Those “certain groups of women” are Muslim women.

It is ironic that the vote will take place on the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8, which strives for a gender-equal world. Removing a Muslim woman’s right to wear a face veil is not equality.

Why should a Muslim woman who chooses to cover her face because of her faith not be allowed to do so? People of different faiths adhere to different dress codes, yet it is Muslim women who bear the brunt of this policing around the world.

Switzerland is far from the first country to propose laws limiting Muslim women’s choice of attire: France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Republic of the Congo, Chad, Gabon and Sri Lanka all have laws prohibiting the wearing of religious face coverings. These bans are called a “security measure,” even though women’s role throughout history in political violence is not linked to the clothing they wore.

Source: Washington Post

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press (January 16, 2018)

Series: The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys

The history and contemporary situation of Muslim communities in Eastern Europe are explored here from three angles. First, survival, telling of the resilience of these Muslim communities in the face of often restrictive state policies and hostile social environments, especially during the Communist period. Next, their subsequent revival in the aftermath of the Cold War, and last, transformation, looking at the profound changes currently taking place in the demographic composition of the communities and in the forms of Islam practiced by them. The reader is shown a picture of the general trends common to the Muslim communities of Eastern Europe, and the special characteristics of clusters of states, such as the Baltics, the Balkans, the Višegrad states, and the European states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

About the Author

Egdūnas Račius is a Professor of Islamic studies at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania). He is the Reviews Editor of the Journal of Muslims in Europe and a co-editor of the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe.

Table of Contents

• 1. Autochthonous Islam of Eastern Europe – populations, practices, institutions

• 2. Historical overview

– Mongol-Tatar invasion of Eastern Europe and its consequences
– Russian possessions in Eastern Europe and its Muslim population
– Ottoman possessions in South-Eastern Europe

• 3. North-Eastern Europe

– The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and its legacy
– Russia
– Ukraine
– The Baltic States
– Belarus
– Moldova

• 4. Successor states of Yugoslavia

– The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and its legacy
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Montenegro and Serbia
– Kosovo
– Macedonia
– Slovenia and Croatia

• 5. South-Eastern Europe

– Albania
– Bulgaria
– Romania

• 6. Central Europe

– Poland
– Hungary
– The Czech Republic and Slovakia

• 7. Islam in Eastern Europe, Eastern European Islam: new faces, the new challenges

Reviews

– “A long overdue account of a dimension of Islam in Europe which has generally been ignored in western discussions. Providing comprehensive coverage of the subject in a way that is accessible to a university audience, this has the potential to become the foundational text in the subject.” (Jørgen S. Nielsen, University of Copenhagen)

Source: Edinburgh University Press