Let’s Dive In

This week’s Unbelief Brief travels from Iran’s shifting stance on hijab enforcement to Europe’s renewed push for veil bans. Read on to learn more.

Unbelief Brief

Over the last few weeks, this newsletter has highlighted comments from Mohammad-Reza Bahonar, a conservative member of Iran’s Expediency Council. First, he referred to Iran’s hijab mandate as “unenforceable,” before quickly walking back that statement. There is some truth to this, particularly in major urban centers like Tehran, where increasing numbers of women openly defy Islamic modesty codes. However, while authorities may be constrained in how far they can go without jeopardizing public stability, it would be inaccurate to suggest that they have stopped enforcing compliance altogether.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran reports that the seizure and closure of “businesses serving women not wearing the hijab” is on the rise as an enforcement tactic. This is particularly true of less populated areas outside the capital city. Electronic surveillance, already a staple of the government’s methods to keep women in line, continues and is supplemented by “the deployment of undercover agents.” It is no wonder the regime draws such contempt from the greater part of Iran’s population, particularly when their own leaders exhibit naked hypocrisy on this same issue.

In Europe, Portugal and Switzerland appear to be taking opposing actions on Islamic dress for women. The Portuguese parliament has just approved a bill banning face coverings in essentially all public spaces, with limited exceptions including places of worship. This follows the proposal of similar legislation in Italy earlier this month. While the bans in Italy and Portugal are not yet laws, the conclusion is not foregone. We continue to maintain that broad bans of face coverings in public may actually worsen the problem of so-called “cultural separatism” by fueling anti-Western resentment among Muslims. In particular, many ultra-conservative Muslim fathers and husbands would sooner try to confine their wives and daughters to the home full-time than tolerate their unveiled presence in public.

The government of Switzerland, on the other hand, has rejected the idea of a national ban on the hijab for children in public schools. While this is something of a gray area, we think there is a much better case to be made for such a ban than a broad-based ban for adults. Daughters of Muslim parents generally have no choice in whether they will wear a headscarf to school, and it is an important tool of indoctrination into a belief system that subjugates women and girls. Limiting a headscarf ban to children in state-sanctioned educational settings could be consistent with secular principles while giving the daughters of Muslim parents some daily freedom from Islamic repression. Nonetheless, the Swiss government has decided not to go down that road, at least not at the national level.

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Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

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