Zaqzuq attacking the veil

The minister of religious endowments, Hamdi Zaqzuq, expelled an official from a meeting after she refused to remove her niqab (full veil covering the face).

The woman was one of 50 people appointed to provide religious guidance. Fully veiled women have now been banned from the post because the minister feared they would "promote the culture of the niqab".

Zaqzuq is a sleeze ball and I seriously doubt that he is expressing a genuine opinion or taking this stand because of what he believes in. He is simply doing what he is told to do. According to this:

The Egyptian authorities have grown concerned about the direction the veil debate is heading. They have now drawn the line at the niqab — the all-black billowing gown and face covering common in Saudi Arabia. A small but growing minority of Egyptian women are taking the niqab. Since it wasn’t that many years ago that only a small number of women wore the head scarf, the latest trend is being watched carefully.

The Egyptian authorities have begun to see this dress as a security threat, because it hides the face, and because it is perceived as a political statement, a rejection of the state in favor of a strict Islamic system.

Now at least 80% of women in Egypt wear the veil and the niqab is spreading fast. Read this encounter that an Egyptian woman had with "Dr. Niqab".