Burqa
A burqa, also known as harabah, is a type of enveloping outer garment worn by some Muslim women which fully covers the body and the face.
The use of face veils has been documented in various ancient cultures, including the Byzantine Empire, Persia, and Arabia. Historical sources mention women’s practices of face veiling. Additionally, Biblical references in Genesis highlight the use of veils. Oriental Orthodox Christian women traditionally wore dark garments with veils, white for the unmarried and black for the married.
Face veiling has not been regarded as a religious requirement by most Islamic scholars, either in the past or the present. While some interpret Quranic verses, such as 24:31 and 33:59, as encouraging modesty and security for women, most contemporary scholars agree that the burqa is not obligatory. For many women, wearing the burqa represents modesty, piety, and cultural identity, while others choose it as an expression of personal or religious commitment. A minority of scholars in the Islamic jurisprudence consider it to be obligatory for Muslim women when they are in the presence of non-related males. This is in order to prevent men from looking at women. This aligns with the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, which requires men to observe modesty by lowering their gaze in the presence of women.
Women may wear the burqa for a number of reasons, including compulsion, as was the case during the Taliban's first rule of Afghanistan. However, several countries have enacted full or partial bans on its use in public spaces. These include Austria, France, Belgium, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Gabon, Chad, Senegal, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Niger, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, and [|China].
Related garments
In Central Asia, there's a similar garment called paranja. The Arab version of the burqa is called the boshiya and is usually black.Pre-Islamic use of the face veil
The face veil was originally part of women's dress among certain classes in the Byzantine Empire.However, although Byzantine art before Islam commonly depicts women with veiled heads or covered hair, it does not depict women with veiled faces. In addition, the Greek geographer Strabo, writing in the 1st century AD, refers to some Persian women veiling their faces; and the early third-century Christian writer Tertullian clearly refers in his treatise The Veiling of Virgins to some "pagan" women of "Arabia" wearing a veil that covers not only their head but also the entire face. Clement of Alexandria commends the contemporary use of face coverings. There are also two Biblical references to the employment of covering face veils in Genesis 38:14 and Genesis 24:65, by Tamar and by Rebecca, the daughters-in-law of Judah and his great-grandfather Abraham, respectively. These primary sources show that some women in Persia, Egypt, Arabia, and ancient Israel veiled their faces long before Islam. In the case of Tamar, the Biblical text 'When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; because she had covered her face' indicates customary, if not sacred, use of the face veil to accentuate rather than disguise sexuality.
Oriental Orthodoxy
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, Coptic women historically covered their head and face in public and in the presence of men. During the 19th century, upper-class urban Christian and Muslim women in Egypt wore the burqa garment which was known there as harabah. The name harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself. Unmarried women generally wore white veils while married women wore black.Coptic Orthodox Christian women historically have worn dark-coloured full garments, along with a Christian head covering that included a veil to wear in public. Women who are unmarried wear white-coloured veils and married women wear black-coloured veils.
Face veiling in Islam
Despite legal requirements and prevalence in certain regions, many modern Islamic scholars and most contemporary Islamic jurists have said that Islam does not require women to cover their faces.Scriptural sources
Although the Quran commands both men and women to behave modestly and contains no precise prescription for how women should dress, certain Quranic verses have been used in exegetical discussions of face veiling. Coming after a verse which instructs men to lower their gaze and guard their modesty, verse 24:31 instructs women to do the same, providing additional detail:The verse goes on to list a number of other types of exempted males. Classical Quranic commentators differed in their interpretation of the phrase "except what is apparent outwardly". Some said that it referred to face and hands, implying that these body parts need not be covered, while others disagreed.
Another passage, known as the "mantle verse", has been interpreted as establishing women's security as a rationale for veiling:
Based on the context of the verse and early Islamic literature, this verse has been generally understood as establishing a way to protect the Muslim women from a hostile faction who had molested them on the streets of Medina, claiming that they confused them with slave girls.
A sahih hadith elaborates the circumstances under which the verse was revealed and attributes it to Umar ibn al-Khattab for taunting one of Muhammad's wives while she was walking.
The exact nature of garments referred to in these verses, and, has been debated by traditional and modern scholars.
Islamic scholars who hold that face veiling is not obligatory also base this on a narration from one of the canonical hadith collections, in which he tells Asma', the daughter of Abu Bakr: "O Asmaʿ, when a woman reaches the age of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her parts of body except this and this", pointing to her face and hands. According to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, traditional hadith scholars have not viewed this narration as providing proof on its own, because its recorded chain of transmission made them uncertain about its authenticity, but those who argued that face veiling is not required have used it as supporting evidence along other practices, such as those recording customary practice at the time of prophet Muhammad and his companions however it is argued that this because of the low resources and incapability at the time.
Classical jurisprudence
When veiling was discussed in early Islamic jurisprudence beyond the context of prayer, it was generally considered an "issue of social status and physical safety". Later, during the medieval era, Islamic jurists began to devote more attention to the notion of and the question of whether women should cover their faces. The majority opinion which emerged during that time, predominant among Maliki and Hanafi jurists, held that women should cover everything except their faces in public. In contrast, most medieval Hanbali and Shafi'i jurists counted a woman's face among her , concluding that it should be veiled, except for the eyes. The Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah was an influential proponent of the latter view, while the Hanafi scholar Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani stressed that it was particularly important for a woman to leave her face and hands uncovered during everyday business dealing with men. There was a difference of opinion on this question within the legal schools. Thus, Yusuf al-Qaradawi quotes Shafi'i and Hanbali jurists stating that covering the face is not obligatory.In the Shi'a Ja'fari school of, covering the face is not obligatory.
Salafi views
According to the Salafi point of view, it is obligatory for a woman to cover her entire body when in public or in presence of non-mahram men. Some interpretations say that a veil is not compulsory in front of blind men.The Salafi scholar Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani wrote a book expounding his view that the face veil is not a binding obligation upon Muslim women, while he was a teacher at Islamic University of Madinah. His opponents within the Saudi establishment ensured that his contract with the university was allowed to lapse without renewal.
Reasons for wearing
Reasons for wearing a burqa vary. A woman may choose to wear it to express her piety, modesty, political views, and cultural views among other reasons. A woman may also wear a burqa on being required to do so by law, such as in the case of Afghanistan during the first period of Taliban rule.The burqa has also been worn in protest. On 17 August 2017, Australian Senator Pauline Hanson wore a burqa, which she claimed "oppresses women", into the Senate, in protest after not getting permission to introduce a bill to ban the burqa and face coverings. Attorney-General George Brandis got a standing ovation from Labor and Greens senators after he gave an "emotional" speech saying to Hanson: "To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do." Hanson wore a burqa into the Australian Senate chamber for the second time on 24 November 2025, again calling for a ban on the garment, drawing condemnation from all other parties in the Senate.