Niqab in the modern era
The practice fell away sharply in the mid-twentieth century, then revived — including across Southeast Asia. The revival is welcomed here, with one criticism: niqab worn as ornament.
Niqab declined sharply in popularity around the middle of the twentieth century.
It remained widely practised in the Arabian peninsula, particularly Saudi Arabia and Yemen, though numbers are recorded as falling there too under westernisation and liberalisation. It continued in Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and India, and has since revived in a number of places, Southeast Asia among them.
The criticism
The revival is not treated uncritically here. The complaint is specific to Malaysia and Indonesia, and it is aimed at supporters rather than opponents: the revival is described as marred by a trend of treating the niqab as bodily ornament, particularly among younger women.
That is a striking thing to say while arguing for the practice, but it sets the register this site holds to throughout. The argument is not that more niqab is always better. It is that the practice has a purpose, and that decorating it works against that purpose.
The point is developed at length elsewhere on this site, in a critique of niqab as fashion and of the display of it on social media.
What this section is not
It is not a survey of contemporary law. It contains no account of the bans and restrictions introduced in various countries over the past two decades. That material has to be sourced independently, and is not part of what it supplies.
Check your understanding
What is this note's stance on the modern revival of niqab?