“Whenever the spotlight turns on the Muslim community, it is usually in relation to a negative act: terrorism, local crime or accusations of Islamic demagogy. Muslims seem to find themselves at the centre of every problem – the obscure or negative is magnified and, like in some grotesque circus show, Muslims become the ‘other’. Once again, Muslim women’s dress, and in particular the hijab, is under attack. Bronwyn Bishop labelled it an act of defiance, and then in the same breath opined that women who wear the hijab are as free as slaves.”

Amal Awad in the Sydney Morning Herald, 31 August 2005