August 26th, 2004
Young, Muslim, and French
Headscarf Headlines Around the World: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority and head of the Kingdom’s Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, has spoken out against both France’s ban of headscarves in school, and condemned the behavior of women who do not wear the veil, warning that their behavior will bring “dire consequences.” In Saudi Arabia, the norms of dress for women are more conservative than many Muslim countries in that they are expected to be covered from head to toe. In public, many wear the niqab, a stricter version of the hijab that provides only an opening at eye level. The grand mufti’s remarks followed an economic forum, held in the city of Jeddah, where unveiled women mixed freely with men. In reference to this event, the outspoken cleric also criticized efforts to relax Islamic norms regarding the mixing of men and women as “satanic and dangerous,” and decried the newspapers’ implication that women are constrained by Islamic law, and that this unlawful behavior represents the beginning of a more liberated society.

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