Battle over face veil brewing in Egypt

entnommen aus:

yahoo.com

By Mariam Karouny

Mon Nov 2, 8:33 am ET

CAIRO (Reuters) –

Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.

• Egypt's state-run religious establishment wants teachers like Mohamed to remove their veils in front of female students, sparking a backlash by Islamists who say women should be able to choose to cover their faces in line with their Islamic faith.

• "I have put on the niqab because it is a Sunna (a tradition of the Muslim prophet Muhammad). It is something that brings me closer to religion and closer to the wives of the Prophet who used to wear it," she said.

• "I know what makes God and his prophet love me, and no sheikh is going to convince me otherwise. I would rather die than take it off, even inside class," she added.

[...]

Ordinary Egyptians on the streets of Cairo have conflicting feelings regarding the niqab. Some say it should be banned on security grounds because it can be used by criminals to disguise themselves and escape police searches.

• Others hail it as the right way to fulfill religious duties or as the best way to protect women from sexual harassment, although a recent study showed veiling had little effect on harassment rates in Egypt.

• "When a man cannot see a woman, then what is he going to harass her for? Nothing," said Abu Donya, a taxi driver, whose views are shared by many Egyptians. "So imagine if all women wear niqab, things would be better," he said.

(Editing by Dominic Evans)

Fazit:
Religiöse Verbrämtheit, Fanatismus und blinder Glaube hat die Menschheit noch nie weiter gebracht, sie dient letztendlich nur einem religiösen Establishment => ein nicht zu unterschätzender Teil des Islams befindet sich theoretisch knapp über 600 Jahre in der Zeit zurück, als das Christentum sich noch im "tiefsten Mittelalter" befunden hat. Es bedurfte eines Martin Luthers und anderen Aufklärern, damit das Christentum nicht endgültig in Ablasshandel und anderen Verirrungen versumpfte ! Ob der Islam jemals eines Reformators bedarf und auch ihn auch hervorbringt, ist sicherlich eine Diskussion wert !