The Burqa Affair Across Europe

’This book poses a substantial challenge to those who would limit religious freedom in Europe by banning Muslim women's full-face covering, commonly called burqa. The authors place the legal issues in a broader political, social and cultural context. In so doing, they expose the questionable grounds for banning the burqa in France and Belgium and of proposals elsewhere.’ Jørgen S. Nielsen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark ’This volume is a milestone of legal and sociological research regarding one of the most heated European debates on religion in public space. It follows a most welcome and urgently needed pragmatic approach in accordance with European guarantees of human rights - a benchmark for future reflections.’ Mathias Rohe, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany ’...this book is a useful reference to the regulation of the burqa in Europe, including contributions by scholars who are knowledgeable about the situation in the countries about which they write.’ Journal of Contemporary Religion '... this book will appeal to scholars with an interest in Islam and human rights. Its thorough legal discussion of this controversy in Europe enables the reader to gain a wider perspective than would be afforded by a monograph about a specific national context. On the other hand, it could also be effectively used as a reference text by sociologists hoping to situate their own case-study analyses within a legal framework.' American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences