egyptian women protest ban of veil

[Amby 490]

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- There's more to wearing the "niqab" -- the austere, all-covering veil favored by ultra-religious Muslim women -- than meets the eye.

A recent declaration by a leading Egyptian cleric that women will not be allowed to wear the niqab in university areas frequented only by women has sparked demonstrations by female students in Cairo determined to wear the all-encompassing veil wherever they go.

Egypt's Al-Azhar university, the highest seat of Sunni Islam, recently convened an all-male committee to rule on what women can wear at Egypt's public universities.

The Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Shaikh Tantawi, announced after the meeting that a ban on the niqab, also known as the burqa, would apply to such university areas as female dormitories and all-women classes.

Even though that was a step down from a statement he made earlier that the niqab would be banned in all public universities, his ruling sparked controversy with the growing number of women in the country who choose to stay covered.

The initiative from Al-Azhar is seen by many in Egypt as an attempt to counter the growing appeal of the strictest interpretations of Islam. An increasing number of young women in Egypt are turning to the niqab.

The niqab is worn by many Muslim women throughout the Arab world and beyond and is most common in the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It is also commonly worn in Pakistan.

"The niqab should be worn under two circumstances," a cleaning lady who works at Al-Azhar, told CNN recently. "A very beautiful woman should wear it to prevent men from fighting over her, and an ugly woman should wear it to hide her face."

There is no consensus among Muslim scholars regarding the wearing of the niqab, the piece of cloth that covers a Muslim woman's face. Women who wear it usually also cover their hands.

It is widely believed to be a tradition that comes from the Arabian peninsula, introduced to more liberal countries like Egypt by people who have lived and worked in ultra-conservative countries like Saudi Arabia.

There's not much about it in the Koran, Muslim's holy book.

The Koranic verse that applies to female head covering translates loosely as: "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies."

And so consequently, there are plenty of interpretations. And all sorts of opinions in the Egyptian parliament.

The opposition-led Muslim Brotherhood opposes the niqab ban.

"It's unacceptable that the niqab is treated as something bad that needs to be suppressed," Brotherhood member of parliament Muhamed Baltagi told CNN. "It's unacceptable to violate private matters in this way." In Baltagi's opinion, it's a matter of personal choice and should not be dictated by the shaikh of Al-Azhar.

Appointed by the president of Egypt, the shaikh of Al-Azhar is viewed as little more than an appendage of the authoritarian Egyptian government, and thus scorned as a state puppet by both religious and secular critics of the regime. Since the 1960s the shaikh of Al-Azhar has been appointed by the Egyptian president.

In Europe, wearing the niqab has become a controversial issue too. Recently, French President Nicolas Sarkozy banned it from French classrooms. And British Justice Minister Jack Straw also recently asked women to remove them in his consituency office.

In Cairo's main shopping district, the message on the niqab is decidedly mixed. The few niqabs on display are vastly outnumbered by far more risque outfits, including no shortage of mannequins sporting evening dressings with plunging necklines and naked arms.

There are a few niqabs on display, but lots of less conservative clothing is on the shelves too.

Outside Cairo University, some women go without any head covering at all. Most wear headscarves -- usually quite colorful ones.

Those who choose to wear the niqab say the religious scholars should have asked a woman what she thought of the ban first.

"He should have taken at least one woman's opinion," said student Muna Abdel Fatah. "Because the decision will impact on her."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/13/niqab/index.html

[Peikko 1,575]

Wow!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I've been following this closely as there has been lots of talk and coverage about this story and I'm surprised you brought it up Amby and not someone from mena. Judging from the articles the man defiantly has some sway in the world.

For me it's interesting to analyze the local and foreign medias take on issues related to the MENA region. For example when Ann Curry had an interview with President Ahmadinejad of Iran and they were discussing media issues and the coverage of the martyr of Iran, 'Neda", during the post-election and how that would reflect on his character he deflects and responds by whipping out a picture of the headscarf martyr, Marwa Sherbini, the Egyptian woman who was brutally murdered in a court room in Germany when trying to bring her accuser to justice for insulting her right to wear a headscarf. Ahmadinejad put up a mirror to Ann Curry's question and deflects by making the issue not about him but about the issue of media coverage on her story and show a glaringly ugly reflection of the western v. foreign media bias on coverage.

