In Dagestan, wearing the niqab was banned: reasons, reaction of the authorities

Dagestan has announced a ban on wearing niqabs, the traditional female Arab headdress, in the republic. The muftiate’s Telegram channel said the restriction is temporary.

Deputy Mufti of the Republic Abdul Salimov commented on the department’s findings fatwanoting that it was not entirely correctly interpreted in the media.

“The Mufti, referring to the appeal from the Ministry of National Policy and Religious Affairs, which reports on the existing threat to the security of the population of the republic and on the basis of the competent conclusion of the fatwa department issued yesterday, announces a temporary ban on wearing niqabs until the identified threats are eliminated and a new theological conclusion is issued,” the statement said.

The head of the Russian Investigative Committee Bastrykin had previously called for a ban on wearing niqabs

At the end of June, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, called for a ban on wearing the niqab in the country. This was his response to the question of whether religious clothing that completely covers the face should be banned.

“It is the State Duma’s task to pass a law banning what you are talking about,” Bastrykin said, adding that wearing the niqab is prohibited in Muslim countries. “We need to ban all of this urgently,” he said.

Bastrykin recalled the recent terrorist attacks in Dagestan, as well as the hostage-taking in the Rostov-on-Don pretrial detention center, committed by Islamists. “If we bring people here (I think we shouldn’t), we must regulate their behavior, including by adopting new laws,” he said.

The idea of ​​banning the niqab in Russia was voiced back in May by the head of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, Valery Fadeyev, who was supported by State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveyev. The Mufti of Moscow, Ildar Alyautdinov, said that he would support the ban only if a connection was established between wearing the niqab and extremism.

The Muftiate of Dagestan did not see any grounds for a general ban on wearing the niqab

The day before, the Muftiate’s Fatwa Department spoke about a possible ban on niqabs. It was noted that a thorough analysis of Sharia texts was conducted within the framework of four madhhabs“The Fatwa Department of the Republic of Dagestan does not see sufficient grounds for issuing a decision on a general ban on the niqab,” they wrote in a statement.

The head of the department, Akhmed-Khadzhi Isayev, added that the opinions of Muslim scholars on the ban differ. Thus, in certain cases, for security reasons, the ban can be introduced locally, but it should be temporary and determined solely by external factors.

On July 1, Abdullayev himself announced that a fatwa banning the niqab would be issued in Dagestan. At a meeting with the region’s leadership, he emphasized that the decision would not be reversed “until there is complete peace and quiet in the region.” On June 23, several terrorist attacks were carried out simultaneously in Dagestan, with 22 victims, according to the latest data. One of the terrorists wanted to escape the scene of the crime wearing a niqab.