Breaking news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8290606.stm
Egypt’s highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women’s veils, known as the niqab.
Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith [...] merely a tradition, with no connection to religion or the Koran.
Wow, fantastic news for Womens’ Rights, but this is going to put Guardianistas (Guardianistii?) in a quandary! You see, whenever someone dares to speak up for womens rights, and points out what anyone with the ability to read knows already (that there is nothing in the koran or Islam about the requirement for a full face covering) they get called a racist or some equally daft term – remember the Sarkozy incident?
(You know when someone is ignorant as they don’t appear to know the difference between religion and race!).
I wonder if those same white, middle-class pseudo-liberal clueless handwringing plonkers will be calling Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi a racist?
Anyone care to hazard a guess?
Anyway, for me this is great news, and long overdue.
It’s high time this oppressive, divisive, barbaric and medieval garment found it’s way straight back into the history books along with slavery, where it belongs.


