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MUSLIM ATTIRE DISPUTE: Women's veils under debate BY NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD CAIRO, Egypt -- The increasing popularity of the full Muslim face veil has set off an emotional dispute in the Arab world over whether the covering is required by Islam for modesty or a dangerous sign of political extremism. The debate is most intense in Egypt, the world's largest Arab country, where one university has banned women who wear the face veil, or niqab, from living in a hostel, and government-backed newspapers have launched a campaign against it. On any street in the capital, the face of one woman will be fully covered, with only her eyes peering through; nearby another woman will cover her hair, leaving her face bare; and still, another will have neither her face nor her hair covered. The dispute highlights the growing wave of conservative Islamic practice across the Arab world -- and among Muslims living in the West -- and the intense struggle between secular governments and Islamic opposition groups. Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in early October that he asks women who visit his office to remove the veil so he can see their faces and called it a disturbing sign of the divisions in British society. In Egypt, the issue has simmered for years and caught new fire after Straw's comments. The president of Helwan University on the outskirts of Cairo banned students who wear the niqab from living at the school's hostel, citing security reasons -- and leading to student protests. In the West, traditional Muslim dress is seen as a refusal by Muslim immigrants to assimilate and accept Europe's secular values. Two years ago, France banned head scarves and other religious symbols from public places, enraging many Muslim immigrants. Australia's top Islamic cleric also sparked outrage when he said women who dress immodestly invite rape. Clerics who believe women should be veiled refer to a verse in the Quran to back up their beliefs: "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks all over their bodies." Many Islamic scholars say covering the hair is a religious duty, but others say the verse has other interpretations. As for the face veil, the majority of Islamic scholars say it is not required but is merely a custom that dates to tribal, nomadic societies in the Arabian Desert before Islam began.
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