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Burqa and niqab are currently the two most challenging manifestations of face veil in the West. Developed based on an interpretive method, the present research is an attempt to study and analyze semantic implications of face veil among 24 Muslim Iranian women in Baluchestan Province and Qeshm Island in Iran. Semi-structured interviews and field observations were employed. The findings indicated that the connotation of niqab for the ethnic-religious minority women in Baluchestan was different from that of burqa for the religious minority women living on Qeshm Island. The Baluch women wear niqab as a sign of their collective identity and differentiation as well as maximal religious commitment vis-à-vis Shia-Persian majority; whereas burqa more than representing religious or ethnic identity, is an expressive language for native women to differentiate their personal identity. Burqa, produced in different colors and forms, is rich enough to show the marital status, social class, economic wellbeing and the age of women wearing it in a traditional patriarchal society; whereas all-black niqab prevents the identification and differentiation of the users. Burqa and niqab trade in both regions under study has led to the women-only employment in its manufacturing market, sewing and sales, although applying gold threads on some brands of burqa has turned them into capital goods, playing a more decisive role in socio-economic empowerment of women in Qeshm. Given the findings of this study, it may be concluded that various types of face veils in the world of Islam represent certain signs and symbols within ethnic-religious structures that need further deliberation before enactment of any law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers global news brief on Church-State Affairs as of July 2018. Topics discussed include amendment to Bolivia's penal code provoked protests against its limitation of religious liberty, Danish government has proposed a ban on full-face coverings niqab and burqa in public places and European Court of Justice ruled that courts could consider cases of hiring discrimination by faith-based organizations despite historic exemptions for church.

Courts from around the common law world have been required to decide whether a witness may give evidence while wearing a burqa or niqab. In the majority of documented cases the court has determined that the witness must remove her face covering. In coming to this conclusion the court has in many instances also considered alternative arrangements which may be put in place to minimise the witness’s discomfort and respect her religious beliefs as far as possible. This article analyses the existing case law to determine which practical solutions considered by the courts are the most effective both in terms of respecting the witness’s religious beliefs and in facilitating the administration of justice. It concludes that the removal of non-essential men and/or the screening of the witness along with ancillary orders, offers the best compromise for all concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper locates the discussion on wearing niqab and burqa within the context of information acquisition and response formation among Muslims and non-Muslims in the contemporary world. The paper argues that, against the backdrop of varied opinions on Islam and Muslims around the world, the debate on wearing burqa represents the continuation – albeit up-scaling – of the focus on Muslim women as the signifiers of Islam and Muslim identities. Australia is influenced by, and dealing with, the debate on whether or not to ban the burqa and niqab. Opinions among both the wider community and Muslims have differed on the justification and advisability of such a ban. The Australian government at the federal and state levels has demonstrated cautious activism in dealing with the issue, thus protecting the rights of Australian Muslim minorities, and reducing the space in which a heightened sense of exclusion could develop among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the successful campaign to have the burqa and niqab banned from public use in France, and the continuing advocacy to have these garments banned in other Western liberal societies, I examine whether the two strongest challenges to the burqa and niqab succeed in justifying a ban on these forms of veil. Although I argue that they both fail in supporting a ban, the fact that some Muslim women may be coerced into full veiling gives liberal states a moral duty to interfere. In the light of this, I propose a comprehensive approach, which is better suited to ensure that the necessary conditions are in place for Muslim women to be the authors of their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dislike among European publics for the Islamic full veil and the desire to ban it are often ascribed to nativist "Islamophobia." This article questions that assumption. It argues that, in political terms, the wearing of the burqa and niqab is inconsistent with Western norms of equality, the backbone of the citizenship ideal; and that, in social terms, the full veil erects a partition to interpersonal understanding and reciprocity. While the constitutional duty to protect religious freedom is a good argument in favor of tolerating the full veil, the practice of wearing it is at the edge of solidarity and injurious to the democratic public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the Gerin Report marks a shift in French conversations on Islamic veiling practices, from a focus on the nature of public space or laïcité to a focus on the nature of female agency. Through a close analysis of three “paradoxes” (of femininity, individuality, and the human/object distinction) drawn from the report, this paper examines how the Gerin Commission, which produced the report, was particularly concerned with the way that French women ought to express their gender and sexuality as markers of their personhood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the 2010 Gerin Report on the prevalence and dangers of donning the voile intégral (full-face veils, namely niqabs and burqas) in the Republic to consider the implications of its configuration of Islam in France. With reference to five other recent reports and commissions in France on the visibility and appropriateness of religious signs in the public sphere, I suggest that the Gerin Report differs in two significant ways. First, the Report does not explicitly promote French secularism. While laïcité is underscored as integral to a vivre-ensemble (living together), the document positions full-face coverings not as religious symbols but as political, Islamist signs. Second, the Report singularly focuses on disputed Islamic head-coverings and, with reference to religious experts, carefully constructs niqabs and burqas as outside of theologically “proper” Republican Islam. Following consideration of these two features, I conclude by pointing to how the Gerin Report's politicization of the voile intégral is reflected in recent citizenship decisions and through the interactions of a large French feminist organization with Muslim women in a Parisian banlieue (suburb). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the ban on clothing meant to hide the face enacted by the French national assembly on July 13, 2010. While not mentioning the burqa or niqab, a veil and a body covering worn by Muslim women, the law placed a ban on the concealing Islamic clothing, the article notes. A number of topics are addressed including remarks by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, in support of the ban, the fact that many of the women wearing such garments were of French nationality, and provisions of a similar measure passed in Belgium.

In this article the author examines aspects of the ban enacted by France and Belgium on the wearing of the burqa and the niqab, Islamic body and face covers, by Muslim women. The author notes that in a number of countries, including the United States, the ban on Islamic clothing is seen as a manifestation of religious intolerance and is anti-women. The central focus of the article is the author's argument in favor of the ban. A number of issues are addressed including the differing views of Islamic doctrine on the veils, acts of terrorism that can be committed while wearing the clothing, and aspects of Islamic fundamentalism.