"Tantawi only speaks for himself and his statements do not represent the official point of view of Al-Azhar," said Marzouk

By Subhy Mujahid, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, December 31 (IslamOnline.net) – Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi's support for France's right to ban hijab in state schools has drawn fire from Egypt's top scholars, who said Tantawi was only representing himself.

During his welcoming statement to visiting French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Tantawi announced Tuesday, December 30, that France had the right to ban hijab in state schools.

He also argued that no Muslim body or country is entitled to oppose such a decision because France is a non-Muslim country.

"Sheikh Tantawi's statements came as a surprise to the members of Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy and were impromptu," Sheikh Abdal Sabour Marzouk told reporters.

"Hence, Tantawi only speaks for himself and his statements do not represent the official point of view of Al-Azhar [the highest authority of the Sunnis]," he stressed.

Marzouk said he and the other scholars present did not heckle Tantawi for the sake of "ethics of dialogue" and given that they were promised a meeting with Sarkozy following his talks with Sheikh Tantawi, which was not honored.

"The French interior minister came here and snatched the go-ahead from Al-Azhar. Tantawi, in effect, from the very beginning gave him this right, which is prohibited in Islam.

"He should have asked France and other European countries can we would force non-Muslim women in Muslims countries to put on hijab? Hijab is not a symbol, but a religious obligation," averred the veteran scholar.

Blatant

"I advise President Jacques Chirac not to sign the anti-hijab measure into law," said Goma

Egypt's Mufti Ali Goma hit out at France's proposed hijab ban as "a blatant interference" in Muslim affairs.

"I advise President Jacques Chirac not to sign the anti-hijab measure into law. In doing so, they actually tamper with Islamic rules and put France's secularism in a real limbo. In fact, this planned law contradicts the liberty always boasted by France," he warned.

Goma reiterated that hijab was an obligation on all Muslim consenting female adults, as firmly established in the Holy Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad’s hadiths as well as unanimously agreed upon by Muslim scholars.

He said Chirac's support for the integration of the Muslim community into society should not be taken as an excuse to force Muslims to disobey their religion.

"I fear that French Muslim students would later be asked why they refuse to eat pork or why they pray and fast," Goma said.

He continued: "We agree that we should not interfere in the affairs of France as a non-Muslim country, but at the same time our brothers in France should bear in mind that hijab is a religious obligation that is part of the Islamic identity and Al-Azhar, the Fatwa House and the Islamic Research Academy are all on board."

"France's planned law indicates that they do not accept the other," underlined Egypt's Mufti.

But he rejected that Sarkozy had succeeded in extracting an official agreement from Al-Azhar on the bill, saying Sheikh Tantawi had made clear that hijab was an obligation for Muslim women, who could take it off if forced by necessity.

Goma also spurned claims that Al-Azhar has become a political rather than a religious body.

For his part, Egypt's ex-Mufti Sheikh Nasr Fareed Wasel said that true secularism does not place restrictions on religions.

Wasel said Tantawi only meant that If France forced Muslim women into removing their hijabs, then they could not be considered sinful, as they had been coerced.