Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mosque Supports Headscarf Ban

December 30, 2003

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3358363.stm

On December 30, 2003 the BBC News reported, "The head of one of the world's most prestigious centres of Islamic learning has upheld the right of France to ban headscarves in state schools. The Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, was speaking after talks with French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy...Speaking in Cairo in the presence of Mr Sarkozy, Sheikh Tantawi said the veil was the divine obligation of Muslim women. But he added that that this obligation did not apply if the women lived in a non-Muslim country like France. He said Muslim women had to obey the rules of the host country in which they live, under what he described as dire necessity."