Dr Khadiga Safwat is a distinguished Sudanese academic and former director of the Middle Eastern and African Research Centre in Wales. When she speaks about the growing popularity of the veil, she immediately puts it into a political context. "I suspect political Islam of being behind all this. It's a political statement, a reaction to globalisation," she tells me.
All the women believe the veil debate demonstrates the fondness of the media for highlighting extreme views. Women who wear the niqab "represent a fringe", says Amal Ghandour, a communications strategist, "but the media tend to focus on them."
And then when anyone points out that the veil is not a religious symbol but a radical political statement, they're labeled a bigot or racist.
Even al Qaeda admit veiled Muslim women are aiding their cause.
The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it was posted on websites used by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups in Iraq and the voice of speaker sounded like Zawahri's. The statement - said to have been issued by al-Qaeda's "media arm" al-Sahab - praised Muslim women who insist on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures not to in some Western lands.
He described anyone doing that as "a soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist- Crusader attack".
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