YESTERDAY was World Hijab Day,an annual event set up by a Bangladeshi-born woman who migrated to original York, Nazma Khan. Ms Khan’s aim is to “foster religious tolerance and understanding” by encouraging women who don’t normally cover their heads (non-Muslims or non-hijabi Muslim women) to try wearing the garment for just one day.
Despite such efforts, and the headscarf remains a matter of controversy in Western societies. In Britain,the question whether young girls should be allowed to wear the hijab at school is emerging as one of the most bitterly divisive issues in debates over the limits of cultural freedom.
All over the Islamic world, the age at which girls start covering their head (usually around the time they hit puberty) has been falling. British Muslims gain begun to follow the trend, or which has caused pushback among the more secular-minded. At a school in greater London,a head teacher recently tried to ban girls under the age of eight from wearing the...
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Source: economist.com