Muslim Women Balk At Religious Ruling Forcing Them To Show Their Faces

Egyptian women are banned from wearing the niqab in all female schools and the mainstream media there is supporting the decision.

But people are furious, saying it is interference with their right to practice Islam.

Critics hit back, saying the Arabic cultural import has nothing to do with religion.

Last month Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi issued a fatwa (religious ruling) banning girls from “wearing the niqab in all-girl Azhari schools,” saying that “there was no reason for girls to cover their faces amongst themselves.”

It bans the dress in “an all-female class with women teachers, in all-female exam rooms, and in all-female dormitories.”

Traditionally the niqab, or abaya, is worn in public places around male non-relatives. They are taken off in the home, with family and often among groups of female friends.

“I have put on the niqab because it is a Sunna (a tradition of the Muslim prophet Muhammad). It is something that brings me closer to religion and closer to the wives of the Prophet who used to wear it,” said Rokaya Mohamed, a school teacher.

Traditionally Egyptian woman have worn head scarves but the niqab is growing in popularity as people begin to follow the stricter practices of Islam found in Saudi Arabia.

“It increased mainly because of the major influence from the Gulf. This habit is not from the heart of Egyptian society. It is imported from the Gulf,” said Hala Mustafa, a political analyst.

“[Extremism] has been increasing in Egyptian society for the past 30 years and therefore Egyptians are accepting more extremism and becoming more closed off,” she said.

Egypt, the birthplace of al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, fought a low-level Islamist insurgency in the 1990s, has faced sporadic militant attacks targeting tourists since then, and is keen to quell Islamist opposition ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a 2011 presidential vote.

The spread of the niqab, associated with the strictest interpretations of Islam, is a potent reminder to the government of the political threat posed by any Islamist resurgence emanating from the Gulf, where many young Egyptians go to work.

The question here is not about how to be a good Muslim, it is about culture and power. Is Egypt going to maintain relations with the West as well as with the Arab states?

Many feel that with the invasion of Iraq a line was drawn in the sand. Either you stand with the Islamic nations or against them. It is natural that people begin to wear their affiliations on their sleeve and it is just as natural for the state to try to curb devotion to other nations.

However politicized they are, these black robes have become a symbol for devotion to Islam. The Egyptian government has made a serious misstep in banning them, even if it is just at all girl schools. Faith untested is not worth much, but devotion that defies the laws of man is worth a place is heaven.

“I know what makes God and his prophet love me, and no sheikh is going to convince me otherwise,” said Ms Mohamed.

“I would rather die than take it off, even inside class.”

Read The Eyes Behind The Veil for more on this subject.

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Reuters also interviewed a taxi driver who had this to say:

“When a man cannot see a woman, then what is he going to harass her for? Nothing,” said Abu Donya, a taxi driver.

“So imagine if all women wear niqab, things would be better.”

As soon as invisibility cloaks become popular, women will be safe from sexual harassment.