers the top of her feet."Muwatta Imam Malik book 8 hadith 37.
• Aishah narrated that Allah's Messenger said: "The Salat of a woman who has reached the age of menstruation is not accepted without a khimār."Jami` at-Tirmidhi 377.

{{see also|Awrah|Islam and gender segregation}}

File:Woman in Tunisia.jpg

Classical fiqh have differed as how to understand Qur'anic verses on clothing; Sunni{{Cite web |last=Goldenziel |first=Jill |date=2012 |title=Veils, Politics, and Constitutionalism |url=https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=schmooze_papers |access-date=30 November 2024 |website=University of Maryland}}{{Cite web |title=Hijab In Islam: What Is It, Is It Obligatory And Why? - Riwaq Al Quran |url=https://riwaqalquran.com/blog/hijab-in-islam/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |language=en-US}}{{Note|The International Union of Muslim Scholars, a group consisting of Sunni scholars from across fifteen countries, also has discerned hijab is required in its Arabic language decrees.}} and Shia{{Cite web |last=Rizvi |first=Sa'eed |date=2012-10-16 |title=Hijab, The Dress of Modesty in Islam |url=https://www.al-islam.org/articles/hijab-dress-modesty-islam-sayyid-saeed-akhtar-rizvi |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=www.al-islam.org |language=en}} scholars say hijab is mandatory, while Ismaili, accounting for ~0.25% of all Muslims, do not.{{Cite web |title=Houston's Shia Ismaili Women: Education and Ethics: Women & Religion VIII - University of Houston Libraries Audio/Video Repository |url=https://av.lib.uh.edu/media_objects/dz010q11b |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=av.lib.uh.edu |language=en}} Besides that traditional scholars had different opinions on covering the hands and face. Muslim scholars usually require women to cover everything but their hands and face in public, but do not require the niqab (a face covering worn by some Muslim women). In nearly all Muslim cultures, pre-pubescent girls are not required to wear a hijab.{{Cite web |title=Muslim Women Network |url=https://www.mwnuk.co.uk/mediaStatmentDetail.php?id=187 |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=www.mwnuk.co.uk}}

In private, and in the presence of close relatives (mahrams), rules on dress relax. However, in the presence of the husband, most scholars stress the importance of mutual freedom and pleasure of the husband and wife.Heba G. Kotb M.D., Sexuality in Islam, PhD Thesis, Maimonides University, 2004

Some scholars argue that beyond the body of a woman, her voice is also a part of her "awrah" and should not be heard by men outside her immediate family. They cite some hadiths citing women's voices as a source of temptation and fitna (charmingness, attractiveness) and should be kept private and some verse interpretations.{{cite web | url=https://en.islamonweb.net/is-a-womans-voice-awrah | title=Is a Woman's Voice 'Awrah'? | date=8 June 2023 }}

In Sunni tradition, scholarly consensus (ijma') has discerned hijab is mandatory.{{Cite web |last=Karimah |first=Shaykha Marzuqa |date=2022-01-19 |title=Hijab And Jilbab In the Quran: On The Hermeneutics Of The Quranic Verse Of Khimar |url=https://muslimmatters.org/2022/01/19/hijab-jilbab-hermeneutics-of-the-quran-verse-khimar/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=MuslimMatters.org |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Alkiek |first=Tesneem |title=Is Hijab Religious or Cultural? How Islamic Rulings Are Formed |url=https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/is-hijab-religious-or-cultural-how-islamic-rulings-are-formed |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research |language=en}} The four major Sunni schools of thought (Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali) believe that it is obligatory for free women to cover their hair,{{cite book|title=What Is Veiling?|author=Sahar Amer|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|date=2014|page=37}} and the entire body except her face and hands, while in the presence of people of the opposite sex other than close family members.{{Cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2010/09/19/a-detailed-exposition-of-the-fiqh-of-covering-ones-nakedness-awra/ |title=A Detailed Exposition of the Fiqh of Covering One's Nakedness (Awra) |date=19 September 2010 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224055556/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2010/09/19/a-detailed-exposition-of-the-fiqh-of-covering-ones-nakedness-awra/ |archive-date=24 February 2019 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2016/04/11/can-you-clarify-the-standard-explanation-of-the-verse-of-hijab/ |title=Can You Clarify the Standard Explanation of the Verse of Hijab? [Shafi'i] |date=11 April 2016 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226170717/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2016/04/11/can-you-clarify-the-standard-explanation-of-the-verse-of-hijab/ |archive-date=26 February 2019 |url-status=live }}Hsu, Shiu-Sian. "Modesty." Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an. Ed. Jane McAuliffe. Vol. 3. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003. 403-405. 6 vols.

According to Hanafis, these requirements extend to being around non-Muslim women as well, for fear that they may describe her physical features to unrelated men.{{Cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2010/09/09/uncovering-in-front-of-non-muslims-of-unmarriageable-kin-mahram/ |title=Uncovering in Front of Non-Muslim's of Unmarriageable Kin (Mahram) |date=9 September 2010 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327234534/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2010/09/09/uncovering-in-front-of-non-muslims-of-unmarriageable-kin-mahram/ |archive-date=27 March 2019 |url-status=live }} The Sunni Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas in Saudi Arabia,{{cite web |title=Fatwas of the Permanent Committee: Women covering their faces and hands |url=http://www.alifta.net/fatawa/fatawaDetails.aspx?languagename=en&View=Page&PageID=6425&PageNo=1&BookID=7 |website=General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta' |publisher=Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |access-date=9 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107085306/http://www.alifta.net/fatawa/fatawaDetails.aspx?languagename=en&View=Page&PageID=6425&PageNo=1&BookID=7 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |url-status=live }} and Muhammad ibn Adam Al-Kawthari{{Cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2009/05/30/who-is-mahram/ |title=Who is Mahram |date=30 May 2009 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228234713/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2009/05/30/who-is-mahram/ |archive-date=28 February 2019 |url-status=live }} also believe women should cover their head.

Men must cover from their belly buttons to their knees, though the schools differ on whether this includes covering the navel and knees or only what is between them.{{Cite web |url=http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/16965 |title=Fatwas by Mufti Ebrahim Desai » Askimam |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219072838/http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/16965 |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2014/05/26/covering-the-nakedness-for-a-man-answers/ |title=Covering the Nakedness for a Man: Answers |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214141514/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2014/05/26/covering-the-nakedness-for-a-man-answers/ |archive-date=14 February 2019 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal|journal=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/7434270 |title=Maliki Fiqh: Matn al-'Ashmāwiyyah (English Translation) |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328020341/https://www.academia.edu/7434270/Maliki_Fiqh_Matn_al-Ashm%C4%81wiyyah_English_Translation_ |archive-date=28 March 2019 |url-status=live |last=Ali |first=Abdul Samad }}{{Cite web |url=https://darululoomtt.net/awrah-men-imams-shafi-ahmad-malik-a-r/ |title=The Awrah of Men According to Imams Shafi, Ahmad and Malik (A.R). – Darul Uloom Trinidad & Tobago |date=15 May 2014 |access-date=18 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219015940/https://darululoomtt.net/awrah-men-imams-shafi-ahmad-malik-a-r/ |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live }}

In Shia jurisprudence, by consensus, it is obligatory for women to cover their hair, and the entire body except her hands and face, while in the presence of people of the opposite sex other than close family members.{{cite web |title=Question & Answer » Hijab (Islamic Dress) |url=https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01208/ |access-date=19 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Rizvi |first1=Sayyid Sa'eed Akhtar |title=Hijab of Eyes |date=16 October 2012 |url=https://www.al-islam.org/articles/hijab-dress-modesty-islam-sayyid-saeed-akhtar-rizvi |access-date=19 August 2024}}

The major and most important Shia hadith collections such as Nahj Al-Balagha and Kitab Al-Kafi for the most part do not give any details about hijab requirements. However a quotation from Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih Musa al-Kadhim in reply to his brother makes reference to female hijab requirements during the salat (prayer), stating "She covers her body and head with it then prays. And if her feet protrude from beneath, and she doesn't have the means to prevent that, there is no harm".Rispler-Chaim, Vardit. ‘The siwāk: A Medieval Islamic Contribution to Dental Care’. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2.1 (1992): 13-20.

File:Afghan National Army (ANA) Brig. Gen. Khatool Mohammadzai, center, the director for women's affairs and the deputy director for the education and physical training within the ANA, poses with a group of 120220-A-WI966-673.jpg army and police officials wearing hijabs in Kandahar. (Period before Taliban rule)]]

Modern approaches to this issue emerge under the influence of a series of social and intellectual developments, from the re-evaluation of religious sources and the questioning of sources that establish a androcentric / misogynist religious understandingAhmed 1992, p. 79-83 to the protection of women's individual dignity, freedom and rights.

Clothing does not play a key role in Quranism. All Quranist movements agree that Islam has no sets of traditional clothing, except for the rules described in the Quran. Therefore, beards and the hijab are not necessary.

Modernist thinkers including Karen Armstrong, Reza Aslan and Leila Ahmed, believe the requirements of the hijab were initially intended solely for Muhammad's wives, serving to preserve their sanctity. This was because Muhammad conducted religious and civic matters in the mosque next to his home.Aslan, Reza, No God but God, Random House, (2005), p.65–6 Leila Ahmed further explains that Muhammad aimed at fostering a sense of privacy and protecting the intimate space of his wives from the constant presence of the bustling community at their doorstep. They argue that the term darabat al-hijab ('taking the veil') was used synonymously and interchangeably with ‘becoming Prophet Muhammad's wife’ and that during Muhammad's life no other Muslim woman wore the hijab. Aslan suggests that Muslim women started to wear the hijab to emulate Muhammad's wives, who are revered as "Mothers of the Believers" in Islam.

