Modernized Hijab and the Emergence of Post-Secular Society in Turkey

Hijab in the Western world is one of the main symbols of Islam, causing intense debate regarding its compatibility with modernity. As a representative case, the author selected the phenomenon of hijab in the Republic of Turkey - a westernized and simultaneously Islamic country. An important transition of Turkey from religious to secular society in the 20thcentury and to the post-secular in the 21stcentury gives the Turkish case additional significance for the study of hijab in the context of modernity. Using the example of a Turkish case, the author shows how, during the processes of secularization and desecularization of society, the attitude to the hijab, its interpretations and related practices change. Against the backdrop of the intense struggle that was waged by supporters and opponents of secularism, the hijab received a new meaning, becoming truly modernized and then fashionable. Moreover, the hijab, fitting into modernity, was not just a headscarf, preserving all religious and moral connotations and changing the overall way of dress and lifestyle of city dwellers. The author concludes that Islam began to play a greater role in the life of Turkish women and the country as a whole, which suggests the emergence of a post-secular society in Turkey, which does not mean, however, a complete rejection of modernity.