Egypt's Prime Minister Says Niqab "Cancels the personality of a woman."
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It's not just western countries, like France, opposed to the Islamic niqab, Egypt is right there along with them claiming the full-face veil "cancels the personality of a woman." At least so says Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. Then again, that's the main reason ultra-conservative Islam promotes the full-face covering to begin with, even though there is no reference to its usage anywhere in the Quran. As with most ultra-conservatives in any religion, women are considered nothing more than a man's property- baby making machines, and there to satisfy the sexual urges of their husbands. So who needs a personality, when that's all they're needed for. It's good to see there are some men advocating for women, even though some of those women are stupid enough to not mind being a non-entity.
However, banning the niqab in Egypt hasn't been without controversy, much like the talk of banning the niqab in France. The major difference being- one country is a western nation, the other an Islamic nation. Although Egypt had, in the past, banned the niqab in all girls-schools, all-female dorms and examination rooms run by al-Azhar University (Sunni Islam's major seat of learning), courts have overturned the bans.
The court last month ruled against a ban on the niqab in female schools affiliated with the Islamic al-Azhar University.It also ruled against an education ministry ban on the niqab in university residences and examination halls, saying it violated the women's constitutional liberties.
This hasn't stopped Nazif from continuing with his criticism of the niqab. Not only does he feel it negates a woman's personality, there are also practical reasons for it to be banned, particularly in exam rooms, including the potential for cheating.
And he's not the only one who supported the ban. It all started back in October 2009, when the head of al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, banned the niqab in all-female al-azhar schools. Then it was banned in university exam rooms, by the minister of education.
All in all, at least 13 Muslim scholars
... have found that the face veil has no substantial roots in Islam, but rather can be considered a "form of extremism", the official MENA news agency cited Tantawi as saying.
So, if Muslim religious scholars have deemed that the niqab is a form of extremism, why shouldn't the west?
