According to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Commission) News on October 6, 2009,  Egypt's highest Muslim authority said he plans to bar female students who wear face veils from entering the schools of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's premier institute of learning.  Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, Sheik of al-Azhar, made his plans public during a weekend visit to a Cairo school, where he told a middle school student to take off her niqab, according to the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The niqab, a face-veil with a thin opening for the eyes, "has nothing to do with Islam and is only a custom," Tantawi is quoted as saying.

While most women in Egypt wear a head scarf, only a few wear the niqab, which is more common in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. A security official also told The Associated Press on Monday that police have standing verbal orders to prohibit girls covered head to toe from entering al-Azhar's institutions, which include middle schools, high schools and several universities.

"We all agree that niqab is not a religious requirement," a Muslim scholar in Egypt said. "Taliban forces women to wear the niqab....  The phenomena is spreading" and it has to be confronted, he added. "The time has come."

Previous efforts in Egypt to limit the use of the niqab have been mostly unsuccessful - the latest move appears to be an attempt to distance Egypt from ultra-conservative movements such as the Taliban.

The niqab has been controversial in Canada as well - in 2007 the Government introduced a bill that would have forced veiled women to show their faces when voting.  However, the bill has been shelved "because of other priorities".

Update  October 7, 2009

Middle Eastern garments designed to cover a woman's face are "medieval" and "misogynist" symbols of extremism with no basis in Islam, a Canadian Muslim lobby group said Wednesday as it urged Ottawa to ban the burka and the niqab.

The Muslim Canadian Congress called on the federal government to prohibit the two garments in order to prevent women from covering their faces in public -- a practice the group said has no place in a society that supports gender equality.
"To cover your face is to conceal your identity,"  More here.

Update October 10, 2009

Egyptian women don't seem to understand eauality or subjugation or any of the other words used when describing the niqab.  One recently said: "The Sheikh won't affect my decision to wear it. I feel more relaxed in this. Men aren't looking at me. I feel closer to God."  According to reports, niqabs are selling better than ever in Egypt!"  There are also demonstrations there on this - an improvement over Iran where they would risk being shot but still, demonstrating against being more free!  See the BBC article on this here.

Update March 11, 2010

On March 10, Sheikh Tantawi died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 81.  He was a fierce critic of al-Qaeda and condemned the attacks of September 11 2001 so he will be missed.  Pope Benedict sent his condolences.

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