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Egypt curb on Niqab backed by top Muslim clerics
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's three most prominent religious leaders have backed a government ban on the niqab, or full face veil, in dormitories and examinations, saying it had no basis in Islam.In October, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the head of al-Azhar, a major seat of Islamic learning, issued a religious edict barring the niqab in Azhar-run all-girl schools and in dormitories. The minister of higher education subsequently banned it in university examinations. "Al Azhar is not against the niqab but against its misuse," the government-run al-Akhbar newspaper cited Tantawi on Tuesday as saying. He said it was a social habit that had no roots in sharia (Islamic law). Earlier this week, Tantawi joined Mufti Ali Gomaa, Egypt's highest religious legal authority, and Hamdy Zakzouk, minister of religious endowments, in a forum on the niqab. Other religious leaders also attended. Egypt's government has long been wary of Islamist thinking and in the 1990s crushed Islamists seeking to set up a religious state. It also is keen to quell opposition ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a later presidential vote. Posted by: Fred 2009-12-23 |
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