A niqab or niqaab (/nɪˈkɑːb/; Arabic: نِقاب‎ niqaab, "[face] veil"), also called a ruband, is a garment of clothing that covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of a particular interpretation of hijab (modest dress). The terms niqab and burqa are often confused; a niqab covers the face while leaving the eyes uncovered, while a burqa covers the entire body from the top of the head to the ground, with only a mesh screen allowing the wearer to see in front of her. According to the majority of Muslim scholars and Islamic schools of thought, face veiling is not a requirement of Islam; however a minority of Muslim scholars, particularly among the Sunni Salafi and Wahhabism movement, assert that women are required to cover their faces in public. Those Muslim women who wear the niqab do so in places where they may encounter non-mahram (non-related) men.

The face veil was originally part of women's dress among certain classes in the Byzantine Empire and was adopted into Muslim culture during the Arab conquest of the Middle East. ulturally, in the modern world it is "a custom imported from Najd, a region in Saudi Arabia and the power base of its Salafi fundamentalist form of Islam. Within Muslim countries it is very contested and considered fringe."

Today, the niqab is most often worn in its region of origin: the Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula – Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. However, even in these countries, the niqab is neither a universal cultural custom nor is it culturally compulsory. In other parts of the Muslim world outside of the Arabian Peninsula, where the niqab has slowly spread to a much smaller extent, it is regarded warily by Sunni and non-Sunni Muslims alike "as a symbol of encroaching fundamentalism." Nevertheless, the niqab is worn by a small minority of Muslims in not only Muslim-majority regions such as Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Palestinian territories, but also among a minority of Muslims in regions where Muslims are themselves a minority, like India and Europe.