Khaled Abou El Fadl argues that all Islamic moderates agree that, in all cases, the decision whether to wear the hijab should be a woman's autonomous decision

and that her choice must be respected because the moderate pro-choice position is based on the Quranic teachings that there ought to be no compulsion in religion.

El Fadl, Khaled Abou (2005), The Great Theft: Wresting Islam From the Extremists, Harper San Francisco, p.274

Some traditionalist Muslim scholars accept the contemporary views and arguments as those hadith sources are not sahih and ijma would no longer be applicable if it is argued by scholars (even if it is argued by only one scholar). Notable examples of traditionalist Muslim scholars who accept these contemporary views include the Indonesian scholar Quraish Shihab.{{Cite thesis |title=PENAFSIRAN AYAT-AYAT HIJAB (Studi Komparatif atas Pemikiran Quraish Shihab, Wahbah Al-Zuhaili Dan Buya Hamka Terhadap Ayat Hijab) |url=http://digilib.uinkhas.ac.id/11932/ |publisher=Universitas Islam Negeri Kiai Haji Achmad Siddiq Jember |date=2021-02-03 |degree=undergraduate |language=id |first=NA |last=WAWI |trans-title=INTERPRETATION OF THE VERSES OF HIJAB (Comparative Study of Quraish Shihab, Wahbab Al-Zuhaili And Buya Hamka's Thinking of The Verses of Hijab)}}

{{Further|Veil}}

File:Bronze Statuette of a Veiled and Masked Dancer 1.jpg

Veiling did not originate with the advent of Islam. Statuettes depicting veiled priestesses date back as far as 2500 BC.{{cite book |last=Kahf |first=Mohja |title=The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics |publisher=University of California Press |year=2008 |page=27 |chapter=From Her Royal Body the Robe Was Removed: The Blessings of the Veil and the Trauma of Forced Unveilings in the Middle East}} Elite women in ancient Mesopotamia and in the Byzantine, Greek, and Persian empires wore the veil as a sign of respectability and high status.{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=15}} In ancient Mesopotamia, Assyria had explicit sumptuary laws detailing which women must veil and which women must not, depending upon the woman's class, rank, and occupation in society. Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to veil and faced harsh penalties if they did so.{{Cite book|last=El Guindi|first=Fadwa|title=Hijab|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|author2=Sherifa Zahur|year= 2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=9780195305135}} Veiling was thus not only a marker of aristocratic rank, but also served to "differentiate between 'respectable' women and those who were publicly available".

Strict seclusion and the veiling of matrons were also customary in ancient Greece. Between 550 and 323 BCE, prior to Christianity, respectable women in classical Greek society were expected to seclude themselves and wear clothing that concealed them from the eyes of strange men.{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=27–28}} Roman pagan custom included the practice of the head covering worn by the priestesses of Vesta (Vestal Virgins).

File:Temple_of_baal07(js).jpg, Palmyra, Syria, 1st century CE]]

It is not clear whether the Hebrew Bible contains prescriptions with regard to veiling, but rabbinic literature presents it as a question of modesty (tzniut).{{cite web|author=Richard Freund|title=The Veiling of Women in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A Guide to the Exhibition|publisher=University of Hartford|url=http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/greenberg-center/Veiled%20Women%20Catalog.pdf|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804133139/http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/greenberg-center/Veiled%20Women%20Catalog.pdf|archive-date=4 August 2016|url-status=live}} Modesty became an important rabbinic virtue in the early Roman period, and it may have been intended to distinguish Jewish women from their non-Jewish counterparts in Babylonian and later in Greco-Roman society. According to rabbinical precepts, married Jewish women have to cover their hair (cf. Mitpaḥat). The surviving representations of veiled Jewish women may reflect general Roman customs rather than particular Jewish practices. According to Fadwa El Guindi, at the inception of Christianity, Jewish women were veiling their heads and faces.

File:Chief_Vestal.jpg]]

The best-known view on Christian headcovering is delineated in the Bible within the passage in 1 Corinthians 11:4–7, which states that "every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head". The early Church Fathers, including Tertullian of Carthage, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo attested in their writings that Christian women should wear a headcovering, while men should pray with their heads uncovered.{{cite web |title=On Account of the Angels: Why I Cover My Head |url=http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/headcoverings.aspx |publisher=Orthodox Christian Information Center |access-date=8 April 2022 |quote=St. John Chrysostom thought that Paul, in admonishing women to wear a covering "because of the angels," meant it "not at the time of prayer only, but also continually, she ought to be covered." Fr. Rhodes agrees: "The veil can be the constant symbol of the true woman of God … a way of life … a testimony of faith and of the salvation of God, not only before men, but angels as well."}} There is archaeological evidence demonstrating that headcovering was observed as an ordinance by women in early Christianity,{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Cory A. |title=The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change |date=2013 |publisher=Ridgeway Publishing |location=Stoneboro|pages=14–21, 29–30, 85 |language=English}} and the practice of Christian headcovering continues among female adherents of many Christian denominations today, especially among Anabaptist Christians, as well as among certain Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians and Reformed Christians, among others.{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Cory A. |title=The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change |date=2013 |publisher=Ridgeway Publishing |location=Stoneboro|page=13 |language=English}}{{cite web |title=The Ultimate Guide to Christian Headcoverings |url=https://www.saintjohnchurch.org/head-coverings-ultimate-guide/ |publisher=Saint John the Evangelist Orthodox Church |access-date=19 August 2021 |date=17 May 2019}}

In the Indian subcontinent, some Hindu women cover their heads and face with a veil in a practice known as ghoonghat.{{cite book|last=Gupta|first=Kamala|title=Women In Hindu Social System (1206–1707 A.D.) |year=2003 |publisher=Inter-India Publications|isbn=9788121004145|quote=Hindu ladies covered their head with a kind of veil known as Ghoonghat.}}{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Kamala |title=Social Status of Hindu Women in Northern India, 1206-1707 A.D. |date=1987 |publisher=Inter-India Publications |isbn=978-81-210-0179-3 |page=131 |quote=The Hindu ladies covered their heads with a kind of veil known as ghoonghat.}}

Intermixing of populations resulted in a convergence of the cultural practices of Greek, Persian, and Mesopotamian empires and the Semitic peoples of the Middle East. Veiling and seclusion of women appear to have established themselves among Jews and Christians before spreading to urban Arabs of the upper classes and eventually among the urban masses. In the rural areas it was common to cover the hair, but not the face.

According to Leila Ahmed, the rigid norms pertaining to veiling and seclusion of women found in Christian Byzantine literature had been influenced by ancient Persian traditions, and there is evidence to suggest that they differed significantly from actual practice.{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=26–28}} Leila Ahmed argues that "Whatever the cultural source or sources, a fierce misogyny was a distinct ingredient of Mediterranean and eventually Christian thought in the centuries immediately preceding the rise of Islam."{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=35}}

During the history of slavery in the Muslim world, it is known that female slaves did show themselves unveiled. Slave women were visually identified by their way of dress. While Islamic law dictated that a free Muslim woman should veil herself entirely, except for her face and hands, in order to hide her awrah (intimate parts) and avoid sexual harassment, the awrah of slave women were defined differently, and she was only to cover between her navel and her knee.Anchassi, O. (2021). Status Distinctions and Sartorial Difference: Slavery, Sexual Ethics, and the Social Logic of Veiling in Islamic Law. Islamic Law and Society, 28(3), 125-155. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-bja10008

This difference became even more prominent during the Abbasid Caliphate, when free Muslim women, in particular those of the upper classes, were subjected to even more sex segregation and harem seclusion, in contrast to the qiyan slave artists, who performed unveiled in male company.Caswell, F. M. (2011). The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyan in the Early Abbasid Era. Storbritannien: I.B.Tauris. 6-7

The practice of veiling was borrowed from the elites of the Byzantine and Persian empires, where it was a symbol of respectability and high social status, during the Arab conquests of those empires.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Hijab|editor=John L. Esposito|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2014|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001|isbn=9780195125580|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00bada}} Reza Aslan argues that "The veil was neither compulsory nor widely adopted until generations after Muhammad's death, when a large body of male scriptural and legal scholars began using their religious and political authority to regain the dominance they had lost in society as a result of the Prophet's egalitarian reforms".

