1. Egypt's Al-Azhar university to ban niqabs in women's classes
2. Toronto Muslim Canadian Congress wants Canada to ban the Burka in
    public
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1. Egypt's Al-Azhar university to ban niqab in women's classes

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091008/lf_afp/egyptislamwomeneducation  

Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious centre of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, said on Thursday it will ban the face veil from female-only classrooms and residences. "The Supreme Council of Al-Azhar has decided to ban students and teachers from wearing the niqab inside female-only classrooms, that are taught by women only," a statement said. The ban extends to women's dormitories and to schools affiliated with the university. The face-veil, or niqab, is worn by some devout Muslim women. Local press reported that Mohammed Tantawi, head of Al-Azhar, said last week that he intended to ban the practice in the university. The supreme council's statement added that Al-Azhar does not oppose the niqab, which it said only a minority of Muslim scholars consider an obligation, but it opposes "imprinting it on the minds of girls."

The decision came after female students who wear the niqab were banned from the women's dormitory of the state-run Cairo University. Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, which covers the hair, but the niqab is becoming more popular on the streets of Cairo. The government has shown concern over the trend. The religious endowments ministry issued booklets against the practice, saying the niqab is not Islamic, and the health ministry wants to ban it among doctors and nurses.

In the Middle East, the niqab is associated with Salafism, an ultra-conservative school of thought practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia. Most Salafis shun politics, but the creed has influenced Islamist militants such as Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. From the Palestinian territories, a small Salafi group known as Jund Ansar Allah has called on Egyptians to strike out in reaction, according to a statement reported by the SITE Intelligence Group. "We call upon our mujahedeen brothers to start crushing the fortifications of the government of the pharaoh of this age (President Hosni Mubarak) and to strike with an iron hand all the agents and traitors."

Al-Azhar has long enjoyed a reputation as Sunni Islam's eminent source of learning and edicts. Salafists, who actively promote their creed, sometimes funded by wealthy patrons in Saudi Arabia, are opposed to Al-Azhar's theological teachings.
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2. Toronto - Muslim Canadian Congress wants Canada to ban the Burka in
    public
    Top cleric in Egypt says face covering has nothing to do with Islam

The Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) is asking Ottawa to introduce legislation to ban the wearing of masks, niqabs, and the burka in public. In a statement, the MCC said, not only is the wearing of a face-mask a security hazard and has led to a number of bank heists in Canada and overseas, the burka or niqab are political symbols of Saudi inspired Islamic extremism. The MCC dismissed the argument that wearing of  a face-mask by Muslim women is protected by the Charter's guarantee of religious freedom. The MCC said, there is no requirement in the Quran for Muslim women to cover their faces. Invoking religious freedom to conceal one's identity and promote a political ideology, is disingenuous.

The MCC pointed to the the recent decision by Egypt's highest Muslim authority, Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, who said he will issue a Fatwa (religious edict) against the niqab and burka. The Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yom quoted Sheikh Tantawi as saying the niqab was merely a cultural tradition and had no connection to religion or the Quran. The MCC said, if there is any doubt about the religiosity of the burka, one should take a look at the holiest place for Muslims — the grand mosque in Mecca.  For over 1,400 years, Muslim men and women have prayed in what we believe is the House of God, and for all these centuries, female visitors have been explicitly prohibited from covering their faces.

Farzana Hassan, communications director of the MCC said, "Islamists are defending the burka as if it was the central pillar of Islam.  They consider Muslim women who do not cover their heads and faces—the vast majority — as sinners or lesser Muslims. "It is of utmost importance that the Canadian government take the lead and end this medieval misogynist practise once and for all," Ms. Hassan added. The MCC statement regretted that, while the rest of the world is moving toward the goal of gender equality, right here in Canada Islamists are pushing back the clock, convincing educated Muslim women they are no more than sexual objects and a source of sin, if they reveal their faces in public.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s) and not do necessarily reflect the views of the AfricaFiles' editors and network members. They are included in our material as a reflection of a diversity of views and a variety of issues. Material written specifically for AfricaFiles may be edited for length, clarity or inaccuracies.

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