Here's more articles I've collected on the current high clerics ruling and the follow up stories with its many branches for those that are interested:

EGYPT: Niqab ban adds to Azhar cleric’s woes

No covering up Egypt's niqab row

Tarek Fatah: Burn your burka

Egypt’s top cleric bans face veil in some schools

Europe takes advantage of Egypt’s Tantawi niqab ban calls

Egypt/niqab: Muslim Brotherhood want Sheikh Tantawi to resign

Al-Azhar face-veil ban questioned

Egypt: Possible Ban on Veiled Students

Egypt's top cleric plans face veil ban in schools

Egypt's Highest Cleric 'to ban full veils'

Egypt's top cleric bars veil at school he heads

Canadian Muslim Group Asks Harper to Ban ‘Tribal Desert’ Veils

Egypt's top cleric bans face veil in some schools

Egypt's Al-Azhar university to ban niqab in women's classes

Edited October 13, 2009 by ~Flower~

[alienlovechild 75]

For example when Ann Curry had an interview with President Ahmadinejad of Iran and they were discussing media issues and the coverage of the martyr of Iran, 'Neda", during the post-election and how that would reflect on his character he deflects and responds by whipping out a picture of the headscarf martyr, Marwa Sherbini, the Egyptian woman who was brutally murdered in a court room in Germany when trying to bring her accuser to justice for insulting her right to wear a headscarf.

In Germany, a nut killed a woman in a court and in Iran, a sniper kills a female protestor. Not the same thing.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

For example when Ann Curry had an interview with President Ahmadinejad of Iran and they were discussing media issues and the coverage of the martyr of Iran, 'Neda", during the post-election and how that would reflect on his character he deflects and responds by whipping out a picture of the headscarf martyr, Marwa Sherbini, the Egyptian woman who was brutally murdered in a court room in Germany when trying to bring her accuser to justice for insulting her right to wear a headscarf.

In Germany, a nut killed a woman in a court and in Iran, a sniper kills a female protestor. Not the same thing.

They are the same thing in the way they both were made martyrs by the people for their murders and in the way media bias was claimed in how they both were covered differently. When the head scarf martyr was murdered there were claims the west held media bias seeing it as unnewsworthy while the Muslim world was enraged with the happenings that went on. Then in Iran the people were saying Neda was a martyr for the nation of Iran because of her cold murder during the protests when she was just a bystander. Ahmadinejad was pointing out that the western media ran the martyr story for the counter revolution figure Neda while the head scarf martyr story where a Muslim woman was standing up for her right to wear it and not be discriminated against and was murdered for what she believed in got little coverage.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Veil Ban At Islamic School In Egypt Fuels Debate

[AlHayatZween 2]

an ugly woman should wear it to hide her face."

Sorry... i've had a long day.

Yeah, this is kinda old news though... In Egypt i remember them talking about this same ban a few years ago...

It's tough, when you have to turn yourself into a ####### just to get an education.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

The Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Shaikh Tantawi, announced after the meeting that a ban on the niqab, also known as the burqa, would apply to such university areas as female dormitories and all-women classes.

The niquab and the burqa are not the same thing and are those terms are not interchangable.

I don't blame Egypt for banning niquab. Muslims don't all have to be like Gulf Arabs, who have become very aggressive and supremicist in their insistance that the only way to be Muslim is to be like them. While ahadith addresses face covering for the wives of the Prophet, it is not an imperative for all Muslim women.

While I advocate choice in these matters, in some parts of the Muslim world, taking on extremist practices ceases to be a choice all too soon if the practice is allowed to flourish. Egypt is one Muslim country undergoing a paradigm shift that is tilting more to the extreme than it did even 10 years ago, for example, recently banning women from masjids that, for centuries, used to welcome them.

Islam is a faith that demands moderation. If banning some practices to temper the growing strident fervor being imported with oil money, so be it.

[ya fallaha! 0]

Are you saying that by removing the niqab a woman would be considered a #######? Even removing hijab wouldn't make one a #######. I didn't read anywhere that women are required to wear booty shorts and clear heels to attend class. That is, unless I'm missing something.

an ugly woman should wear it to hide her face."

Sorry... i've had a long day.

Yeah, this is kinda old news though... In Egypt i remember them talking about this same ban a few years ago...

It's tough, when you have to turn yourself into a ####### just to get an education.

[ya fallaha! 0]

Well said. I agree.