Because Islam identified with the monotheistic religions of the conquered empires, the practice was adopted as an appropriate expression of Qur'anic ideals regarding modesty and piety.{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Leila|title=Women and Gender in Islam|year=1992|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=36}} Veiling gradually spread to upper-class Arab women, and eventually it became widespread among Muslim women in cities throughout the Middle East. Veiling of Arab Muslim women became especially pervasive under Ottoman rule as a mark of rank and exclusive lifestyle, and Istanbul of the 17th century witnessed differentiated dress styles that reflected geographical and occupational identities. Women in rural areas were much slower to adopt veiling because the garments interfered with their work in the fields.{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=John|title=Islam: The Straight Path|url=https://archive.org/details/islam00john|url-access=registration|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/islam00john/page/99 99]|isbn=978-0-19-506225-0|edition=3}} Since wearing a veil was impractical for working women, "a veiled woman silently announced that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle."Bloom (2002), p.47

By the 19th century, upper-class urban Muslim and Christian women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a burqa (muslin cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth). The name of this garment, harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself. Up to the first half of the twentieth century, rural women in the Maghreb and Egypt put on a form of niqab when they visited urban areas, "as a sign of civilization".{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=be7sCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA276|page=276|title=Religion in Public Spaces: A European Perspective|editor1=Silvio Ferrari |editor2=Sabrina Pastorelli|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|author=Sara Silverstri|chapter=Comparing Burqa Debates in Europe|isbn=9781317067542}}

File:Moslema in style (8093610616).jpg, Malaysia]]

Western clothing largely dominated fashion in Muslim countries in the 1960s and 1970s.{{cite book |title=A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence, from the Middle East to America |author=Leila Ahmed |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014}}{{cite web |url=http://www.albawaba.com/slideshow/retro-mini-fashion-middle-east--514288 |title=Retro Middle East: The rise and fall of the miniskirt |website=albawaba.com |date=18 August 2013 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024022834/http://www.albawaba.com/slideshow/retro-mini-fashion-middle-east--514288 |archive-date=24 October 2016 |url-status=live }} For example, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, some women wore short skirts, flower printed hippie dresses, or flared trousers.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1223761 |title=Bhutto's Pakistan |date=4 December 2015 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019191043/http://www.dawn.com/news/1223761 |archive-date=19 October 2016 |url-status=live }} This changed following the military dictatorship in Pakistan, and Iranian revolution of 1979, when traditional conservative attire including the abaya, jilbab and niqab made a comeback.{{Cite web |url=http://www.shughal.com/16-images-of-pakistans-swinging-1970s/ |title=Pakistan's swinging 70s |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009213528/http://www.shughal.com/16-images-of-pakistans-swinging-1970s/ |archive-date=9 October 2016 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-before-the-revolution-in-photos-2015-4|title=25 photos show what Iran looked like before the 1979 revolution turned the nation into an Islamic republic|first=Jeremy Bender, Melia|last=Robinson|website=Business Insider}} There were demonstrations in Iran in March 1979 after the hijab law, decreeing that women in Iran would have to wear scarves to leave the house, was brought in.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/03/hengameh-golestans-best-photograph-iranian-women-rebel-against-the-1979-hijab-law |title=theguardian.com, 3 September 2015, accessed 23 October 2016 |website=The Guardian |date=3 September 2015 |access-date=23 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107103504/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/03/hengameh-golestans-best-photograph-iranian-women-rebel-against-the-1979-hijab-law |archive-date=7 January 2019 |url-status=live}} However, this phenomenon did not happen in all countries with a significant Muslim population; in Turkey there has been a decline on women wearing the hijab in recent years,{{cite web |url=https://en.qantara.de/content/women-in-turkey-the-headscarf-is-slipping?page=0%2C1|title = Women in Turkey: The headscarf is slipping - Qantara.de| date=20 February 2019 }} although under Erdoğan Turkey is becoming more conservative and Islamic, as Turkey repeals the 1982 headscarf ban in public sector,[https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=85105&MevzuatTur=3&MevzuatTertip=5 KAMU KURUM VE KURULUŞLARINDA ÇALIŞAN PERSONELİN KILIK VE KIYAFETİNE DAİR YÖNETMELİK] ("THE REGULATION ON THE DRESS AND ATTIRE OF PERSONNEL WORKING IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS") dated 16 July 1982. and the founding of new fashion companies catering to women who want to dress more conservatively.{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2015/05/cover-story-150505121122072.html|title=Cover Story|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=11 April 2020}}

Egyptian leader President Gamal Abdel Nasser claimed that, in 1953, he was told by the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood organization that they wanted to enforce the wearing of the hijab, to which Nasser responded, "Sir, I know you have a daughter in college, and she doesn't wear a headscarf or anything! Why don't you make her wear the headscarf? So you can't make one girl, your own daughter, wear it, and yet you want me to go and make ten million women wear it?"{{Cite web |date=2018-07-23 |title=How Abdel Nasser described Muslim Brotherhood |url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/54557/How-Abdel-Nasser-described-Muslim-Brotherhood |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=EgyptToday}}

The late-twentieth century saw a resurgence of the hijab in Egypt after a long period of decline as a result of westernization. Already in the mid-1970s some college aged Muslim men and women began a movement meant to reunite and rededicate themselves to the Islamic faith.{{cite web|last1=El Guindi|first1=Fadwa|last2=Zuhur|first2=Sherifa|title=Ḥijāb|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0306|publisher=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|access-date=11 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024173453/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0306|archive-date=24 October 2014|url-status=dead}}{{cite journal |last=Bullock|first=Katherine|title=Challenging Medial Representations of the Veil|journal=The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences|year=2000|volume=17|issue=3|pages=22–53|doi=10.35632/ajis.v17i3.2045}} This movement was named the Sahwah,{{cite web|last=Elsaie |first=Adel |title=Dr. |url=http://www.usislam.org/islamicyouth/islamic_youth_Campaign.htm |publisher=United States of Islam |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224004547/http://www.usislam.org/islamicyouth/islamic_youth_Campaign.htm |archive-date=24 December 2012 }} or awakening, and sparked a period of heightened religiosity that began to be reflected in the dress code.

The uniform adopted by the young female pioneers of this movement was named al-Islāmī (Islamic dress) and was made up of an "al-jilbāb—an unfitted, long-sleeved, ankle-length gown in austere solid colors and thick opaque fabric—and al-khimār, a head cover resembling a nun's wimple that covers the hair low to the forehead, comes under the chin to conceal the neck, and falls down over the chest and back". In addition to the basic garments that were mostly universal within the movement, additional measures of modesty could be taken depending on how conservative the followers wished to be. Some women choose to also utilize a face covering (niqāb) that leaves only eye slits for sight, as well as both gloves and socks in order to reveal no visible skin.{{Cite journal |last=Aziz |first=Rookhsana |date=2011-01-01 |title=Hijab – the Islamic dress code: its historical development, evidence from sacred sources and views of selected Muslim scholars |url=https://www.academia.edu/79841919 |journal=University of South Africa}}

Soon this movement expanded outside of the youth realm and became a more widespread Muslim practice. Women viewed this way of dress as a way to both publicly announce their religious beliefs as well as a way to simultaneously reject Western influences of dress and culture that were prevalent at the time. Despite many criticisms of the practice of hijab being oppressive and detrimental to women's equality, many Muslim women view the way of dress to be a positive thing. It is seen as a way to avoid harassment and unwanted sexual advances in public and works to desexualize women in the public sphere in order to instead allow them to enjoy equal rights of complete legal, economic, and political status. This modesty was not only demonstrated by their chosen way of dress but also by their serious demeanor which worked to show their dedication to modesty and Islamic beliefs.

File:Medalists_at_the_Women%27s_57_kg_Taekwandoo.jpg medalists from Spain, Britain, Iran and Egypt at Rio Olympics, 2016{{cite news|author=Patrick Johnston|title=Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin Becomes The First Iranian Woman To Win An Olympic Medal|publisher=Reuters/Huffington Post|date=19 August 2016|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kimia-alizadeh-zenoorin-iran-woman-olympic-medal_us_57b7631de4b0b51733a37c08|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822194223/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kimia-alizadeh-zenoorin-iran-woman-olympic-medal_us_57b7631de4b0b51733a37c08|archive-date=22 August 2016|url-status=live}}]]

Controversy erupted over the practice. Many people, both men and women from backgrounds of both Islamic and non-Islamic faith questioned the hijab and what it stood for in terms of women and their rights. There was questioning of whether in practice the hijab was truly a female choice or if women were being coerced or pressured into wearing it.

As the awakening movement gained momentum, its goals matured and shifted from promoting modesty towards more of a political stance in terms of retaining support for Pan-Islamism and a symbolic rejection of Western culture and norms. Today the hijab means many different things for different people. For Islamic women who choose to wear the hijab it allows them to retain their modesty, morals and freedom of choice.

After the September 11 attacks, the discussion and discourse on the hijab in Western nations intensified as Islamic traditions and theology came under greater scrutiny, with Hijabis facing extensive discrimination.{{Cite web |title=The Muslim 'Veil' Post-9/11: Rethinking Women's Rights and Leadership |url=https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/The-Muslim-Veil-Post-911-Rethinking-Womens/991031549959304646 |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Rutgers University / Institute for Social Policy and Understanding}} According to the Harvard University Pluralism Project: "Some Muslim women cover their head only during prayer in the mosque; other Muslim women wear the hijab; still others may cover their head with a turban or a loosely draped scarf."{{cite web | url=https://pluralism.org/women-in-islam | title=Women in Islam }}

{{Further|Types of hijab|Hijab by country}}

File:A mother of one of the Camp Speicher massacre victims throws her headscarf at the Iraqi parliament speaker.webm victims threw her headscarf at the Iraqi parliament speaker, Salim al-Jabouri.]]

The styles and practices of hijab vary widely across the world. An opinion poll conducted in 2014 by The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research asked residents of seven Muslim-majority countries (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia) which style of women's dress they considered to be most appropriate in public.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/female-muslim-dress-survey_n_4564188.html|title=Female Muslim Dress Survey Reveals Wide Range Of Preferences On Hijab, Burqa, Niqab, And More|work=Huffington Post|date=23 January 2014|access-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918052132/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/female-muslim-dress-survey_n_4564188.html|archive-date=18 September 2016|url-status=live}} The survey found that the headscarf (in its tightly- or loosely-fitting form) was chosen by the majority of respondents in Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia and Turkey. The response rate for people of Turkey was just about 60%. In Saudi Arabia, 63% gave preference to the niqab face veil; in Pakistan the niqab, the full-length chador robe and the headscarf, received about a third of the votes each; while in Lebanon half of the respondents in the sample (which included Christians and Druze) opted for no head covering at all. The survey found "no significant difference" in the preferences between surveyed men and women, except in Pakistan, where more men favoured conservative women's dress.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/14/qa-with-author-of-u-mich-study-on-preferred-dress-for-women-in-muslim-countries/|title=Q&A with author of U. Mich. study on preferred dress for women in Muslim countries|publisher=Pew Research Center|author=RICH MORIN|date=14 January 2014|access-date=25 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826052441/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/14/qa-with-author-of-u-mich-study-on-preferred-dress-for-women-in-muslim-countries/|archive-date=26 August 2016|url-status=live}} However, women more strongly support women's right to choose how to dress. People with university education are less conservative in their choice than those without one, and more supportive of women's right to decide their dress style, except in Saudi Arabia.

