Many Muslim women are openly against the hijab and actually support some legislation in Western Europe banning the veil in public buildings. While these bans tend to be in place because of a general feeling of Islamophobia, for these women it is a very real reminder of the subjugation of women in many Islamic societies. On the other hand, many women support it as a part of cultural tradition and a way of expressing their identity as Muslims. The fact is that the Qur'an says nothing about the veil, much less burkas or other such pieces of clothing. These are all a product of tradition, of a medieval attitude that originally was not put into place by women, but by men.

While the Qur'an says that Muslims of both sexes should dress modestly, it has absolutely no mention of either veils, burkas, hijabs, or any other such garments. What it does mention are cloaks and shawls, garments that do not necessarily cover the hands, or feet – much less the face! In fact, for the first three hundred years of Islam's existence, women would attend the mosque without a veil or any similar garment. The pretext to enact laws forcing women to wear the veil came from an extremely conservative interpretation of the customs of the prophet Muhammad's inner circle and of his sayings. While these are hotly debated issues between different sects of Islam, it is clear that any ruling on the veil does not come directly from the Qur'an and that in reality, it can be quite flexible.

What is clearly in the Qur'an is that there should absolutely be no compulsion in regards to matters of faith and religion. That means that any person trying to force a woman to cover her face, hair, or any part of her body on the pretext of it being against Islam is blatantly going against the very words of the Qur'an.