Minister Revives Egypt Face-veil Debate
CAIRO — Egyptian Religious Endowments Minister Hamdi Zaqzouq had a religious counselor removed from a meeting with him after refusing to show her face, reviving a debate about face-cover, Al-Masri Al-Youm daily reported on Wednesday, January 10.
"I totally reject the niqab (face-cover)," Zaqzouq told the opening of a training session for religious advisors and prayer leaders after having the woman, one of the country's 50 religious counselors, removed from the room.
He insisted that covering the face is a "tradition and not a religious obligation."
Zaqzouq said no religious counselor should cover her face since it is not required by Shari`ah.
"How could she teach Muslims about the principals of their religion when she is wearing a niqab?" he asked.
Zaqzouq has publicly expressed his emphatic support for Jack Straw, the leader of Britain's House of Commons and former foreign minister, who called on Muslim women in Britain to remove their face-veil.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
As for the face veil, the majority of Muslim scholars believe that a woman is not obliged to cover her face or hands.
They believe that it is up to every woman to decide whether to take on the face-cover or not.
Shameful
The minister's decision immediately provoked outrage from attending imams.
"How can we blame France or Britain when they ban the hijab or the niqab when in a Muslim country a minister denied woman the right to cover their faces," angry imams told Al-Masri Al-Youm.
Instead of attacking the niqab, they added, the minister should reserve his criticism to woman who wear less and revealing clothes.
The debate over face-veil is not new to Egypt.
Helwan University has recently forbade students wearing the niqab from entering classes.
Despite demonstrations, the university forcefully removed 15 students who were not allowed to enter the university unless they have signed a written statement agreeing to refrain from wearing the niqab while on campus.
Soad Saleh, a professor of Islamic law and former dean of the women's faculty of Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University, also stoked the debate by saying that she felt disgusted when she spotted a woman wearing the niqab.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...News/NWELayout
What a tart :X