File:Iriana Joko Widodo in 2021.jpg wearing a türban]]

Some fashion-conscious women have been turning to non-traditional forms of hijab such as turbans.{{cite news|title=Under wraps: Style savvy Muslim women turn to turbans|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/fashion-and-beauty/2014/10/09/Under-wraps-Style-savvy-Muslim-women-turn-to-turbans.html|author=Shounaz Meky|publisher=Al Arabiya|date=9 October 2014|access-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821211042/http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/fashion-and-beauty/2014/10/09/Under-wraps-Style-savvy-Muslim-women-turn-to-turbans.html|archive-date=21 August 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=The Beautiful Reasons Why These Women Love Wearing A Hijab|author=Yasmin Nouh|date=11 May 2016|work=The Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-beautiful-reasons-why-these-women-love-wearing-a-hijab_us_57320575e4b0bc9cb0482225|access-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910225918/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-beautiful-reasons-why-these-women-love-wearing-a-hijab_us_57320575e4b0bc9cb0482225|archive-date=10 September 2016|url-status=live}} While some regard turbans as a proper head cover, others argue that it cannot be considered a proper Islamic veil if it leaves the neck exposed.

In Iran, where wearing the hijab is legally required, many women push the boundaries of the state-mandated dress code, risking a fine or a spell in detention.{{cite news|url=https://en.qantara.de/content/playing-cat-and-mouse-with-irans-morality-police|publisher=Qantara.de|title=Playing cat and mouse with Iran's morality police|newspaper=Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World |access-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816122843/https://en.qantara.de/content/playing-cat-and-mouse-with-irans-morality-police|archive-date=16 August 2016|url-status=live}} The former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani had vowed to rein in the morality police and their presence on the streets has decreased since he took office, but the powerful conservative forces in the country have resisted his efforts, and the dress codes are still being enforced, especially during the summer months.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/jun/19/iran-morality-police-patrol|author=Yara Elmjouie|title=Iran's morality police: patrolling the streets by stealth|publisher=Tehran Bureau/The Guardian|date=19 June 2014|access-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729221426/https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/jun/19/iran-morality-police-patrol|archive-date=29 July 2016|url-status=live}} After Ebrahim Raisi became president, he started imposing hijab laws strictly, announcing use of facial recognition in public transport to enforce hijab law.{{cite news |last1=Strzyżyńska |first1=Weronika |title=Iranian authorities plan to use facial recognition to enforce new hijab law |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/05/iran-government-facial-recognition-technology-hijab-law-crackdown |access-date=2022-09-17 |work=The Guardian |date=2022-09-05}} An Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died in custody of 'morality police' after they arrested her on new stricter hijab laws, which led to widespread protests.{{cite news |last1=Strzyżyńska |first1=Weronika |title=Iranian woman dies 'after being beaten by morality police' over hijab law |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/16/iranian-woman-dies-after-being-beaten-by-morality-police-over-hijab-law |access-date=2022-09-17 |work=The Guardian |date=2022-09-16}} Women's resistance in Iran is gaining traction as an increasing number of women challenge the mandatory wearing of the hijab. Smith (2017) addressed the progress that Iranian women have made in her article, "Iran surprises by realizing Islamic dress code for women,"{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/article/iran-surprises-by-relaxing-islamic-dress-code-for-women-m9wmhkgl7|title=Iran surprises by relaxing Islamic dress code for women|last=Istanbul|first=Hannah Lucinda Smith|date=29 December 2017|work=The Times|access-date=1 May 2019|issn=0140-0460|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501005745/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iran-surprises-by-relaxing-islamic-dress-code-for-women-m9wmhkgl7|archive-date=1 May 2019|url-status=live}} published by The Times, a news organization based in the UK. The Iranian government has enforced their penal dress codes less strictly and instead of imprisonment as a punishment have implemented mandatory reform classes in the liberal capital, Tehran. General Hossein Rahimi, the Tehran's police chief stated, "Those who do not observe the Islamic dress code will no longer be taken to detention centers, nor will judicial cases be filed against them" (Smith, 2017). The remarks of Tehran's recent police chief in 2017 reflect political progress in contrast with the remarks of Tehran's 2006 police chief.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2006/04/2008410141252572755.html|title=Fashion police get tough in Tehran|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501005746/https://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2006/04/2008410141252572755.html|archive-date=1 May 2019|url-status=live}} Iranian women activists have made a headway since 1979 relying on fashion to enact cultural and political change.

In Turkey the hijab was formerly banned in private and state universities and schools. The ban applied not to the scarf wrapped around the neck, traditionally worn by Anatolian villager women, but to the head covering pinned neatly at the sides, called türban in Turkey, which has been adopted by a growing number of educated urban women since the 1980s. As of the mid-2000s, over 60% of Turkish women covered their head outside home. However the majority of those wear a traditional, non-Islamic head covering and only 11% wore a türban.{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6122010.stm |publisher=BBC News | title=Headscarf issue challenges Turkey | date=7 November 2006 | first=Sarah | last=Rainsford | access-date=24 June 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420191433/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6122010.stm | archive-date=20 April 2010 | url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7025294.stm |title=Women condemn Turkey constitution |publisher=BBC News |first=Sarah |last=Rainsford |date=2 October 2007 |access-date=4 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813003706/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7025294.stm |archive-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=live}}{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11880622 |publisher=BBC News | title=Quiet end to Turkey's college headscarf ban | date=31 December 2010 | author=Jonathan Head | access-date=21 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613170826/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11880622 | archive-date=13 June 2018 | url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/04/23/headscarf/ |title=Head scarves to topple secular Turkey? |work=Salon |first=Tracy |last=Clark-Flory |access-date=4 August 2008 |date=23 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513032710/http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/04/23/headscarf/ |archive-date=13 May 2008 |url-status=live}} The ban was lifted from universities in 2008,{{Cite news|last2=Knickmeyer|first1=Zehra

|last1=Ayman |first2=Ellen|date=2008-02-10|title=Ban on Head Scarves Voted Out in Turkey|newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019004611/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020900832.html |archive-date=19 October 2017|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/09/AR2008020900832.html|access-date=2023-01-02|issn=0190-8286}} from government buildings in 2013,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/europe/turkey-lifts-ban-on-head-scarves-in-state-offices.html?_r=0|title=Turkey Lifts Longtime Ban on Head Scarves in State Offices|newspaper=NY Times|date=8 October 2013|access-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205034716/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/europe/turkey-lifts-ban-on-head-scarves-in-state-offices.html?_r=0|archive-date=5 December 2013|url-status=live}} and from schools in 2014.{{cite web|title=Turkey-lifts-ban-on-headscarves-at-high-schools|url=http://www.news24.com/World/News/Turkey-lifts-ban-on-headscarves-at-high-schools-20140923|website=news24.com/|access-date=3 November 2014|date=23 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024090634/http://www.news24.com/world/news/turkey-lifts-ban-on-headscarves-at-high-schools-20140923|archive-date=24 October 2014|url-status=live}}

File:Muna AbuSulayman - World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia 2012.jpg wearing a turban]]

The hijab is also a common cultural practice for Muslims in the West. For example, in a 2016 Environics poll, a large majority (73%) of Canadian Muslim women reported wearing some sort of head-covering in public (58% wear the hijab, 13% wear the chador and 2% wear the niqab). Wearing a head covering in public had increased since the 2006 survey.{{cite web |last1=Grenier |first1=Éric |title=Muslim Canadians increasingly proud of and attached to Canada, survey suggests |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-muslim-canadians-environics-1.3551591 |website=CBC News |access-date=2017-04-19 |date=2016-04-27}} Women who wear the Hijab may be called "hijabi".

Meanwhile, in a Pew Research Center poll from 2011, most Muslim American women also reported wearing hijab, 36% indicating they wore hijab whenever they were in public, with an additional 24% saying they wore it most or some of the time; 40% said they never wore hijab.{{cite web|publisher=Pew Research Center|title=Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism; Section 2: Religious Beliefs and Practices|date=30 August 2011|url=http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-2-religious-beliefs-and-practices/|access-date=25 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820230634/http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-2-religious-beliefs-and-practices/|archive-date=20 August 2016|url-status=live}}

{{Further|Hijab by country}}

File:Hijabdfvsdf.svg

Some governments encourage and even oblige women to wear the hijab, while others have banned it in at least some public settings. In many parts of the world women also experience informal pressure for or against wearing the hijab, including physical attacks.

