Egypt "cleric" 'to ban full veil

[Ducaysane_87]

CAIRO - The imam of Cairo's prestigious mosque of Al-Azhar has ordered a schoolgirl to remove her niqab, expressing determination to prohibit the wearing of the full veil in schools dependent on Al-Azhar, reported Monday the independent daily Al-Masri Al-Yom.

Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi made on Saturday a tour of schools dependent on Al-Azhar, to ensure the application of anti-influenza H1N1.

In a high school for girls in Madinet Nasr, a suburb of Cairo, Sheikh "was surprised to see one of the schoolgirls in niqab when she was in class" the newspaper said.

He got "angry" and asked her to remove her veil, saying: "The niqab is a tradition, it has no connection with religion."

The teenager had to remove the veil hiding her face, even if one of these teachers tried to defend her saying that the girl usually takes off her veil in that establishment and had that she had put it on only when she saw the sheikh.

The imam responded by asking the schoolgirl never to wear the niqab, saying also he was determined to officially ban any person wearing the niqab from entering schools dependent on Al-Azhar according to Al Masri Al-Yom.

Moreover, according to the newspaper, the Minister of Higher Education Hani Helal has decided to ban access to the universtity campus to students wearing the niqab.

A vast majority of Egyptian Muslim women wear the hijab, a scarf hiding their hair and neck but leaves the face uncovered. The number of Egyptian women wearing the niqab is however increasing in recent years.

The niqab, veil supplemented by a fabric revealing only a slit for the eyes, spread in the Arab countries under the influence of Wahhabi Islam from Saudi Arabia.

Ennaharonline/ M. O.


http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/international/2195.html

Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women's veils, known as the niqab.

Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.

Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well.

The practice is widely associated with more radical trends of Islam.

The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls' school in Cairo at the weekend and asked one of the students to remove her niqab.

The Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yom quoted him expressing surprise at the girl's attire and telling her it was merely a tradition, with no connection to religion or the Koran.

BBC.CO.UK

[hanqadh]

AL-AZHAR OLDEST ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD.

The sheikh didnt say it was xaraam..in my opinion its an innovation, whether its a good one or nt is up for debate.

wa bilaahi towfiiq.