In several Muslim-majority countries, hijab wearing is required by law or a social norm that some Muslim women follow out of a personal choice. Hijab refers to modest attire including a headscarf that covers the hair. While hijab is recommended for Muslim women in the Quran, its mandate varies from country to country based on local customs and interpretations of Islamic law.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has one of the strictest dress codes for women in the world. All women in the country, including non-Muslim foreign visitors, are required to wear an abaya which is a loose robe-like over garment that covers the entire body except for the head, feet and hands. In addition, Saudi women must cover their hair and neck with a scarf known as a hijab.
The dress code is part of the kingdom’s strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism. The religious police or mutaween enforce the rules in public places. First-time offenders receive a warning, while repeat offenders face punishments including fines and imprisonment.
While restrictions have eased slightly under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s modernization drive, the dress code remains mandatory. However, enforcement varies across the country with mutaween cracking down more rigorously in conservative rural areas compared to modern urban centers like Riyadh and Jeddah.
Iran
Ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian law requires all women in the country, regardless of nationality or religious belief, to wear a hijab in public places. The law necessitates loose-fitting clothing as well as a hair covering or headscarf.
The dress code is part of Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law under its theocratic government. Religious police or Gasht-e Ershad patrol public places to enforce the rules, reprimanding women without proper hijab. Punishments include fines and imprisonment.
While the laws remain in place, enforcement has relaxed over the years. The police now prefer to reason with offenders instead of arresting them. Though some women push the boundaries with loose scarves and fashionable overcoats, most comply in order to avoid potential problems.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan has required women to wear hijab for several decades through changing political regimes. Under the recently ousted Taliban government from 1996-2001, all women had to wear an all-enveloping blue burqa held in place by a mesh screen over the eyes.
After the Taliban’s fall, hijab remained mandatory but enforcement relaxed. Many women opted for a simple headscarf over the more restrictive burqa. However, the Taliban regained control in 2021 and reimposed the burqa along with other restrictions on women’s rights and freedoms.
Failure to comply can result in severe punishments for women including public beatings or imprisonment. Some defiant women in urban areas like Kabul have protested by removing their head coverings despite the risks.
Iraq
Iraq does not have any national law requiring hijab for women. However, a number of regions and provinces have local laws or social customs enforcing various forms of Islamic dress. In particular, women in the capital Baghdad are pressured to wear a headscarf and loose abbaya robe when in public.
During the 1990s under Saddam Hussein’s secular Baath party, hijab was not compulsory nationwide. But regulations were enforced in Shiite-majority areas like Karbala. After Saddam’s overthrow, conservative religious authorities pressured the new government to impose stricter dress codes for women, though no national legislation has passed.
In the northern Kurdish autonomous region, hijab is also not required by law, though societal norms still encourage it. ISIS imposed a strict dress code in areas under its control including mandatory face veils for women until the terrorist group was pushed out.
Sudan
Sudan has enforced some form of Islamic dress code for women since the early 1980s under various regimes. Under ousted President Omar al-Bashir who ruled Sudan from 1989-2019, the government imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia law including floggings for violating the dress code.
While violators were rarely prosecuted, Sudanese women faced harassment from religious police if they were not modestly dressed in an abaya robe and headscarf. However, enforcement has relaxed in recent years especially in cosmopolitan Khartoum as more women wear just a simple headscarf and conservative clothing leaving their faces visible.
Since al-Bashir’s overthrow, the transitional government has promised more personal freedoms. But social norms still expect women to dress conservatively, and some provinces enforce stricter rules than the capital.
Brunei
The small Southeast Asian nation of Brunei officially implemented Sharia law in 2014. The new penal code required Muslim women to wear a headscarf covering the hair, neck and ears in public or face fines or imprisonment.
However, the dress code was already enforced to varying degrees through a customary tradition known as tudung, where women wore a loose hijab out of social custom and religious belief rather than legal obligation. With the new law, hijab became mandatory whenever women left the house.
But after facing criticism abroad, the small, oil-rich monarchy postponed enforcing penalties under the new penal code. While wearing hijab in public remains compulsory, the dress code is now largely upheld through social pressure rather than legal enforcement.
Malaysia
Malaysia has a dual legal system with secular laws as well as Sharia laws for its predominantly Muslim population. The degree of Sharia enforcement varies by state and ethnicity with the strictest rules in conservative northern states.
In some northern Malaysian states, failure to wear tudung (the Malay term for hijab) in public can result in fines. But enforcement often focuses on educating Muslim women about the requirement rather than doling out harsh punishments. The coastal commercial state of Kelantan passed a law in 2019 requiring women to wear tudung in public or be fined.
However, Malaysia’s secular-leaning federal laws take precedence, so women cannot be jailed or sent to Sharia court for dress code violations. But social pressure to conform remains significant, especially in rural Malay Muslim communities.
Indonesia
As the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia’s national laws do not enforce any standard Islamic dress code. However, some districts in conservative provinces like Aceh province have implemented Sharia regulations requiring Muslim women to wear hijab in public.
The semi-autonomous region of Aceh province has enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia law since 2001. Failure to wear proper Islamic attire in public is punishable under the regulations by community service or public shaming rather than imprisonment.
While the Acehnese authorities regulate female dress, the rest of Indonesia does not have any national mandatory hijab policy. However, Muslim women all across the diverse archipelago face immense societal pressure to wear some form of headscarf in their daily lives out of adherence to Islamic custom.
Conclusion
Most countries that legally mandate some form of hijab or Islamic dress are Muslim-majority nations that enforce Sharia law to varying extents. Saudi Arabia and Iran have the strictest nationwide obligations for women to wear loose robes and headscarves when in public. Meanwhile, provinces or states within larger nations sometimes impose localized dress codes.
Even without comprehensive national laws, social customs and family pressures still obligate women in many Islamic societies to wear hijab or other modest attire in their daily lives. However, while hijab remains culturally ingrained, enforcement of legal dress codes has eased over the years in many regions amid modernization drives and advocacy for women’s rights.
Countries Where Hijab is Mandatory in Summary
| Country | Legal Requirements | Punishments for Violations |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | All women must wear abaya robe and headscarf | Fines, imprisonment enforced by religious police |
| Iran | Loose clothing and hair fully covered | Fines, imprisonment enforced by religious police |
| Afghanistan | Women must wear full burqa body veil | Public beatings and imprisonment by Taliban |
| Iraq | No national law, but social customs in some regions | No legal penalties, social harassment |
| Sudan | Modest dress required, loose headscarf and robe | Rare prosecutions, mainly social pressure |
| Brunei | Headscarf must cover hair, neck and ears | Fines and jail under Sharia law, not enforced |
| Malaysia | Required in certain northern states only | Fines under state Islamic laws |
| Indonesia | Required only in Aceh province | Community service or public shaming in Aceh |