Burqa, niqab, hijab, chadar, abaya… these clothes that cover the body of Muslim women have often been at the center of controversies. At some places there is talk of strict implementation of such Islamic dress codes and at other places they are being banned. Recently, the European country Switzerland banned Muslim women from wearing burqa and niqab. Now Muslim women there cannot wear burqa in public places and private buildings accessible to the general public. If she violates the ‘Burqa Ban’ law, she will have to pay a fine of 1,000 Swiss Francs (Rs 94,651.06).
In 2009, the then Justice Minister Evelyn Widmer had advocated a lot for the ban on wearing the niqab in Switzerland. He had said that if women start wearing niqab in large numbers, then consideration should be given to banning it. In September 2013, people in Ticino, one of Switzerland’s 26 provinces, supported a ban on face coverings in public. More than a decade later, wearing a mask in public has now been banned across Switzerland.
How many Muslims in Switzerland?
Muslims constitute about 5 percent of Switzerland’s population of 8.6 million, the majority of whom come from countries such as Türkiye, Bosnia and Kosovo. A study was conducted at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland which showed that the number of women wearing niqab in the country is very less. Only a few selected women there wear niqab.
The burqa ban law in Switzerland was proposed by the right-wing party Swiss People’s Party. The party had launched its campaign against burqa with the slogan ‘Stop Extremism’. The party’s argument was that ‘free people do not cover their faces, burqa and niqab are not normal clothes but they are symbols of exploitation of women.’
Even though Islam was not targeted in the party’s proposal, critics say that the law has been brought to target Muslims.
Switzerland’s Muslim rights organization had expressed protest
The ban on burqas is based on a 2021 referendum in which Swiss citizens voted against face coverings. In the referendum, 51.2 percent votes were cast in favor of the law and 48.8 percent were against the law.
Just before the referendum, Janina Rashidi, a spokesperson for the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, Switzerland’s largest Muslim rights group, had said that targeting women over clothing is treating them as second-class Swiss citizens.
He had said, ‘You are criminalizing women for wearing something. I can understand that covering the face may seem strange to some people, but there are many things in our society that some people find strange, like people getting tattoos on their faces.
Rashidi said that such laws strengthen the feeling among Muslims that they are not considered full citizens of the country, even though they have spent most of their lives in this country.
Criticism of ‘burqa ban’ law
Human rights organization Amnesty International has opposed the burqa ban law and called it ‘dangerous’. The organization has said that the law violates women’s rights, their freedom of expression and their right to religion.
Dr. Mohiuddin Ghazi, National Secretary of India’s Islamic organization Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, has also criticized Switzerland’s burqa ban law. He says, ‘Only she has the right to choose what a woman will wear and what she will not wear. The problem is that this right was taken away in Europe. This is wrong…she should have the choice as to what she wears. If a woman feels that she should cover her face then she should cover it and if she feels that there is no problem in not covering her face then she should not cover her face.
At the same time, Professor Iqtidar Mohammad Khan, Chairman of the Department of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, says that Switzerland has made a law to stop covering the face in public places, which should not cause any problem.
He says, ‘Veiling or covering the face is a matter of religious faith in which there should not be any kind of interference, but the Muslims there should also ensure that nothing should be done under the cover of the veil which would create doubt in the government there. That wrong things are being done by wearing burqa. This is the responsibility of both sides.
One argument of critics of Switzerland’s burqa ban law is that many Muslim women wear niqab or burqa as a way to show their faith in Islam. The ban will hurt their faith.
What does Islam say about burqa and niqab?
First of all, let us know what burqa and niqab are. Burqa is usually a loose black dress in which the body, face and even the eyes are covered with a net pattern. The mesh pattern over the eyes is made so that the woman can see.
At the same time, the niqab covers only the head, neck and shoulders. The mask is also usually black in color which is put on the face over the head. In this, the face remains covered but part of the eyes remains open. In the religion of Islam, both these traditional garments are used extensively to cover the face.
Pro. Iqtidar Khan says that Purdah has been mentioned at two places in the Quran, the holiest book of Islam. He explains, ‘Purda means that all those physical parts of women, which generate sexual desire, have to be protected from the eyes of men. However, in Islam it is also said for men that they have to control their eyesight, there is purdah for them too.
He says that for common Muslim women, it has been said in the Quran that they should cover all those parts of themselves with a chadar, the sight of which might give rise to wrong thoughts in the mind of a man.
At the same time, Dr. Ghazi says, ‘It is said in the Quran that the eyes of men fall on them and because of that, women get troubled and feel insecure, so the more they cover themselves, the safer they will be. This matter is also related to women’s safety. But in this, the likes and dislikes of the woman should be taken into account.
‘Islamophobia is increasing in the world’
In the context of ban on Islamic clothes in Europe and other countries and increasing incidents of insult to Quran, Professor Iqtidar Khan says that Islamophobia is increasing all over the world. He says that efforts are being made to ban everything related to Muslims.
He said, ‘Nowadays, Islamophobia has become prevalent all over the world… the tendency of Muslims to hate everything is increasing, everything they do is being viewed with suspicion. If we talk about India… here the women of Rajasthan cover their entire face with veil. If such a law comes in India, will these women take off their veil? They will stand up to fight because their custom of veil is older than burqa.
In which other countries of Europe is there a ban on Islamic clothes?
The ban on Islamic clothes like burqa, hijab, niqab in European countries gained momentum when America was attacked by the radical Islamic terrorist organization Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. After this attack, France became the first country in the European Union to ban wearing burqa and niqab in public places in 2010. France argued that these Islamic clothes are a symbol of exploitation.
However, France had made a rule in March 2004 itself, under which wearing symbols related to religion in schools was prohibited.
Hijab was earlier banned in France and in the year 2023, Muslim girls were also banned from going to school wearing Abaya. Abaya is a baggy-like loose-fitting dress which women wear over their normal clothes while going out. This hides the shape of their body.
Abaya was worn by Muslim women of Iraq and Syria, which 80 years ago reached North Africa and then some countries in Europe via the Arab countries of the Gulf. Muslims had strongly opposed the ban on abaya in French schools. He said that if girls have the freedom to go out wearing shorts and leggings, then why are Muslim girls being stopped from wearing Abaya.
Muslim women’s swimsuit Burkini was also banned in France. Muslim women used to wear it while bathing in public swimming pools, which was banned in 2016. However, when the controversy arose, the top court of France lifted the ban on wearing burkini.
There are about 50 lakh Muslim women in France, but only 2 thousand of them use burqa to cover their faces.
After France, countries like Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark also banned burqa and niqab. Bans on Islamic clothing were also imposed in some areas of Italy, public places in the Netherlands and some parts of Spain.
In July 2021, the Court of the European Union made a rule in which it was said that if women working in government jobs do not remove the hijab during their work, they will be fired from the job.
Britain has also banned wearing religious clothes including hijab and niqab in its schools. However, there is no restriction on following Islamic dress code anywhere other than schools.