Egypt - Professor of al-Azhar University: If the veil is banned, we must also ban the wearing of the cross. (Fides).
If laws ban Muslim women from wearing the full veil (niqab), at that point, to avoid discrimination, we must also ban Christian women wearing necklaces with crosses.
This - as reported by the Egyptian media – is the controversial comparative argument put forward in recent days by sheikh Ahmed Karima, a Sunni professor of al-Azhar University, to defend the use of the niqab by the growing mobilization of Egyptian organizations that are calling for the abolition in public places.
In February, such campaigns achieved significant success, with the ban on wearing the full veil imposed on all women who work in the University hospital of Cairo.
According to scholar Karima, known as the Islamic Law expert (Sharia), such campaigns are an expression of a planned strategy put in place to hit the Islamic traditions of the Country, which risks fueling extremist reactions by radical Islamic groups.
According to the sheikh, an eventual ban on wearing the full veil imposed by law to Muslim women should have in consideration the ban for Christian women to wear the cross.
For weeks, the scholar and other Islamic leaders are launching the alarm about the spread of "secularist" tendencies in Egypt which in their opinion aims to outlaw everything that expresses their belonging to Islam.
Sheikh Karima reiterated that, in his view, the so-called "renewal of religious discourse", wished for several times in Egypt also by President Abdel Fattah Sisi, will certainly not lead to the abolition of what is required by the Sharia, because Egypt is an "Islamic country" and "Islamic rituals must be respected".
