What is origin of the veil in Islam?

Answer 1

A:Karen Armstrong (Islam: A Short History) says the Quran prescribes some degree of segregation and veiling for the Prophet's wives, but there is nothing in the Quran that requires the veiling of all women or their seclusion in a separate part of the house. She says Muslims adopted these customs some three or four generations after the Prophet's death, copying the Greek Christians of Byzantium, who had long veiled and segregated their women in this manner.