Egypt’s biggest public university has banned female students who wear the niqab from replacing the full-face veil with surgical masks in examination halls, the local media reported on Tuesday.
Officials at Cairo University said that replacing the niqab with facemasks violates a recent ruling by the Administrative Court, which upheld a ban on the full veil in examination halls.
The controversy over the niqab in this predominantly Muslim country erupted last October when Mohammad Tantawi, the Grand Shaikh of Al Azhar, the leading Sunni seat of learning, banned the niqab in female-only classes and dormitories.
The top cleric said that the costume is not an Islamic duty. A few days later, Minister of Higher Education Hani Hilal followed suit, citing security reasons.
He explained that several men were caught donning the niqab to enter university hostels.
Later, Hilal barred niqab-dressed students from taking their exams. He also ordered that niqab-dressed female lecturers should not be allowed in classes…
What’ll they wear next?
Background here.