والله فضيحة ومهزله قول زى ماتقول جرايد امريكاانهاردة:شيخ الازهر يخطط لحظر النقاب

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Egypt's top cleric plans face veil ban in schools


FILE- In this Monday, June 1, 2009 file photo, veiled Egyptian students wearing the face-covering veil, known as the niqab, walk in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian daily reportED mONDAY oCT 5 2009 that the country's top Muslim cleric is planning to ban female students from wearing the face veil from schools run by al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institute of learning. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, file) (Amr Nabil - AP)
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By SARAH EL DEEB
The Associated Press
Monday, October 5, 2009; 4:08 PM

CAIRO -- Egypt's top Islamic cleric is planning to ban students wearing the face veil from entering the schools of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's premier institute of learning, according to an independent daily Monday.
A security official also told The Associated Press that police have standing verbal orders to bar girls covered from head to toe from entering al-Azhar's institutions, including middle and high schools, as well as the dormitories of several universities in Cairo.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's not authorized to speak to the press, said the ban was for security reasons.
The moves appear to be part of a government campaign *****ing down on increasingly overt manifestations of ultraconservative Islam in Egypt.
While a vast majority of Egyptian women wear the headscarf, only a few wear the niqab, which covers the face and is common in neighboring Saudi Arabia which practices the more conservative form of Wahhabi Islam. The trend seems to gaining ground in the Arab world's most populous country.
There is no uniform religious opinion across the Muslim world about whether a head scarf - much less a face veil - is required.
The majority of Islamic scholars say the face veil is not required but is merely a custom that dates back to tribal, nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert before Islam began.
Sheik of al-Azhar Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi's plans came to light when he told a middle school student in a class he was visiting earlier this week to take off her niqab.
Tantawi was inspecting al-Azhar's schools at the start of the academic year to check on measures in place to stem the spread of swine flu, according to details of the visit published by the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.


Tantawi angrily told the girl that the niqab "has nothing to do with Islam and is only a custom" and made her take it off.
He then announced he would soon issue an order banning girls from entering al-Azhar schools wearing the niqab.
"Niqab has nothing to do with Islam...I know about religion better than you and your parents," the cleric was quoted as telling the studen