The Muftiate of Dagestan has changed its mind about banning the niqab

The Fatwa Department at the Muftiate of Dagestan analyzed Sharia texts and did not see sufficient grounds for banning the niqab. This was reported in the religious organization's Telegram channel.

“In certain situations, local bans on wearing the niqab may be imposed for security reasons, as public safety is of paramount importance in Islam,” the publication says.

It also notes that a local ban on wearing the niqab should be “dictated solely by external factors and be temporary.”

The day before, the spiritual leader of Dagestan's Muslims, Akhmad-Afandi Abdullayev, announced a ban on the niqab. "Tonight or tomorrow, in a few days, the niqab will be completely banned by fatwa, that is, by a Sharia decision," Interfax reported him as saying.

The head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, spoke out against wearing a closed female headdress with a narrow slit for the eyes. He stated that the niqab is an atypical element of clothing for the peoples of the Caucasus, which allows them to hide prohibited items under it.

After several armed men fired on and set fire to religious sites in Dagestan on June 23, and attacked police officers, killing 16 security officers, some Telegram channels reported that one of the attackers allegedly planned to escape by wearing a niqab. There is no official confirmation of this information.

However, there had been talk of banning the niqab in Russia before the attack on Dagestan. Thus, at the end of May, the head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Valery Fadeyev, proposed banning this element of clothing. He explained his position, among other things, by the fact that the niqab is banned "even in some Central Asian countries."

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