Cairo, January 28: An Egyptian court ordered on Wednesday a stay of a ban on the full face veil, or niqab, in female schools affiliated with the Islamic Al-Azhar University.
The administrative court’s decision came a week after it ruled, on grounds of constitutional liberties, against a ban by the education ministry on women wearing the niqab in university residences and examination halls.
The court’s ruling came in response to a complaint by a student in a high school affiliated with the prestigious Sunni university.
A lawyer for Al-Azhar told the court there was no formal decision by Al-Azhar to ban the niqab.
Abdel Mutti Bayumi, a member of Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy, said Al-Azhar head Mohammed Tantawi “did not issue a decision absolutely banning the niqab but he only banned it in all-female classes taught by women.”
He said that, in light of the court’s decision, the council might decide to revisit the ban at a meeting tomorrow.
The administrative court had overturned the education ministry’s ban after a petition by dozens of students banned from residences and sitting their exams.
The government and Al-Azhar have shown signs of concern over the trend of the niqab, which is associated in Egypt with the ultra-conservative Salafi school of thought practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia.
Most Muslim Egyptian women cover their hair. The niqab is thought to be gaining ground, partly as a result of the growing influence of satellite television stations that air Salafi preaching.
—Agencies