French Literature Reviews - 2026

B.-N. Aboudrar, Comment le voile est devenu musulman
History, Politics and Society

Comment le voile est devenu musulman
Bruno-Nassim Aboudrar

PUBLICATION DATE: 05/03/14 PUBLISHER: Flammarion ISBN: 978-2-08-130180-1 EAN: 9782081301801 FORMAT: Paperback NO. OF PAGES: 250 p.

Ghostly black forms, dark draped silhouettes, women's faces swallowed by fabric: why do such now-familiar images remain so unsettling? Why does the wearing of the veil so deeply offend the European gaze? Moving beyond polemics, Bruno-Nassim Aboudrar reframes the debate and uncovers the misunderstandings surrounding this ancient practice. The veil is not inherently Muslim; it became so over time.

Virtually absent from the Quran, it is a prescription that developed gradually through a history in which the colonial episode forms a major chapter. If the veil shocks us, it is less because it constitutes an outrage against women or a breach of secularism than because it disrupts a visual order built on transparency, offering in its place a provocative defense of the opaque, the hidden, the secret, and the obscure.

And for Muslim women who choose to veil in the West, is it not a fool's game—an impiety nestled at the heart of a religious intention? For by showing that they are hiding, they are in fact hiding the fact that they are showing themselves... Examining in turn the letter of the Quran, the voyeurism of Orientalist art, and the dramatic unveiling ceremonies orchestrated in Turkey and the Maghreb, this intertwined history of the gaze, illustrated with some thirty paintings and photographs, offers a fresh perspective on the strategies at work behind the veil.

Bruno-Nassim Aboudrar is a professor of aesthetics at the University of Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle. He is the author of several essays, including Nous n'irons plus au musée (Aubier, 2000), as well as a novel: Ici-bas (Gallimard, 2009).

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An article on this book can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:

The ongoing public debates surrounding the wearing of the veil often intersect with broader discussions about secularism, gender politics, and the historical legacies of European colonialism in the Mediterranean region. Scholarly inquiries into religious garments frequently examine how sacred traditions evolve alongside changing social norms, political ideologies, and visual cultures across different societies. By investigating the intersection of religion, aesthetics, and historical context, researchers in the humanities seek to untangle the complex layers of meaning that accumulate around traditional practices over centuries.

In Comment le voile est devenu musulman, Bruno-Nassim Aboudrar examines the historical development of the veil, noting that it is virtually absent from the Quran and developed gradually through history, including the colonial episode. The book also discusses visual orders, Orientalist art, unveiling ceremonies in Turkey and the Maghreb, and the situation of Muslim women who choose to veil in the West. Readers interested in contemporary cultural debates and the sociology of the gaze may find this study relevant to their inquiries.

"Misunderstandings Regarding the Image of the Veil", by C. Ruby.