[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's Ministry of Religious Endowments has launched a campaign against wearing the full face veil known as a niqab in government jobs claiming it is not an obligation for Muslims.The latest crackdown on the niqab follows a prohibition against nurses wearing the full face veil in hospitals.
In the first in a series of seminars aimed at eradicating the niqab from public posts held under the auspices of the Ministry of religious endowments Dr. Salem Abdel-Gelil, Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments for Preaching, explained to the ministry's face-veiled female employees that niqab is not an obligation in Islam and that the headscarf is enough. "[N]iqab is a custom that has no basis in religion whether directly or indirectly," he told AlArabiya.net. "[A]ccording to the four schools of thought in Islam the face is not awra [a body part that has to be covered]."