From what I was told, Egypt in the 50s and 60s was quite liberal. I saw pics of my MIL in a micro-"jeep" (mini skirt) taken in the 60s.

The Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Shaikh Tantawi, announced after the meeting that a ban on the niqab, also known as the burqa, would apply to such university areas as female dormitories and all-women classes.

The niquab and the burqa are not the same thing and are those terms are not interchangable.

I don't blame Egypt for banning niquab. Muslims don't all have to be like Gulf Arabs, who have become very aggressive and supremicist in their insistance that the only way to be Muslim is to be like them. While ahadith addresses face covering for the wives of the Prophet, it is not an imperative for all Muslim women.

While I advocate choice in these matters, in some parts of the Muslim world, taking on extremist practices ceases to be a choice all too soon if the practice is allowed to flourish. Egypt is one Muslim country undergoing a paradigm shift that is tilting more to the extreme than it did even 10 years ago, for example, recently banning women from masjids that, for centuries, used to welcome them.

Islam is a faith that demands moderation. If banning some practices to temper the growing strident fervor being imported with oil money, so be it.

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Well said. I agree.

From what I was told, Egypt in the 50s and 60s was quite liberal. I saw pics of my MIL in a micro-"jeep" (mini skirt) taken in the 60s.

I was just thinking the same thing... When I saw Adams relatives pictures from when he was a baby... the ladies dressed modest but quite different than all the time hijab and long sleeved shirts and skirts.

[AlHayatZween 2]

Are you saying that by removing the niqab a woman would be considered a #######? Even removing hijab wouldn't make one a #######. I didn't read anywhere that women are required to wear booty shorts and clear heels to attend class. That is, unless I'm missing something.

Was just kidding... it's been a long day for me...

But last time i read about this (last year i think) i remember reading that the conservative women were upset that they had to take off their niqabs to attend class... Like they felt jilted because they were trying to do everything right, but were being punished in a way... (i'm 100% paraphrasing from distant memory).

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Egypt's Islamic paradigm has swung more often and more widely over the last 50 years. They go easy, then they go hard. Right now, they are heading back toward hard. This can be quite confusing for adherents of the faith who hold Al Azhar to be the primary source of Sunni jurisprudence. The combination of its status among Muslims and the Gulf states habit of trying to buy influence in all corners of the Muslim world is a a volitile mix that makes Egypt a major fuse in the religious radical powder keg.

And it is ALWAYS the women who are the first to feel which way the wind blows. One of my aunts was married to an Egyptian for years until she came to visit with us in the states this summer. While she was here, her husband divorced her via text message. This would have been unheard of 10 years ago, as would a significant number of women protesting the right to wear niquab.

Well said. I agree.

From what I was told, Egypt in the 50s and 60s was quite liberal. I saw pics of my MIL in a micro-"jeep" (mini skirt) taken in the 60s.

The Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Shaikh Tantawi, announced after the meeting that a ban on the niqab, also known as the burqa, would apply to such university areas as female dormitories and all-women classes.

The niquab and the burqa are not the same thing and are those terms are not interchangable.

I don't blame Egypt for banning niquab. Muslims don't all have to be like Gulf Arabs, who have become very aggressive and supremicist in their insistance that the only way to be Muslim is to be like them. While ahadith addresses face covering for the wives of the Prophet, it is not an imperative for all Muslim women.

While I advocate choice in these matters, in some parts of the Muslim world, taking on extremist practices ceases to be a choice all too soon if the practice is allowed to flourish. Egypt is one Muslim country undergoing a paradigm shift that is tilting more to the extreme than it did even 10 years ago, for example, recently banning women from masjids that, for centuries, used to welcome them.

Islam is a faith that demands moderation. If banning some practices to temper the growing strident fervor being imported with oil money, so be it.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

The Shaikh of Al-Azhar, Shaikh Tantawi, announced after the meeting that a ban on the niqab, also known as the burqa, would apply to such university areas as female dormitories and all-women classes.

The niquab and the burqa are not the same thing and are those terms are not interchangable.

You right there is a slight difference in their styles. The niqab has a slit for the eyes while the burka has this hat thing and see through mesh over the eyes.

Niqab ^

Burka ^

[Sandrila 1]

I think wearing it is a little extreme.

I know my husband, tho not Egyptian, does not agree with women covering themselves completely in Burqa or Niqab.

Hijab is one thing. The entire covering, to me, is another.