Women may no longer be able to wear the Hijab in Egypt if reports are to be believed.
Egyptian lawmakers are set to vote on banning women from wearing a full-face Islamic veil. Parliament is drafting a law which would prohibit women from wearing a hiqab in public places and government institutions.
It follows a ban at Egypt’s premier public university in the capital Cairo, which banned lecturers from wearing the hijab in October.
Member of Parliament Amna Nosseir, also a professor of comparative jurisprudence, said the full-face veil is neither an Islamic tradition, nor required in the Quran.
Dr. Nosseir, a former dean of Al-Azhar University and a member of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, said the hijab is a Jewish tradition, not Muslim.
Dr. Nosseir added that while the Quran calls for modest clothing and for women to cover their hair, the holy book of Islam does not ask women to cover their faces also.
The vast majority of Egyptian Muslim women wear some form of veil that usually covers the hair but leaves the face uncovered.
However the number of women wearing the full hijab veil has increased dramatically in the past 10-20 years.
In October last year, Cairo University banned all female staff from wearing the full face veil, as it led to ‘poor communication’ in lectures, which in turn led to low grades and graduates incapable of enunciation in language courses, Gaber Nassar, head of Cairo University, said at the time.