In Gaza, there was a campaign by religious conservatives such as Hamas to impose the hijab on women during the First Intifada. In 1990, the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) declared that it rejected the imposition of a hijab policy for women, and targeted those who seek to impose the hijab, but that declaration was argued to have come too late, as many women had already yielded to the pressure in order to avoid harassment.{{Cite web|url=https://merip.org/1990/05/women-the-hijab-and-the-intifada/|title=Women, the Hijab and the Intifada|date=4 May 1990}} After assuming the government in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Hamas sought to enforce Islamic law, imposing the hijab on women at courts, institutions and schools.{{cite book |last1=Milton-Edwards |first1=Beverley |last2=Farrell |first2=Stephen |title=Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozLNNbwqlAEC&q=Gaza+Hamas+hijab+women&pg=PT184 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2010 |isbn=9780745654683}}{{cite book |last=Fedorak |first=Shirley A. |title=Anthropology Matters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5JeG0ZaqBQC&q=Gaza+Hamas+hijab+women&pg=PA172 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2012 |page=172 |isbn=9781442605930}}

Iran transitioned from banning veils in 1936 to mandating Islamic dress for women following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Ramezani, Reza (spring 2007). [http://www.magiran.com/view.asp?Type=pdf&ID=429897 Hijab dar Iran az Enqelab-e Eslami ta payan Jang-e Tahmili] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302023158/http://www.magiran.com/view.asp?Type=pdf&ID=429897 |date=2 March 2019 }} [Hijab in Iran from the Islamic Revolution to the end of the Imposed war] (Persian), Faslnamah-e Takhassusi-ye Banuvan-e Shi’ah [Quarterly Journal of Shiite Women] 4:11, Qom: Muassasah-e Shi’ah Shinasi, pp. 251-300, {{ISSN|1735-4730}} By 1980, veiling was required in government and educational settings, with the 1983 penal code imposing 74 lashes for not adhering to the hijab, though the exact requirements were unclear.{{cite book|title=Creative Conformity: The Feminist Politics of U.S. Catholic and Iranian Shi'i Women|author=Elizabeth M. Bucar|publisher=Georgetown University Press|year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQVxVEldP0sC&pg=PA118|page=118|isbn=9781589017528}}{{cite web|publisher=Islamic Parliament Research Center|title=قانون مجازات اسلامی (Islamic Penal Code), see ‌ماده 102 (article 102)|access-date=12 October 2016|url=http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90789|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012181712/http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90789|archive-date=12 October 2016|url-status=live}} This led to public tensions and vigilante actions regarding proper hijab. Subsequent regulations in 1984 and 1988 clarified dress-code standards, and the current penal code prescribes fines or prison terms for failing to observe hijab, without detailing its specific form.{{cite book|title=Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance|author1=Sanja Kelly |author2=Julia Breslin|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4ZkIzcLVZsC&pg=PA126|page=126|isbn=9781442203976}}{{cite book|title=Space, Culture, and the Youth in Iran: Observing Norm Creation Processes at the Artists' House|author=Behnoosh Payvar|publisher=Springer|year=2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJukCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT73|page=73|isbn=9781137525703}}

File:Irán (RPS 16-10-2019) comprando en el bazar.jpgs in Shiraz, Iran]]

The enforcement of the dress code in Iran has fluctuated between strict and relaxed over the years, leading to ongoing debate between conservatives and reformists like Hassan Rouhani.{{cite news|title=Who are Islamic 'morality police'?|publisher=BBC|author=BBC Monitoring|date=22 April 2016|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36101150|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413170252/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36101150|archive-date=13 April 2019|url-status=live}} The United Nations Human Rights Council has urged Iran to uphold the rights of those advocating for dress code reforms.{{cite news|url=https://www.ohchr.org/FR/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23947&LangID=E|title=Iran must protect women's rights advocates|publisher=UN OHCHR|date=6 May 2019}} The government officially promotes stricter veiling, citing both Islamic principles and pre-Islamic Iranian culture.Strategies for promotion of chastity (Persian), the official website of Iranian Majlis (04/05/1384 AP, [http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/101228 available online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019004938/http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/101228 |date=19 October 2017 }})

Ruhollah Khomeini maintained that women do not have to wear a full-body cover. He stated that women can choose any kind of attire they like so long as it covers them properly and they have a hijab. His successor, Ali Khamenei, stated that the hijab does not hinder participation in social, political, or academic activities. In 2024, the former president of Iran Hassan Rouhani criticised the reinstatement of Iran's morality police and the implementation of the "Noor plan" by law enforcement authorities. He expressed shock over the hijab law approved by the Guardian Council which predicted severe punishment for those violating it, saying that it "aligns neither with the Constitution, nor with justice, nor with the Qur'an and Islamic culture."{{cite web | url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202405013051 | title=Ex-Iran President Rouhani Criticizes Reinstatement of Morality Police | date=May 2024 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202412182980 | title=Former Iranian President Rouhani: Hijab law neither just, Islamic, nor constitutional | date=18 December 2024 }}

The Indonesian province of Aceh encourages Muslim women to wear hijab in public.{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/indonesia|title=2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Indonesia|year=2022|publisher=U.S. Department of State}}{{cite news|title=Ban on outdoor music concerts in West Aceh due to Sharia law|author=Jewel Topsfield|date=7 April 2016|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/ban-on-outdoor-music-concerts-in-west-aceh-due-to-sharia-law-20160406-gnzvna.html|access-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826002321/http://www.smh.com.au/world/ban-on-outdoor-music-concerts-in-west-aceh-due-to-sharia-law-20160406-gnzvna.html|archive-date=26 August 2016|url-status=live}} Indonesia's central government granted Aceh's local government the right to impose Sharia in 2001, although that no local regulations should conflict with Indonesian national laws, in a deal aiming to put an end to the separatist movement in the province.

Saudi Arabia formally required women to cover their hair and wear a full-body garment, though enforcement varies.{{cite web|last=Mail|first=Daily|date=15 September 2019|title=Rebel Saudi women appear in public without hijab, abaya; onlookers stunned {{!}} New Straits Times|url=https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2019/09/521602/rebel-saudi-women-appear-public-without-hijab-abaya-onlookers-stunned|access-date=29 March 2021|website=NST Online}}{{cite web|author=Nic Robertson|title=Saudi Arabia has changed beyond recognition. But will tourists want to visit?|date=5 December 2020 |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/saudi-arabia-fun-tourists/index.html|access-date=2021-03-29|publisher=CNN}}{{cite news|last=|first=|date=20 Mar 2018|title=Coverings for women 'not mandatory', says Saudi crown prince ahead of US charm offensive|newspaper=The New Arab (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)|url=https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/20/abayas-not-mandatory-for-women-says-saudi-crown-prince|url-status=live|access-date=1 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102050618/https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/20/abayas-not-mandatory-for-women-says-saudi-crown-prince|archive-date=2 January 2019|quote=Islamic clothing in Saudi Arabia is compulsory, but the crown prince has claimed this does not have to the case so long as women maintain a modest appearance in public. Saudi Arabia requires women to wear the black robe and hijab by law.}} Saudi women typically wear the abaya, while foreigners may choose long coats. Regulations are enforced by religious police, which once faced criticism for their role in a fire rescue where schoolgirls' lack of hijabs was reportedly a factor, leading to 15 deaths.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue |date=15 March 2002 |access-date=14 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109001148/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm |archive-date=9 January 2018 |url-status=live}}

During the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the wearing of the hijab is mandated for women. The requirement extends to covering not only their heads but also their faces, as it was believed that doing so would prevent any perceived impropriety and maintain modesty in society.M. J. Gohari (2000). The Taliban: Ascent to Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 108-110.

The tradition of veiling hair in Persian culture has ancient pre-Islamic origins,{{Iranica|clothing-ii|CLOTHING ii. In the Median and Achaemenid periods}} but the widespread custom was ended by Reza Shah's government in 1936, as the hijab was considered to be incompatible with modernization and he ordered "unveiling" act or Kashf-e hijab. In some cases the police arrested women who wore the veil and would forcibly remove it. These policies had popular support but outraged the Shi'a clerics, to whom appearing in public without their cover was tantamount to nakedness. Some women refused to leave the house out of fear of being assaulted by Reza Shah's police.El-Guindi, Fadwa, Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance, Berg, 1999 In 1941, the compulsory element in the policy of unveiling was abandoned.

Turkey had a ban on headscarves at universities until recently. In 2008, the Turkish government attempted to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities, but were overturned by the country's Constitutional Court.{{cite news | title=Turkey's AKP discusses hijab ruling | url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2008/06/200861503343579739.html | work=Al Jazeera | date=6 June 2008 | access-date=6 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801095423/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2008/06/200861503343579739.html | archive-date=1 August 2018 | url-status=live}} In December 2010, however, the Turkish government ended the headscarf ban in universities and schools.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11880622 |publisher=BBC News | title=Quiet end to Turkey's college headscarf ban | date=31 December 2010 | access-date=21 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628151715/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11880622 | archive-date=28 June 2018 | url-status=live}} The ban for civil servants remains in place.{{cite web |author=Ömer Taşpınar |date=1 April 2012 |title=Islamist Politics in Turkey: The New Model? |url=http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/04/24-turkey-new-model-taspinar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816032456/http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/04/24-turkey-new-model-taspinar |archive-date=2015-08-16 |access-date=7 June 2015 |publisher=The Brookings Institution}}

In Tunisia, women were banned from wearing the hijab in state offices in 1981; in the 1980s and 1990s, more restrictions were put in place.{{cite web |url=http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=49443 |title=Tunisia's Hijab Ban Unconstitutional |date=11 October 2007 |access-date=20 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720192643/http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=49443 |archive-date=20 July 2013}}

