Since the French attempted ”burka ban” in December 2009, if not before, the Islam debate in Europe has a new element, the argument whether to tolerate or ban the full face veil. What many don’t know is that the pioneer in this controversy was not strictly secular France, but deeply religious Egypt. Largely unnoticed by the European public, a fierce public debate has been raging for months over the ”niqab” – the Arab version of the burka.