Adil Ray has waded into the debate surrounding Islamic face coverings, claiming Muslim women are “singled out” over their choice of religious dress.
The Good Morning Britain presenter sparked a debate on social media after sharing a post comparing attitudes towards Muslim women who cover their faces with those towards Christian and Jewish women who adopt modest dress.
The post read: “If an adult woman chooses celibacy, covers her hair, dresses modestly & spends her life in a convent, we call it religious devotion.
“Or when a Jewish woman chooses to cover her hair and live private not public.
Read Also: Newborn baby girl discovered dead at Sheffield property was 'stabbed to death'
“If a Muslim woman chooses to cover her face, suddenly everyone wants to liberate her.”
Mr Ray, 52, captioned the post simply: “Why?”
The remarks prompted a lengthy exchange with one Instagram user, who argued the examples came from “patriarchal religions where it is felt women do not have a choice”.
Mr Ray clapped back: “A feeling? Why are feelings different for others?”
The commenter clarified she believed “all women should have a choice and not be dictated to about their clothes”, but argued “societal norms” within some religions could make it difficult for women to exercise that choice.
Mr Ray responded: “Which norms? What’s the norm? One of the world’s biggest religions, living in many different cultures.
“In the UK, less than 1% of Muslim women wear one. There are nearly 2m Muslims. Is that a norm to you?”
The debate then turned to Afghanistan, with the commenter pointing to women living under the Taliban who “have no choice”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- ITV Trigger Point stars reveal gruelling reality behind series four’s biggest explosion
- ITV Trigger Point’s Eric Shango reveals ‘hardest’ part of acting career: ‘They don’t talk about it’
- ‘Racist’ row erupts as Sacha Baron Cohen faces bid to BLOCK new Ali G film from UK cinemas
Mr Ray insisted “freedoms are limited for everyone under that brutal regime” before pointing to the so-called “Shal women” in Israel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group whose members adopt particularly strict standards of modest dress.
After the commenter said she would similarly oppose women being forced to concede to “patriarchy” in any religion, Mr Ray concluded: “And my point is Muslim women tend to be singled out.”
ITV’s Dr Amir Khan also weighed in on the post, writing: “Same story – liberated women by telling them what to wear or not wear.”
Other followers challenged the premise of Mr Ray’s post, with one asking whether there were examples of women, rather than men, creating religious rules requiring women to cover themselves.
They added: “I just think that all of them are, ultimately, a bit pernicious.”
Another commenter defended religious modesty from an Islamic perspective, arguing Muslims believe the rules come from God rather than men and pointing out that Islam also contains modesty requirements for men.
However, others backed Mr Ray’s emphasis on personal choice.
One person wrote: “True freedom of choice means respecting a woman’s autonomy over her own body and wardrobe, no matter what faith she practices.”
Mr Ray has previously spoken out against rhetoric surrounding Islamic dress.
In 2018, he criticised Boris Johnson after the then-Tory MP compared women wearing burqas to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”, arguing such language risked fuelling hostility towards Muslim women.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
