ishr-burka-1CAIRO (Reuters) – Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.

Egypt’s state-run religious establishment wants teachers like Mohamed to remove their veils in front of female students, sparking a backlash by Islamists who say women should be able to choose to cover their faces in line with their Islamic faith.

“I have put on the niqab because it is a Sunna (a tradition of the Muslim prophet Muhammad). It is something that brings me closer to religion and closer to the wives of the Prophet who used to wear it,” she said.

“I know what makes God and his prophet love me, and no sheikh is going to convince me otherwise. I would rather die than take it off, even inside class,” she added.

Egypt, the birthplace of al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, fought a low-level Islamist insurgency in the 1990s, has faced sporadic militant attacks targeting tourists since then, and is keen to quell Islamist opposition ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a 2011 presidential vote.

The spread of the niqab, associated with the strictest interpretations of Islam, is a potent reminder to the government of the political threat posed by any Islamist resurgence emanating from the Gulf, where many young Egyptians go to work.

Controversy over the niqab flared last month after the state-appointed head of Egypt’s al-Azhar mosque asked a young student to remove her face veil during a visit to her school.

Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi later issued a religious edict or fatwa barring women and girls from wearing the niqab in all-girl Azhari schools, saying there was no reason for girls to cover their faces amongst themselves.

An Azhari research centre later backed the ruling, saying the face veil should be removed when a girl is in an all-female class with women teachers, in all-female exam rooms, and in all-female dormitories.

Egyptian state-run media have also called for women to show their faces, citing the “damaging” effects of niqab on society.

GULF INFLUENCE

While a majority of Egyptian women and girls consider it an Islamic religious obligation to cover their hair and neck with a scarf, few Muslim scholars say the full face veil is mandatory.

Yet growing numbers of Egyptian women are abandoning the simple headscarf in favour of the niqab, analysts say, reflecting the growing sway of strict Saudi-based Wahhabi ideology on an already conservative and Islamised society.

“It increased mainly because of the major influence from the Gulf. This habit is not from the heart of Egyptian society. It is imported from the Gulf,” political analyst Hala Mustafa said.

in Today’s NY Times