Spectator article criticises reaction to ban on primary school girls wearing headscarves

A January article from the Spectator discusses the emergence of two distinct Muslim cultures in Britain. Cohen writes of the reaction to St Stephen’s primary school in Newham banning the wearing of the headscarf for girls under the age of eight, drawing links to issues of Muslim engagement with public life and counter-extremism efforts in the UK.

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Ofsted criticised for decision to question primary school girls wearing the hijab

The head of Ofsted says the hijab “could be interpreted as sexualisation of young girls”.

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The Police and the Headscarf Debate in the Netherlands and the Case of Sarah Izat

Can you be a “neutral” policewoman and still wear an Islamic headscarf? According to young Dutch Muslim Sarah Izat (26), these two are not in contradiction with each other. Izat, who has worked for the Dutch police force since she was twenty-one years old, has become prominent in Dutch public debates about wearing a headscarf…

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Islam in crisis: Observations by German religious scholar Michael Blume

The assumption that ‘Islam’ – usually conceived as a monolithic force – is on an expansionary path is widely shared. Islamists herald the onset of an age of Islamic renewal and dominance; anxious Westerners take to the streets against the ‘Islamisation’ of the occident; and colourful videos highlighting that Islam is set to overtake Christianity…

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Hijab debate splits feminists in Germany

In a new instalment of Germany’s long-running judicial battles over the hijab, the country’s highest court has in a new verdict upheld the legislator’s right to prohibit Muslim women from wearing the Islamic headcovering in certain circumstances.   Jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) rejected the application for interim relief filed…

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