In June 2024, Tajikistan's parliament passed a bill banning "foreign clothing" and religious celebrations for children during the Islamic holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The upper house, Majlisi Milli, approved the legislation on 19 June, following approval by the lower house, Majlisi Namoyandagon, on 8 May. The bill specifically targets the hijab, a traditional Islamic headscarf. This formalization of restrictions comes after years of Tajikistan unofficially discouraging Islamic attire, including headscarves and bushy beards.{{Cite news |title=Hijab ban: Tajikistan parliament approves bill prohibiting alien garments and Eid celebrations by children |url=https://www.livemint.com/news/hijab-ban-tajikistan-parliament-approves-bill-prohibiting-alien-garments-and-eid-celebrations-by-children-11718932757680.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240622012622/https://www.livemint.com/news/hijab-ban-tajikistan-parliament-approves-bill-prohibiting-alien-garments-and-eid-celebrations-by-children-11718932757680.html |archive-date=2024-06-22 |access-date=2024-06-23 |work=Mint}} In 2007, the Ministry of Education banned both Islamic clothing and Western-style miniskirts in schools, a policy later extended to all public institutions. Minister of Culture Shamsiddin Orumbekzoda told Radio Free Europe that Islamic dress was "really dangerous". Under previous laws, women wearing hijabs are already banned from entering the country's government offices.{{cite web| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tajikstan-muslim-hijabs-stop-women-law-headscarfs-central-asia-islam-a7923886.html| title=Country passes law 'to stop Muslim women wearing hijabs'| website=The Independent| date=September 2017| access-date=28 August 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906141934/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tajikstan-muslim-hijabs-stop-women-law-headscarfs-central-asia-islam-a7923886.html| archive-date=6 September 2017| url-status=live}}{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Majority-Muslim-Tajikistan-passes-law-to-discourage-wearing-of-hijabs/8371504484941/ | title=Majority-Muslim Tajikistan passes law to discourage wearing of hijabs | access-date=28 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072235/https://www.upi.com/Majority-Muslim-Tajikistan-passes-law-to-discourage-wearing-of-hijabs/8371504484941/ | archive-date=29 August 2018 | url-status=live}}

File:Hujum.png]]

In the former Soviet Union, a broad atheistic Sovietization campaign was undertaken by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to remove all manifestations of gender inequality within the Union Republics of Central Asia, targeting prevalent practices among Soviet Muslims, such as female veiling practices.{{cite journal |last=Northrop |first=Douglas |year=2001a |title=Subaltern dialogues: subversion and resistance in Soviet Uzbek family law |journal=Slavic Review |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=115–139 |doi=10.2307/2697646 |jstor=2697646 |s2cid=147540996 |ref=Subaltern}}

On 15 March 2004, France passed a law banning "symbols or clothes through which students conspicuously display their religious affiliation" in public primary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools. In the Belgian city of Maaseik, the niqāb has been banned since 2006.{{Cite news

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612221543/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4616664.stm |archive-date=12 June 2018

|first=Mark | last=Mardell

|date=2006-01-16|title=Dutch MPs to decide on burqa ban|publisher=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4616664.stm|access-date=2023-01-02}} On 13 July 2010, France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. It became the first European country to ban the full-face veil in public places, followed by Belgium, Latvia, Bulgaria, Austria, Denmark and some cantons of Switzerland in the following years.

Belgium banned the full-face veil in 2011 in places like parks and on the streets. In September 2013, the electors of the Swiss canton of Ticino voted in favour of a ban on face veils in public areas.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095|title=The Islamic veil across Europe|date=2017|publisher=BBC News|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209161441/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13038095|archive-date=9 February 2018|url-status=live}} In 2016, Latvia and Bulgaria banned the burqa in public places.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/islamic-muslim-face-veil-niqab-burqa-banned-latvia-despite-being-worn-by-just-three-women-entire-a6993991.html|title=A European government has banned Islamic face veils despite them being worn by just three women|date=21 April 2016|work=The Independent|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121050903/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/islamic-muslim-face-veil-niqab-burqa-banned-latvia-despite-being-worn-by-just-three-women-entire-a6993991.html|archive-date=21 January 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bulgaria-burka-ban-benefits-cut-burkini-niqab-a7340601.html|title=Another European country just banned the burqa|date=1 October 2016|work=The Independent|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225165528/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bulgaria-burka-ban-benefits-cut-burkini-niqab-a7340601.html|archive-date=25 February 2018|url-status=live}} In October 2017, wearing a face veil became also illegal in Austria. This ban also includes scarves, masks and clown paint that cover faces to avoid discriminating against Muslim dress.{{cite news|newspaper=USA Today|author=Köksal Baltaci|title=Austria becomes latest European country to ban burqas — but adds clown face paint, too|date=27 September 2017|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/27/austria-becomes-latest-european-country-ban-burqas-but-adds-clown-face-paint-too/699273001/|access-date=29 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224065810/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/27/austria-becomes-latest-european-country-ban-burqas-but-adds-clown-face-paint-too/699273001/|archive-date=24 February 2019|url-status=live}} In 2016, Bosnia-Herzegovina's supervising judicial authority upheld a ban on wearing Islamic headscarves in courts and legal institutions, despite protests from the Muslim community that constitutes 40% of the country.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35518768|title=Bosnian women protest at headscarf ban|date=7 February 2016|publisher=BBC News|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316232112/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35518768|archive-date=16 March 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Bosnia Judicial Authorities Uphold Hijab Ban, Despite Protests|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-judiciary-upholds-ban-on-hijab-despite-protests/27545654.html|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=11 February 2016 |access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205130050/https://www.rferl.org/a/bosnia-judiciary-upholds-ban-on-hijab-despite-protests/27545654.html|archive-date=5 February 2018|url-status=live}} In 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that companies were allowed to bar employees from wearing visible religious symbols, including the hijab. However, if the company has no policy regarding the wearing of clothes that demonstrate religious and political ideas, a customer cannot ask employees to remove the clothing item.{{cite news |last1=Rankin |first1=Jennifer |last2=Oltermann |first2=Philip |title=Europe's right hails EU court's workplace headscarf ban ruling |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/14/employers-can-ban-staff-from-wearing-headscarves-european-court-rules |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=14 March 2017 |access-date=5 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206073507/https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/14/employers-can-ban-staff-from-wearing-headscarves-european-court-rules |archive-date=6 February 2018}} In 2018, the Danish parliament passed a law banning the full-face veil in public places.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/31/denmark-passes-law-banning-burqa-and-niqab|title=Denmark passes law banning burqa and niqab|last=Staff and agencies|date=31 May 2018|journal=The Guardian|access-date=15 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815112801/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/31/denmark-passes-law-banning-burqa-and-niqab|archive-date=15 August 2018|url-status=live}}

In 2016, more than 20 French towns banned the use of the burqini, a style of swimwear intended to accord with rules of hijab.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/world/europe/france-burkini.html|title=French 'Burkini' Bans Provoke Backlash as Armed Police Confront Beachgoers|author=ALISSA J. RUBIN|date=24 August 2016|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=27 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301105413/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/world/europe/france-burkini.html|archive-date=1 March 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37056742|title=Cannes bans burkinis over suspected link to radical Islamism|date=12 August 2016|publisher=BBC News|access-date=12 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812123418/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37056742|archive-date=12 August 2016|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thelocal.fr/20160819/nice-joins-list-of-french-towns-to-ban-burqini|title=Nice joins growing list of French towns to ban burqini|date=19 August 2016|work=The Local.fr|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822152038/http://www.thelocal.fr/20160819/nice-joins-list-of-french-towns-to-ban-burqini|archive-date=22 August 2016|url-status=live}} Dozens of women were subsequently issued fines, with some tickets citing not wearing "an outfit respecting good morals and secularism", and some were verbally attacked by bystanders when they were confronted by the police.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/burkini-swimwear-ban-france-nice-armed-police-hijab-muslim-a7206776.html|title=Burkini ban: Armed police force woman to remove her clothing on Nice beach|author=Harry Cockburn|date=24 August 2016|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208042912/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/burkini-swimwear-ban-france-nice-armed-police-hijab-muslim-a7206776.html|archive-date=8 February 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach|title=French police make woman remove clothing on Nice beach following burkini ban|author=Ben Quinn|date=23 August 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=24 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218114654/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach|archive-date=18 February 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-burkini-ban-row-escalates-clothing-incident-woman-police-nice-beach|title=French burkini ban row escalates after clothing incident at Nice beach|author=Angelique Chrisafis|date=24 August 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=24 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127154804/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-burkini-ban-row-escalates-clothing-incident-woman-police-nice-beach|archive-date=27 November 2018|url-status=live}} Enforcement of the ban also hit beachgoers wearing a wide range of modest attire besides the burqini. Media reported that in one case the police forced a woman to remove part of her clothing on a beach in Nice. The Nice mayor's office denied that she was forced to do so and the mayor condemned what he called the "unacceptable provocation" of wearing such clothes in the aftermath of the Nice terrorist attack.

