The Egyptian authorities seem to be worried about the growing number of women adopting the niqab – the face veil traditionally worn in the Gulf countries. Its use is relatively new in Egypt, and it tends to be favoured by those of a Wahhabi/Salafi religious disposition.

Various news sources are reporting an incident when Mohammed Tantawi, Sheikh of al-Azhar, asked a female student to take off her niqab.

"Niqab has nothing to do with Islam ... I know about religion better than you and your parents," he reportedly told her.

A security official also told The Associated Press that police have standing verbal orders to bar girls covered from head to toe from entering al-Azhar's institutions, including middle and high schools, as well as the dormitories of several universities in Cairo.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's not authorised to speak to the press, said the ban was for security reasons.

The moves appear to be part of a government campaign cracking down on increasingly overt manifestations of ultraconservative Islam in Egypt.

Last month a Huffington Post article described various forms of discrimination experienced by women who wear the niqab in Egypt, such as exclusion from restaurants and beaches.

Much as I dislike the niqab, I think this is the wrong approach. Government-led attempts to impose dress codes – whether we’re talking about the niqab in Egypt or low-slung jeans in Saudi Arabia – are an infringement of personal liberty.

The Egyptian government’s real concern is with religious extremism, but attitudes are not going to be changed by telling people how to dress. Instead of being suppressed and allowed to fester, extremist religious ideas need to be exposed to the light and challenged. One way of doing that is to let secular Muslims have a voice – something the Egyptian authorities have been consistently reluctant to allow.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 6 October 2009.