The grand sheikh of Al-Azhar stirred troubled waters when he told an 11-year-old pupil at a girls-only school that there was no need for her to cover her face, reports Reem Leila Although the number of women wearing the niqab in Egypt is unknown, it is certainly growing. You need simply to stroll along the street to see that. So when the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi complained that an 11-year-old girl was wearing the niqab inside a girls-only school during a visit to classes on 3 October -- the first day of the new term -- his action was guaranteed to provoke controversy. Some reports allege that he told the girl to remove her face veil after which he asked her what she would have done had she been pretty. In response to the growing furore, Tantawi said in a press conference on 8 October that while he respects "women and their freedom to dress in whatever they want, niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam". He denied allegations that he had told the girl that he was a greater authority on Islam than either her or her parents, or that he had otherwise commented on her appearance. Following Tantawi's lead, the Supreme Council of Al-Azhar decided on 7 October to ban students and teachers in all of its affiliated schools and university hostels from wearing the niqab on the grounds that they are single sex institutions. The Supreme Council of Al-Azhar said that while Al-Azhar does not oppose the niqab, it added that only a minority of Muslim scholars consider it an Islamic obligation and declared its opposition to "imprinting the dress code in the minds of girls". On 9 October Minister of Higher Education Hani Hilal declared the niqab would no longer be permitted inside women's hostels at public universities for "security reasons". Hilal said that while he would not "prevent female students from wearing the niqab inside public universities or classes" they could do so only after uncovering their faces on entering university premises so that security guards could check their identities. The decision to ban the niqab inside hostels, he said, followed a number of incidents in which men had been caught entering hostel premises in female guise. "I took this decision to protect students who are my responsibility," Hilal said, calling on university presidents to implement the new directive. Both Tantawi and Hilal maintained that females who wish to wear the niqab do so because they do not want to be seen by men, so there is no need for them to cover their faces as long as they are inside classrooms and hostels assigned to females only. Amna Nuseir, professor of Islamic Sharia at Al-Azhar University, supports Tantawi, arguing that niqab is neither a Quranic obligation nor included in Prophetic Sunna. "Face-veiled women must remove their niqab for daily prayers, and while performing the hajj and omra rituals. Why, then, one wonders, do they desire to retain it as they go about their daily business?" asked Nuseir. Abdel-Moeti Bayoumi, a member of the Islamic Research Centre (IRC), points out that there is nothing to prevent "Muslim women from showing their faces and hands". He backed Hilal's assertion that allowing the niqab in academic institutions causes a security dilemma. Muslim Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan criticised Tantawi's "anti- niqab statements" and objected to the allegedly offensive way Tantawi had spoken to the girl. "Tantawi's attitude embarrassed the student in front of her classmates. Religious figures should show kindness when advising people." Female students wearing niqab protested against the ban on 7 October in front of a Cairo University hostel. "I am a face-veiled student who comes from Tanta governorate. I have no other place to live in. Now that I am banned from staying at the university's hostel, where am I supposed to go?" asked Nahla Ibrahim. She said the students had agreed to show their faces to a female security guard at the entrance gates, but none were available. Hoda El-Sayed insisted that putting on a niqab or not is a matter between the individual and God. "I am a Muslim female who is seeking greater reward from God. Why do they want to deprive me of this?" she asked. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) issued a statement defending the right of female students to wear whatever they please. In a statement to the press Hossam Bahgat, chairman of EIPR, said that while the initiative would object to any suggestion that the face veil was obligatory it would defend the right of individuals to adopt the dress codes they deemed appropriate. "The decision to ban the face veil is discriminatory. It contradicts those parts of the Egyptian constitution dealing with citizenship rights and equality." In 2004 the American University in Cairo (AUC) provoked a similar outcry after prohibiting students wearing the face veil from entering the university campus. In 2007 Helwan University was criticised when university security guards prohibited female students wearing the face veil from entering university hostels. In the same year, Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdi Zaqzouq came under attack for dismissing an employee from a meeting after she refused to remove her niqab.
