Feminist, Socialist, Muslim: Woman Puts Denmark Into Turmoil

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, 25, upends many people’s assumptions about a candidate for parliament – and not just because of her age. The young social worker is a devout Muslim who declines to shake hands with men and wears a traditional headscarf, but also supports progressive Danish policies including abortion and gay rights. Her positions – and particularly her insistence on wearing a headscarf, which some critics label as a symbol of repression – trouble strict Muslims and Christians, as well as progressives and conservatives alike. Abdol-Hamid’s candidacy emerges after Denmark has enacted some of Europe’s strictest immigration policies. For example, some Danes married to foreigners live in Sweden, because Denmark denies their spouses residence. Win or lose, Abdol-Hamid has started a much-needed conversation about the role of Muslims, a growing minority, in modern European society. – YaleGlobal