A team of psychologists in Belgium have investigated, in two studies of 166 and 147 participants, whether the Belgians' discomfort with the Islamic hijab, and the support of its ban from the country's public sphere, is motivated by the defence of the values of autonomy and universalism (which includes equality), or by xenophobia/ethnic prejudice and by anti-religious sentiments. The studies have revealed the effects of subtle prejudice/racism, values (self-enhancement values and security versus universalism), and religious attitudes (literal anti-religious thinking versus spirituality), in predicting greater levels of anti-veil attitudes beyond the effects of other related variables such as age and political conservatism.{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.02.005|title = Host society's dislike of the Islamic veil: The role of subtle prejudice, values, and religion| journal=International Journal of Intercultural Relations| volume=33| issue=5| pages=419–428|year = 2009|last1 = Saroglou|first1 = Vassilis| last2=Lamkaddem| first2=Bahija| last3=Van Pachterbeke| first3=Matthieu| last4=Buxant| first4=Coralie| citeseerx=10.1.1.471.6175}}

In 2019, Austria banned the hijab in schools for children up to ten years of age. The ban was motivated by the equality between men and women and improving social integration with respect to local customs. Parents who send their child to school with a headscarf will be fined 440 euro.{{cite web|url=http://www.tageblatt.lu/nachrichten/international/oesterreich-verbietet-kopftuecher-an-grundschulen/|title=Österreich verbietet Kopftücher an Grundschulen |last=Lëtzebuerg |first=Tageblatt |date=16 May 2019|website=Tageblatt.lu|language=DE|access-date=18 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518072650/http://www.tageblatt.lu/nachrichten/international/oesterreich-verbietet-kopftuecher-an-grundschulen/|archive-date=18 May 2019|url-status=live}} The ban was overturned in 2020 by the Austrian Constitutional Court.{{cite news |title=Austria court overturns primary school headscarf ban |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55277840 |access-date=3 April 2022 |publisher=BBC News |date=11 December 2020}}

In 2019, Staffanstorp Municipality in Sweden banned all veils for school pupils up to sixth grade.{{Cite news|url=https://www.svd.se/staffanstorp-rostade-for-huvudduksforbud|title=Staffanstorp röstade för huvudduksförbud|last=TT|date=29 May 2019|work=Svenska Dagbladet|access-date=31 May 2019|language=sv|issn=1101-2412|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531200217/https://www.svd.se/staffanstorp-rostade-for-huvudduksforbud|archive-date=31 May 2019|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Karnataka hijab controversy}}

In India, Muslim women are allowed to wear the hijab and/or burqa anytime, anywhere.{{Cite news |last=Sheikh Saaliq |date=8 February 2022 |title=In India, wearing hijab bars some Muslim students from class |work=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/asia/2022/02/08/in-india-wearing-hijab-bars-some-muslim-students-from-class.html }}{{Cite news |date=10 February 2022 |title=Karnataka hijab row: Judge refers issue to larger bench |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60312864 }}{{Cite news |date=8 February 2022 |title=Religious identity, rights in focus as Indian schools ban hijab |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2022/0208/Religious-identity-rights-in-focus-as-Indian-schools-ban-hijab }} However, in January 2022, a number of colleges in the South Indian state of Karnataka stopped female students wearing the hijab from entering the campus, following which the state government issued a circular banning 'religious clothes' in educational institutions where uniforms are prescribed.{{cite news|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/karnatakas-hijab-row-fragile-regimes-latest-assault-right-choice-160646|title=Karnataka's hijab row: A fragile regime's latest assault on right to choice|website=The News Minute}} On 15 March 2022, the Karnataka High Court, in a verdict, upheld the hijab ban in educational institutions where uniforms are prescribed, arguing that the practice is non-essential in Islam.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60300009|title=Hijab ban: Karnataka high court upholds government order on headscarves|publisher=BBC News}} The hijab ban was condemned inside India and abroad by officials in countries including the United States, Bahrain and Pakistan, as well as by Human Rights Watch, and by figures like Malala Yousafzai.{{cite news |last1=Ganguly |first1=Meenakshi |title=India's Hijab Debate Fueled by Divisive Communal Politics |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/15/indias-hijab-debate-fueled-divisive-communal-politics |access-date=2022-08-25 |work=Human Rights Watch |date=2022-02-15}}{{cite news |author1=((Special Correspondent)) |title=Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai comments on hijab controversy in Karnataka |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/nobel-laureate-malala-yousafzai-comments-on-hijab-controversy-in-karnataka/article38400512.ece |access-date=2022-08-25 |work=The Hindu |date=2022-02-09}}

A study published by human rights body People's Union for Civil Liberties reported that the move to ban hijab has widened the social divide and increased fear among Muslims in Karnataka.{{cite news |last1=Roy |first1=Taniya |title='Very Frightening' to Enter Campus Alone: Muslim Students Recount Hijab Ban's Impact |url=https://thewire.in/rights/very-frightening-to-enter-campus-alone-muslim-students-recount-hijab-bans-impact |access-date=2022-09-15 |work=The Wire |date=2022-09-12}}

In Xinjiang province, the Chinese government has banned women from wearing veils as part of a major crackdown on what it sees as religious extremism from Muslim Uighurs.{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-bans-veils-abnormal-beards-western-province-xinjiang-n741501 | title=China bans veils and beards in the western province of Xinjiang | website=NBC News | date=April 2017 }}

In Srinagar, the capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, a previously unknown militant group calling itself Lashkar-e-Jabbar claimed responsibility for a series of acid attacks on women who did not wear the burqa in 2001, threatening to punish women who do not adhere to their vision of Islamic dress. Women of Kashmir, most of whom are not fully veiled, defied the warning, and the attacks were condemned by prominent militant and separatist groups of the region.{{cite news | last = Popham | first = Peter (in Delhi) | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-women-face-threat-of-acid-attacks-from-militants-9153249.html | title = Kashmir women face threat of acid attacks from militants | newspaper = The Independent | date = 30 August 2001 | access-date = 20 April 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160828023043/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-women-face-threat-of-acid-attacks-from-militants-9153249.html | archive-date = 28 August 2016 | url-status = live}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1484145.stm |title=Kashmir women face acid attacks |publisher=BBC News |date=10 August 2001 |access-date=20 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131201121/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1484145.stm |archive-date=31 January 2013 |url-status=live}}

Some women in Jordan have reported unofficial pressure to wear a hijab in 2018.{{cite journal | last1=Bergenfeld | first1=Irina | last2=Clark | first2=Cari Jo | last3=Sandhu | first3=Seema | last4=Yount | first4=Kathryn M. | last5=Essaid | first5=Aida A. | last6=Sajdi | first6=Jude | last7=Abu Taleb | first7=Rand | last8=Robbin | first8=Zoe | last9=Batayeh | first9=Brian | last10=Zwooqar | first10=Ahad | last11=Spencer | first11=Rachael A. | title="There Is Always an Excuse to Blame the Girl": Perspectives on Sexual Harassment at a Jordanian University | journal=Violence Against Women | volume=28 | issue=14 | date=2022 | issn=1077-8012 | doi=10.1177/10778012221079373 | pages=3457–3481| pmid=35200046 }}

In recent years, women wearing the hijab have been subjected to verbal and physical attacks worldwide, particularly following terrorist attacks.{{cite book|author=Basia Spalek|title=Muslim women's safety talk and their experience of victimisation|volume=Islam, Crime and Criminal Justice|editor=Basia Spalek|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dEa4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|pages=63–64|isbn=9781134032839}}{{cite book|author=Louis A. Cainkar|title=Homeland Insecurity: The Arab American and Muslim American Experience After 9/11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P75WAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA244|publisher=Russell Sage Foundation|year=2009|pages=244–245|isbn=9781610447683}}{{cite news|title='I'm Frightened': After Attacks in Paris, New York Muslims Cope With a Backlash|author=Kirk Semple|newspaper=New York Times|date=25 November 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/nyregion/im-frightened-after-paris-terrorist-attacks-new-york-city-muslims-cope-with-a-backlash.html|access-date=27 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205233303/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/nyregion/im-frightened-after-paris-terrorist-attacks-new-york-city-muslims-cope-with-a-backlash.html|archive-date=5 December 2018|url-status=live}} Louis A. Cainkar writes that the data suggest that women in hijab rather than men are the predominant target of anti-Muslim attacks, not because they are more easily identifiable as Muslims, but because they are seen to represent a threat to the local moral order that the attackers are seeking to defend. Some women stop wearing the hijab out of fear or following perceived pressure from their acquaintances, but many refuse to stop wearing it out of religious conviction, even when they are urged to do so for self-protection.

Kazakhstan has no official ban on wearing the hijab, but those who wear it have reported that authorities use a number of tactics to discriminate against them.{{cite news|author=Farangis Najibullah|title=Hijab Now A Hot Topic In Kazakhstan|publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=20 March 2011|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic_hejab_head_scarf_hot_topic_kazakhstan/2344233.html|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920123142/http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic_hejab_head_scarf_hot_topic_kazakhstan/2344233.html|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}}

In 2015, authorities in Uzbekistan organized a "deveiling" campaign in the capital city Tashkent, during which women wearing the hijab were detained and taken to a police station. Those who agreed to remove their hijab were released "after a conversation", while those who refused were transferred to the counterterrorism department and given a lecture. Their husbands or fathers were then summoned to convince the women to obey the police. This followed an earlier campaign in the Fergana Valley.{{cite news|author=Bruce Pannier, Farruh Yusupov|title='Deveiling' Drive Moves To Uzbekistan's Capital|publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=14 June 2015|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan-deveiling-drive-hijab/27070345.html|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920123512/http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan-deveiling-drive-hijab/27070345.html|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}}

After the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev as President of Uzbekistan in December 2016, Muslims were given the opportunity to openly express their religious identity, which manifested itself in the wider spread of hijabs in Uzbekistan. In July 2021, the state allowed the wearing of the hijab in public places.Malikov A. and Djuraeva D. 2021. Women, Islam, and politics in Samarkand (1991–2021), International Journal of Modern Anthropology. 2 (16): 563. DOI: 10.4314/ijma.v2i16.2

In Kyrgyzstan in 2016, the government sponsored street banners aiming to dissuade women from wearing the hijab.{{cite news|publisher=BBC News|title=Kyrgyzstan president: 'Women in mini skirts don't become suicide bombers'|date=13 August 2016|author=BBC Trending|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36846249|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025174249/http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36846249|archive-date=25 October 2017|url-status=live}}

{{see also|Hijabophobia}}

File:No Muslim Ban Protests - DC (32446014332).jpg in 2017.]]

