Following in the footsteps of previous European leaders, and under the pretext of maintaining security and guaranteeing the fundamental rights of every woman and girl, the Italian Prime Minister, on Thursday, 24 September 2026, approved a decree banning the burqa and niqab in schools. Following a government meeting, Meloni said that banning the burqa was “a security issue”! She added, “When a woman, or worse, a young girl, is forced to cover her face, she is deprived of fundamental rights and of integration itself.” (Mosaïque FM).

France had presented a draft law banning the niqab to the Senate on 14 September 2010, under the pretext that it was impossible to identify a person whose face was covered, causing numerous problems and concerns in public places. The law was subsequently passed on 11 April 2011, and the ban was implemented in public places, including streets, public parks, train stations and shops. A fine of €150 ($216) was imposed on any woman who violated the law. The niqab was also banned in Belgium in 2011, and in Bulgaria, Austria and Denmark in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Switzerland followed in 2025, while Portugal joined them by bringing its ban into effect under its new law in September 2026. The Netherlands has also banned niqab in public institutions, such as schools, government offices, hospitals and public transport, while Norway has imposed restrictions primarily in educational institutions. Meanwhile, countries such as Germany, Spain and Italy apply specific rules that are limited to certain places, institutions or circumstances.

France, the country of so-called freedoms, continues to target Muslim women who wear the hijab. Its politicians exploit this issue as an electoral tool to win the greatest number of votes. The French National Rally party, the far right, led by Marine Le Pen, has confirmed its intention to impose financial penalties for wearing the hijab in public places if it comes to power in 2027. In contrast, the French far-right leader saw no problem in taking a photograph with a Christian nun wearing a traditional head covering and a nun’s habit during the historic visit of Pope Leo XIV on 1 October of this month. Indeed, the National Rally’s Member of the European Parliament, Matthieu Valet, accompanied the photograph with the words, “The beautiful revival of France,” when sharing it on the platform X.

Austria has also joined this trend. This September, it banned girls under the age of 14 from wearing the hijab in public and private schools. Repeated violations carry fines ranging from €150 to €800 for parents or guardians.

Even Muslim-majority countries insist on presenting themselves as modern secular models. This was recently seen in Azerbaijan, which tightened its restrictions on wearing the hijab in late September after issuing new regulations governing school uniforms in public educational institutions. It claimed that its policies do not target Islam, but are instead part of enforcing education laws and preserving the secular character of educational institutions. It also claimed that the measures aim to prevent the political exploitation of religion and protect public order from extremist tendencies!

O Muslims!

Western countries are competing to wage war against Muslim women and restrict their freedoms, in complete contradiction to their claims of safeguarding rights and liberties and the slogans they raise. The West’s actions against Muslim women, through banning the hijab and niqab, expose its fears of Islam and its spread. This is a determined effort to preserve the secular nature of the state and defend the concepts of Western civilisation. It also reflects the contradictions in these countries’ conduct: they disregard what they call personal freedoms whenever they perceive a threat to their sovereignty or a danger to their secularism.

O Muslims, and Muslim women in the West!

The war on the hijab and niqab is a civilisational war against Islam, even when they seek to erase its features under the cover of “maintaining security” or “defending girls who have been deprived of their freedom of choice”! This cover will quickly fall away, and all the masks will fall with it, revealing faces filled with hatred for Islam and its people. You are the ones holding firmly to your religion, like someone holding burning embers in their hands. You are the ones fighting the battle to remain steadfast and preserve the concepts of your religion. Do not allow them to assimilate your sons and daughters into their civilisation. Instead, strengthen and firmly establish Islamic culture in their hearts.

Therefore, the idea that the state should be neutral towards religion is fundamentally false. We cannot be anything other than those acted upon within this international system unless we adopt Islam and work to restore its full implementation by establishing the Khilafah (Caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood. In such a state, we will not be subservient to foreigners; rather, we will stand as their equal. We will not wait for favours or appeals for sympathy from Western countries that regard the hijab as an injustice against women or merely a matter of personal freedom. Rather, we regard it as submission and servitude to Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He.