Al-Azhar University to ban the niqab in women’s classes

Egypt’s Al Azhar University, the most prestigious center of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, will ban the face veil from female-only classrooms and residences, it said in a statement yesterday.

“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,” the statement said.

The ban extends to women’s dormitories and to schools affiliated with the university, it said.

Local press reported that Mohamed Tantawi, head of Al Azhar, had 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 but it opposes “imprinting it in 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.