Paul Goble
Staunton, July 4 – When Dagestani Mufti Akhmed Abdullayev announced that he would be issuing a fetwa against women wearing the niqab in the wake of the terrorist actions in Makhachkala and Derbent, many observers assumed that was the end of this issue. But in fact, the mufti’s words have had exactly the opposite effect.
There are several reasons for this, all of which are now roiling the media in Dagestan and across the Russian Federation:
· First, a fetwa or legal opinion does not have the force of law either shariat or civil but is only a recommendation, with the chief enforcement mechanism being the individual consciousnesses of Muslims (mk.ru/politics/2024/07/02/popytka-zapretit-nikaby-nachalas-s-dagestana-fetva-vmesto-gosdumy.html).
· Second, while the Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) of Dagestan is nominally in charge of Muslim affairs, its writ does not run to at least one million believers in that republic and thus won’t be deferred to by most of them (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/401554).
· And third, while other Muslim hierarchies in the North Caucasus say they will follow the Dagestani action, the Makhachkala decision was reached without consultation or reference to any shariat court decision (kommersant.ru/doc/6806595).
Many Russian commentators would like to see the Russian government adopt a law against the niqab given that the MSDs aren’t going to enforce it. But Moscow may be reluctant to do so because such an action would likely to be resisted by migrant workers from Central Asia and make it more difficult for Russia to attract additions to its workforce.
But even in Dagestan, there seems little appetite for moving in that direction. Not only has the mufti indicated that his ban will be a temporary response to terrorist actions and could be lifted, but Makhachkala has talked about the niqab not being traditional in the republic rather than as something un-Islamic that must be banned.
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