Al-Azhar's bold but brief confrontation with the niqab (face veil) seems to have fizzled out, leaving Mohammed Tantawi, the government-appointed Sheikh of al-Azhar, with egg all over his face.

It began early last month when Tantawi asked a female student toremove her niqab, reportedly saying there was no Islamic obligation to wear it. Tantawi was heavily criticised at the time – not only by Islamists but also human rights groups arguing for freedom of choice – and on Saturday the research centre at al-Azhar (Egypt's oldest university) issued a definitive set of rules which amount to a wholesale capitulation. There are three situations where female students should remove the niqab, the research centre said:

1. In an all-female class with women teachers; 
2. In exam rooms when all students and supervisors are women;
3. In all-female dormitories.

It is hard to imagine even the most conservative salafis finding fault with that, but it doesn't really get Tantawi off the hook. None of those rules would apply to the situation where he asked the student to take off her veil.

An article by Yasser Khalil in the Daily Star discusses the political/religious ramification of the controversy. He suggests it has damaged al-Azhar because Tantawi is viewed by Egyptians as too much influenced by the government and "more concerned with upholding the current regime than religious principles".

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 1 November 2009.