A new type of Egyptian consumption appeared, namely clothes for veiled women. This trade, with shops all over the country, consists in clothes for veiled women only in black and brown. They have developed at an astonishing pace with various tastes and forms. The latest example is something like a cloak similar to that worn by men during the prayer. It consists of a very long veil reaching to the knees, under which women wear a pair of large trousers reaching to the feet. The latest article, said to be the favorite dress for women in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, is something called "Malhafa" and it is predominantly black. It is strange to see whole districts where women wear such clothes, such as the Al-Aziz Billah Street in Zaytoun district. The street has a mosque full of bearded people wearing white robes and it has a market for religious cassettes as well as a number of shops selling all kinds of clothes for veiled women. It is rare to meet a woman or a girl in the street which is not wearing the veil, either in its traditional form or in its latest fashions. Veiled women from Alexandria to Aswan compete with each other and in every single governorate there are many shops selling such clothes as well as tapes urging women to wear them and posters declaring that “the veil is a religious duty”. The movement to have Egyptian women wear the veil must have some people behind it who are supporting and feeding it. The veil has now spread as never before in Upper Egypt's governorates. Indeed, it has witnessed a revival in the very governorates of Upper Egypt that used to be the scene of escalating terrorist activity. Now the veil is once again thriving with notes of political Islam and some people link the Muslim Brotherhood's winning 88 seats in Parliament to the spread of veils themselves. Interestingly, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) does not speak about the fact that the Hassan Al-Banna's daughters and the women of his family wore only decent clothes, but none of them was seen wearing the veil or the headscarf. This is affirmed by Al-Banna's brother, writer Gamal Al-Banna, and means that time has only made the MB more extremist. I have a question: isn't the veil a religious expression or a religious symbol? Then why don't Egyptian intellectuals just consider it a spiritual issue between a Muslim woman and God? The answer is that the veil has become a political expression representing certain forces in society that want to express their existence and prove their strength, as if their electoral chances go up when the rates of veiled women are on the rise as well. Veiled women are daughters, sisters, wives or mothers of members of this or that group and those who defend veiled woman through their blogs, their websites or even inside university campuses are all, with some rear liberal exceptions, members of religious groups that are now politically active in the streets. In every academic year, a clash breaks out between university authorities and veiled students as a kind of power measurement. The administration represents the state, while veiled students represent political Islam in its most intense form. Usually, the clash ends with a peaceful compromise to preserve students' interest. This compromise is made so that the state can avoid introducing a ban on veils, otherwise it would give this religious trend a rare opportunity to declare the entire state and the society apostates. This, in turn, would open a new battle for the state in a society that is already crippled by many conflicts.
