Egypt’s new TV channel featuring only niqab-wearing women to kick off in Ramadan.

Egypt’s new TV channel featuring only niqab-wearing women to kick off in Ramadan.(AA).The first Egyptian satellite channel completely managed by women wearing the ‘niqab’ (full face veil) will be launched on July 20, which will mark with the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, an Egyptian daily reported on Thursday. All workers in the new channel – named Maria – as well as the guests to be hosted in its programs will all be women wearing the ‘niqab’, according to Safaa al-Refaie, who is in charge of the channel. “Niqab is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Refaie was quoted as saying by Egypt’s state-run al-Ahram daily. She refused to reveal the source of the channel’s funding.
Maria is the name of one of Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) wives, who was an Egyptian Copt. Most of the new channel’s programs will focus on religion and marital life. “Our message will be directed at Muslim women, to teach them the Sunna (legacy) of the Prophet Mohammed,” Refaie said.
This channel was opened “to regain the dignity of women in niqab who have been persecuted and were subject to dismissal from work over the past decades,” Refaie told al-Ahram. The hijab (headscarf), which is common in Egypt, was banned on Egyptian TV channels during former president Hosni Mubarak’s era. Female presenters were not allowed to appear on screen in the hijab If the channel airs a program about an issue and cannot find an expert wearing the niqab, then, according to Refaie, the channel will host the “non-niqabi” experts and give them two options: either to wear the niqab temporarily during the program, or to have their faces blurred out while the program is being aired.
Yasser Abdul Aziz, an Egyptian media expert, was quoted by Egypt Independent daily as saying that he predicted the channel would not be able to continue with the same conditions and work requirements for long, although it might attract a considerable number of viewers. Meanwhile, the new channel Maria was described as a “legitimate exercise of the freedom of opinion and expression” by rights activist Negad al-Boraie He was quoted by Egypt Independent as saying that barring unveiled women from the programs of Maria “was not a form of discrimination.” Egyptian society should be open to all ideas and should not judge citizens according to what they are wearing, but what they are saying, he added. “Protecting freedom of expression and opinion requires making room for both women in niqab who launch their own channel, and those who believe in other ideas,” he told the Egyptian daily.Hmmmm......The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi, vowing to ban it in Al-Azhar schools.After the girl complied he insisted she should not wear it any more.“I tell you again that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and it is only a mere custom. I understand the religion better than you and your parents.” The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar imam vowed to issue a ban against the face-veil in all schools linked to Al-Azhar.“Read the full story here.