Discrimination against Muslims often affects women more due to the hijab making them more visible, leading to workplace prejudice, particularly after the rise of Islamophobia post-9/11. Hijab-wearing Muslim women face both overt and covert discrimination in job applications and workplace environments, with covert bias often resulting in more hostile treatment. Perceived discrimination can harm well-being, but may also be overcome by religious pride and community; studies show hijab-wearing women often find greater strength and belonging despite challenges.

The issue of discrimination against Muslims affects Muslim women more due to the hijab making them more identifiable compared to Muslim men. Particularly after the September 11 attacks and the coining of the term Islamophobia, some of Islamophobia's manifestations are seen within the workplace. Women wearing the hijab are at risk of discrimination in their workplace because the hijab helps identify them for anyone who may hold Islamophobic attitudes.{{cite journal | doi=10.1037/0735-7028.35.6.635|title = Islam 101: Understanding the Religion and Therapy Implications| journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice| volume=35| issue=6| pages=635–642|year = 2004|last1 = Ali|first1 = Saba Rasheed| last2=Liu| first2=William Ming| last3=Humedian| first3=Majeda| citeseerx=10.1.1.569.7436}}Council on American-Islamic Relations. (2008). [http://cairunmasked.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2008-Civil-Rights-Report.pdf The status of Muslim civil rights in the United States] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211061813/http://cairunmasked.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2008-Civil-Rights-Report.pdf |date=11 December 2010}}. [DX Reader version]. Their association with the Islamic faith automatically projects any negative stereotyping of the religion onto them.Ghumman, S., & Jackson, L. (2010). The downside of religious attire: the Muslim headscarf and expectations of obtaining employment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(1), 4-23 As a result of the heightened discrimination, some hijab-wearing Muslim women in the workplace resort to taking off their hijab in hopes to prevent any further prejudice acts.{{cite journal |doi=10.1353/csd.2003.0002 |title=Perspectives and Experiences of Muslim Women Who Veil on College Campuses |journal=Journal of College Student Development |volume=44 |pages=47–66 |year=2003 |last1=Cole |first1=Darnell |last2=Ahmadi |first2=Shafiqa |s2cid=145659665}}

A number of hijab-wearing women who were interviewed expressed that perceived discrimination also poses a problem for them.Reeves, T., Mckinney, A., & Azam, L. (2012). Muslim women's workplace experiences: Implications for strategic diversity initiatives. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 32(1), 49-67. To be specific, Muslim women shared that they chose not to wear the headscarf out of fear of future discrimination.

The discrimination hijab-wearing Muslim women face goes beyond affecting their work experience; it also interferes with their decision to uphold religious obligations. As a result, hijab-wearing Muslim women in the United States have worries regarding their ability to follow their religion, because it might mean they are rejected employment.Hamdani, D. (March 2005). Triple jeopardy: Muslim women's experience of discrimination. [http://archive.ccmw.com/publications/triple_jeopardy.pdf Canadian Council of Muslim Women] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816230634/http://archive.ccmw.com/publications/triple_jeopardy.pdf |date=16 August 2018}}

A study by Ali et al. (2015)Ali, S., Yamada, T., & Mahmood, A. (2015). Relationships of the practice of Hijab, workplace discrimination, social class, job stress, and job satisfaction among Muslim American women. Journal of Employment Counseling, 52(4), 146-157 found a relationship between the discrimination Muslims face at work and their job satisfaction. In other words, the discrimination hijab-wearing Muslim women face at work is associated with their overall feeling of contentment of their jobs, especially compared to other religious groups.{{Cite web|last=Younis|first=Mohamed

|publisher=Gallup

|date=2009-03-02|title=Muslim Americans Exemplify Diversity, Potential|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/116260/Muslim-Americans-Exemplify-Diversity-Potential.aspx|access-date=2023-01-02

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221083615/http://www.gallup.com/poll/116260/muslim-americans-exemplify-diversity-potential.aspx |archive-date=21 December 2011

}}

Hijab-wearing Muslim women not only experience discrimination whilst in their job environment; they also experience discrimination in their attempts to get a job. An experimental study conducted on potential hiring discrimination among Muslims found that in terms of overt discrimination there were no differences between Muslim women who wore traditional Islamic clothing and those who did not. However, covert discrimination was noted towards Muslim who wore the hijab, and as a result were dealt with in a hostile and rude manner. While observing hiring practices among 4,000 employers in the U.S., experimenters found that employers who self-identified as Republican tended to avoid making interviews with candidates who appeared Muslim on their social network pages.{{cite journal |publisher=Social Sciences Research Network |last1=Acquisti |first1=Alessandro |last2=Fong |first2=Christina M. |date=17 July 2015 |title=An Experiment in Hiring Discrimination Via Online Social Networks |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2031979 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2031979 |location=Rochester, NY |ssrn=2031979 |s2cid=142425660 |journal=Management Science |access-date=4 October 2024}}

One instance that some view as hijab discrimination in the workplace that gained public attention and made it to the Supreme Court was EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch. The U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took advantage of its power granted by Title VII and made a case for a young hijabi female who applied for a job, but was rejected due to her wearing a headscarf which violated Abercrombie & Fitch's pre-existing and longstanding policy against head coverings and all black garments.Harrison, A. K. (2016). Hiding under the veil of "dress policy": Muslim women, hijab, and employment discrimination in the United States. Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, 17(3), 831

Discrimination levels differ depending on geographical location; for example, South Asian Muslims in the United Arab Emirates do not perceive as much discrimination as their South Asian counterparts in the U.S.Pasha-Zaidi, N. (2015). Judging by appearances: Perceived discrimination among South Asian Muslim women in the US and the UAE. Journal of International Women's Studies,16(2), 70-97 Although, South Asian Muslim women in both locations are similar in describing discrimination experiences as subtle and indirect interactions. The same study also reports differences among South Asian Muslim women who wear the hijab, and those who do not. For non-hijabis, they reported to have experienced more perceived discrimination when they were around other Muslims.

Perceived discrimination is detrimental to well-being, both mentally and physically. However, perceived discrimination may also be related to more positive well-being for the individual.{{cite thesis |last=Jasperse |first=Marieke Lyniska |year=2009 |title=Persevere in Adversity: Perceived Religious Discrimination and Islamic Identity as Predictors of Psychological Wellbeing in Muslim Women in New Zealand |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/41336356.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Core.ac.uk |location=New Zealand |publisher=Victoria University of Wellington |doi=10.26686/wgtn.16967146.v1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924214843/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/41336356.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2017 |access-date=28 September 2018 |hdl=10063/1005|type=thesis}} A study in New Zealand concluded that while Muslim women who wore the headscarf did in fact experience discrimination, these negative experiences were overcome by much higher feelings of religious pride, belonging, and centrality.

{{See also|World Hijab Day|Hijabophobia}}

The World Hijab Day (WHD), which is an annual event founded by Bangladeshi American Nazma Khan in 2013,{{cite web|url=http://worldhijabday.com/|title=World Hijab Day - Better Awareness. Greater Understanding. Peaceful World|access-date=13 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006192248/http://worldhijabday.com/|archive-date=2016-10-06|url-status=live}} takes place on 1 February each year in 140 countries worldwide.{{cite web |author=Participating Countries |url=http://worldhijabday.com/worldwidesupport/ |title=Worldwide Support |publisher=World Hijab Day |access-date= 6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310102705/http://worldhijabday.com/worldwidesupport/ |archive-date=10 March 2016 |url-status=live }} Its stated purpose is to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to wear and experience the hijab for a day and to educate and spread awareness on why hijab is worn.{{cite web |url=https://worldhijabday.com/world-hijab-day-2013/ |title=World Hijab Day |publisher=worldhijabday.com |access-date=6 March 2013 }}

{{Portal|Islam|Fashion}}

• World Hijab Day
• Types of hijab
• Purdah
• Islamic scarf controversy in France
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• Iranian compulsory hijab protests
• Violence against women#Dress
• List of religious headgear
• Hijab emoji
• Covering variants: cowl, paranja, purdah, tagelmust (worn by men), tudong, yashmak
• Non-Muslim religious coverings: ghoonghat (Hindu), Christian headcovering, religious habit, tichel

{{reflist|group=nb}}

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/06/45564/hijab-is-not-an-islamic-duty-scholar/ |work=Morocco World News |title=Hijab is Not an Islamic Duty: Muslim Scholar |access-date=26 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227054847/http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/06/45564/hijab-is-not-an-islamic-duty-scholar/ |archive-date=27 December 2015 |url-status=live}}

{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Mark Juergensmeyer, Wade Clark Roof |title=Encyclopedia of Global Religion |entry=Hijab |url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/globalreligion/n313.xml |volume=1 |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2012 |pages=516 |isbn=9780761927297 |doi=10.4135/9781412997898}}

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• Elver, Hilal. The Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion (Oxford University Press; 2012); 265 pages; Criticizes policies that serve to exclude pious Muslim women from the public sphere in Turkey, France, Germany, and the United States.
• {{cite book | last = Esposito | first = John | author-link = John Esposito | title = The Oxford Dictionary of Islam | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-19-512558-0| title-link = The Oxford Dictionary of Islam }}
• Yurdakul, Gökce and Anna C. Korteweg. [https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=20234 The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303151615/https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=20234 |date=3 March 2021 }} (Stanford University Press; 2014) Media debates on stigmatizing Muslim women and how Muslim women respond to these critics for the country cases of Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands and France.

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{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons}}

• "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/europe_muslim_veils/html/1.stm In graphics: Muslim veils]." BBC. - Drawings of different types of Islamic women's clothing
• [http://veil.unc.edu/ ReOrienting the Veil] - Website discussing global hijab usage by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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