Muslim Dress in Europe: Debates on the Headscarf

Abstract

In many countries of the European Union, the issue of the Islamic headscarf has resulted in specific legal measures taken by governmental institutions or courts, or in pragmatic compromises reached between parents and school authorities. This holds especially true for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. As a matter of principle, the relations between public authorities and religious groups, as well as the determination of the place of religion in the public sphere, fall under the sovereignty and exclusive competence of each of the EU member-states. Consequently, the nature and results of discussions in these countries, as well as the compromises reached to resolve conflicts, differ according to the countries’ various educational and constitutional traditions. In this article attention has been paid, first of all, to the normative views concerning headscarf of Islamic scholars and Islamic religious institutions. In a second section, the authors focus on the role of the Court of Strasbourg in applying the principle of religious freedom in verdicts that can be related directly or indirectly to the issue of the Islamic headscarf. In section 3 an analysis is presented of the various stereotypes on the Islamic headscarf as reflected in court decisions and political discussions, among others: the headscarf as an expression of fundamentalism, as an act of religious propaganda, and as a sign of unwillingness to integrate. In the last section, an overview of the political discussions and legal measures concerning the Islamic headscarf in the Netherlands and Belgium is presented.

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