Kuwait Times

Published Date: October 09, 2009

KUWAIT: The controversy over a ban of fully-veiled women in Egypt is sweeping the Middle East region, including Kuwait, with some voices against the full veil, niqab, and some others in favor. Egypt's leading cleric, Mohammad Tantawi, has issued a fatwa (religious edict) saying that wearing a face veil was not an obligation for women under Islam. Salafist Kuwaiti lawmaker Mohammed Hayef Al-Mutairi on Wednesday lambasted the senior Egyptian cleric by branding Tantawi's statement as shameless.

The clergyman's edict triggered an edict by Kuwait's fatwa authority at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. The Kuwaiti edict rules that wearing hijab is mandatory for Muslim women. "The Elections Law allows women to vote and run for an office provided they comply with Islamic Sharia," said conservative MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaie, who spearheaded the campaign with Islamist MP Hayef. He added that the Fatwa issued on Wednesday by the Awqaf Ministry confirms that women's hijabs is an obligation for Muslim
women.

Respectively, the non-compliance of a female MP or a voter with the Awqaf edict is a violation of the Elections Law," the lawmaker elaborated. Meanwhile, MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak said that she will put in a request before parliament to bring about legislation that would refer the Awqaf Fatwa to the Constitutional Court, the highest court in Kuwait.

Tantawi is known for his bizarre and abnormal fatwas," MP Hayef added.
Tantawi, head of the Islamic Al-Azhar University, reportedly asked a student to take off her niqab when he spotted her in a classroom at an institute run by the university. The cleric said the niqab was a tradition, not an Islamic obligation. In the Gulf region, the niqab has come to be associated with Salafism, a brand of ultra-conservative Islam practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states.

Sunni Muslim scholars are divided on whether a woman must cover her face, with the majority saying it is not an obligation, but all mainstream scholars agree a woman must cover her hair and her body with loose fitting clothes. Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, a veil that covers the hair, but an increase in women wearing the niqab has apparently alarmed the government. The ministry of religious endowments has distributed booklets in mosques against the practice.

In Kuwait, female drivers are barred from wearing the niqab due to security reasons. The regulation came about almost 10 years ago when Kuwaiti security authorities were pursuing sleeper terrorist cells. Authorities feared that the niqab individuals belonging to such cells could use the niqab to pass through checkpoints unnoticed.

The Kuwaiti press, including English and Arabic dailies, reacted to Tantawi's fatwa with columnists in favor, while some others against the edict. Despite the split in the public opinion over the niqab issue, Kuwait, like other GCC states and Arab and Muslim countries, is witnessing a growing number of women who wear the niqab. Some Muslim scholars describe it as an "awakening" in the Islamic world. Opponents however, are of the viewpoint that niqab is a traditional rather than a religious obligation and t
hat many individuals find it difficult to break away from such tradition.

Meanwhile, a far-right group in Italy recently proposed legislation aimed at banning the Islamic burqa, another form of niqab. The proposed bill did not expressly mention the burqa, a head-to-toe Islamic veil worn by some Muslim women, but states that those who wear religious garments that make identification impossible could risk two years in jail or a $2,900 fine. "We are not racist and we have nothing against Muslims but the law must be equal for everyone," the group was quoted as saying in the Iralian
press.

In August, the right-wing mayor of Varallo Sesia in the Piedmont region of northern Italy banned the "burkini" - a full-body Islamic swimsuit - and threatened violators with a 500 euro fine. (Information from agencies was used in this report.)