Egypt top cleric bans veiled women from Muslim schools
Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi says face veil is merely a custom that dates back to nomadic, tribal societies.
By The Associated Press Tags: Egypt Islam Israel newsEgypt's top Islamic cleric is planning to bar students wearing the face veil from entering the schools of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's premier institute of learning, according to an independent daily.
A security official also told The Associated Press on Monday that police have standing verbal orders to prohibit girls covered from head to toe from entering al-Azhar's institutions, including middle and high schools, as well as the dormitories of several universities in Cairo.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's not authorized to speak to the press, said the ban was for security reasons.
The moves appear to be part of a government crackdown on increasingly overt manifestations of ultraconservative Islam in Egypt.
While a vast majority of Egyptian women wear the head scarf, only a few wear the niqab, which covers the face and is common in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which practices the more conservative form of Wahhabi Islam. The trend seems to be gaining ground in the Arab world's most populous country.
There is no uniform religious opinion across the Muslim world about whether a head scarf - much less a face veil - is required.
Most Islamic scholars say the face veil is not required but is merely a custom that dates back to tribal, nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert before Islam began.
Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi's plans came to light when he told a middle school student in a class he was visiting earlier this week to take off her niqab.
Tantawi was inspecting al-Azhar's schools at the start of the academic year to check on measures in place to stem the spread of swine flu, according to details of the visit published Monday by the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Tantawi angrily told the girl that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and is only a custom and made her take it off.
He then announced he would soon issue an order prohibiting girls wearing the niqab from entering al-Azhar schools.
"Niqab has nothing to do with Islam. ... I know about religion better than you and your parents," the cleric was quoted as telling the student.
Tantawi left Cairo late Sunday on a visit to Tajikistan and was not available for comment. Calls to his deputies went unanswered.
However, Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a scholar in an al-Azhar affiliated research center, said al-Azhar's scholars would back Tantawi if he issues the order.
"We all agree that niqab is not a religious requirement." Bayoumi said. "Taliban forces women to wear the niqab. ... The phenomena is spreading and it has to be confronted," he added. "The time has come."
Critics of the move, however, say the ban has little chance of being implemented. A previous directive by the minister of religious endowment to ban women preachers wearing the niqab from mosques was hotly contested. A ban on nurses wearing full veil was announced last year, but not enforced.
A researcher wearing the niqab who was prevented from using the library at the American University in Cairo in 2001 took her case to Egypt's supreme court and eventually won. The court ruled a total ban on the niqab to be unconstitutional.
The court did recommend that women wearing the niqab be made to uncover their faces before female security guards to verify their identity.
On Saturday, scores of female university students protested outside al-Azhar university dormitory calling for the repeal of the decision barring fully veiled women from entering. There were similar demonstrations at Cairo University.
Sheik Safwat Hijazi, a scholar and preacher, said he would sue anyone who prevented his daughter or wife wearing full niqab from going about her daily life, including entering government offices.
"Preventing a woman from wearing what she wants is a crime," Hijazi said. "Whoever says the niqab is a custom is not respectable".
Hossam Bahgat, of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said the series of government decisions against the niqab are arbitrary and, while designed to combat extremism, only end up being discriminatory against women.
"The [veiled female students] are barred from government subsidized housing and nutrition because they are considered extremists," he said
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How the hell can a muslim say that to ban the full garb is not polite to women?? The serious muslim treat their women like a product or like something they own rather than a human. Next I want to see all Arab dogs and cats wearing veils.
You seem to be saying that Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi is subservient to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and you are implying then that Mubarak gave the order to end the wearing of veils. OK, so let's say he did. Good on Mubarak. Good on the Sheik. Good on Egypt.
isn't the problem. It isn't even the hijab or the religion that gets people so wound up. It is the floggings, stonings, honorkillings,female genital mutilation and treatment of women which is so abhorrent. I don't think that any of it should be part of a belief system or faith. Getting rid of the veil is a good idea for security reasons and for identification purposes. Wearing hijab is not a problem it doesn't cover one's face.
and respecting one another. I cringe in horror at the thought. After all, it just might forward a peaceful solution between the Jews and Arabs. We couldn't countenance that. /sarc
"Niqab has nothing to do with Islam. ... I know about religion better than you and your parents," the cleric was quoted as telling the student. Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi is nothing more than a Mubarak cheerleader! He's a man of the palace, and he's the one who claimed that he didn't know who Shimon Peres was when he shook his hand. How ignorant can one get? Maybe Tantawi can shed his own head dress and abaya, shave his beard and dress in a Taxido to look more like his western masters! Oh, why not get the hell out of Al-Azhar altogether?
The Hijab, If that means women covering themselves from head to foot. Two questions. 1) Why don't men also cover themselves in the same fashion ? 2) Do they stink in sultry hot days ? And by the way when Iranian women were forced to cover themselves from head to foot,not a few of them used to carry vibrators ! They had the last laugh ! You can't beat women!
or perhaps he is following no orders at all. At least he is trying to uproot pagan practices from Islam. Much (but not all) of the repression of women in Islam comes from pre-Islamic, even foreign sources (such as Sassanian Persian). Still, even "normative" Islam is quite backward in its attitudes towards women (as is Orthodox Judaism), and it will take a Muslim Reformation to remedy the situation. Once MUslims begin to realize, as do many Jews and Christians, that their Holy Book is a work of Man and not of God, Islam will be on the way towards modernity and liberalism. But don't expect this to happen any time soon.
This man is appointed by the Maubarak regime and must follow the official policy of regime or else face replacement, He is know for his controversial and unpopular acts. He was surprised once holding cordial talk with S.Peres, and when he was confronted about it, he said he does not know who Peres was?
I would have thought that the niqab would be the best protection against swine flu.
There is a lot of noise (especially from people who are trying to bad-mouth Islam) about how Islam discriminates against women. Actually, in places like former Yugoslavia or Indonesia, most of what they inveigh against isn't done. I was interested to learn that Indonesia, a Muslim country, has a higher percent of women in its legislature than Israel or the US.