Anti-niqab [full-face veil] trend, including various groups, is not as clear as pro-niqab extremists and political Islamic groups. The oppositionists could be classified into four groups: religious people, intellectual leftists, liberal activists and human rights advocates, who see niqab as a violation of women's rights!
Religious men cite Hadith [oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Prophet Mohamed] and Koranic verses to prove that niqab has nothing to do with Islam. Intellectual leftists call for not wearing niqab and even reconsidering headscarf itself. Liberals think that this is a personal freedom but it clashes with secularism, which calls for non-discrimination on religious grounds by using any signs or uniforms. Human rights activists see that women deprive themselves - as a human being – of showing her face although this is her right! This split among anti-niqab groups may, in fact, strengthen pro-niqab groups. Niqab-wearing women and girls do not seem to be involved in this juristic battle that has taken a political shape in Egypt now! Many niqab-wearing women see that any woman who does not wear niqab is disobedient. They even pray for God to guide those who wear hijab. In fact, many women wear niqab under an order from their husbands, who often belong to groups or perhaps just follow the ideas of these groups.
In addition, some women wear niqab because this way they do not have to buy modern expensive clothes. They may also wear niqab to cover defects in their hair, face or body. Indeed, a few women wear niqab because they are convinced of this and they even persuaded their husbands to allow them to wear it. Niqab started to run rampant among the upper classes. These reasons do not mean that the situation is simple and do not deny that the problem is a part of a religious-political situation. Even women who wear niqab to cover physical defects or to avoid sexual harassments in the streets believe that they are closer to God and better than those who do not wear it. Therefore, they kill two birds with one stone: going to Paradise...and meeting practical need for niqab!
Niqab has become a case that should be studied well, as niqab-wearing women are on the increase. Due to their despair, I fear that a number of anti-niqab men might think to ask the State to issue a law banning the wearing of signs and religious uniforms, as is the case in Europe.
But even anti-niqab men such as Endowments Minister Mahmoud Hamdy Zakzouk, for example, believe that this is not possible in an eastern Muslim country like Egypt. In fact, the current political situation in Egypt can not bear such kind of clash! Consequently, all factors and circumstances suggest that niqab will continue to be rampant in Egypt at least for the time being and that the juristic controversial can not reach an end in this regard!
