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October 14, 2006

Egypt: Minister Says Muslim Veils Are Not "Religious"

The issue of Muslims wearing hijabs (headscarfs) and nikabs (face-veils) has been in the news since former UK foreign secretary, Jack Straw, wrote that he found it uncomfortable communicating with women wearing the nikab. He stated that the item suggested "separation and difference."

But women who claim that is a religious obligation are deluding themselves and others. In Britain, groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir have using intimidation in British universities to compel Muslim women to wear the veil. Though many Muslim women state that they wear the veil through choice, and that it is an integral part of their religion, this is not strictly true. Twenty years ago, virtually no young Muslim woman in Britain wore the veil. Have Muslim women suddently become more religious, or more political?

If the veil was compulsory under Islam, then it would be expected for women to wear the veil on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hajj is one of the "Five Pillars of Islam." Yet women on Hajj are forbidden from wearing the veil. Take for example the comments by British Muslim Lubna Hussain, published in the Saudi Arab News:

I have had many confrontations with those self-appointed vigilante types who want to give me free spiritual guidance.

"Sister," they begin. "You should really cover your face." "But there are hadith that state the contrary," I retort in my defense.

"It is forbidden for women on pilgrimage to cover their faces. And besides, why can't we follow the verse in the Qur'an that tells both men and women to 'lower their gaze and guard their modesty'?"

We wrote on October 11 that both the Tunisian president and religious affairs minister had said that even the hijab, or headscarf, was regarded as a foreign import, which was associated with a politicized fundamentalism.

The latest Muslim politician to become involved in the debate is Mohammad Hamdi Zaqzouq, Egypt's religious affairs minister. According to AKI, Zaqzouq saaid yesterday that the nikab, or face-veil, is not a religious object.

He said: "Nor is the niqab a duty deriving from the Sharia. I know I will be criticised for my words but I think some Muslims are committing a fundamental error, focusing on external and superficial aspects, without exploring more relevant themes, and hence providing a distorted image of Islam."

Speaking of Jack Straw's request that Muslim women who came for consultation should remove their veils, Zaqdouq said: "I don't think he made an offensive request, especially as the Sharia requires that women cover their heads but not that they hide behind a mantle which makes them irrecognisable."

Zaqdouq also explained in his speech why his ministry has presented a bill to the government. This bill proposes to outlaw demonstrations in mosques as they violate the sanctity of a place of worship. Zaqdouq said: "The mosques are not a place for politics and it is unacceptable that imams discuss these issues in their preaching."

On Thursday, there were protests at Cairo University. These were in response to a decision by its president, Abdel Hay Ebeid, to ban female students from wearing the full veil in dormitories of the university. The decision was made on grounds of security.

Sheikh Sayed Al Tantawi, of Cairo's Al-Azhar University, which is regarded as the most influential Sunni Muslim theological college in Islam, has openly accepted the decision of Cairo University. He has said that as long as Cairo University makes women remove the nikab, and not the hijab, there is no violation of Islamic values.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 14, 2006 8:48 PM

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