Egypt's top Islamic school, Al-Azhar, the world's leading school of Sunni Islam, recently issued a ban on wearing the "niqab" or face veil in classrooms and dormitories of its affiliate schools and educational institutes, reports Al-Arabiya.

The news site points out that while the majority of women in Egypt wear the hijab, only few wear the niqab. The majority of Islamic scholars say the niqab is not a requirement in Islam, but is "merely a custom that dates back to tribal, nomadic societies living in the Arabian desert before Islam began."

The heated controversy originated during Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mohamed Sayyd Tantawi's visit to a middle school, where he told a girl to remove her niqab. Tantawi told Al-Arabiya that he had explained to the girl, "the niqab was only a tradition" and said that she was required to wear only the school uniform at Al-Azhar.

Essam Derbala, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, slammed both Tantawi and Egypt's Higher Education Minister Hani Hilal. Derbala said that the niqab ban has "created a battle with no battlefield among Egypt's female students," further questioning whether Tantawi should remain at his post.

Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, representatives of Egypt's lower house of parliament, and the Sawaseya Center for Human Rights joined forces to file a lawsuit against Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi, according to another article by Al-Arabiya. The lawsuit is being brought on charges over what they call an "unconstitutional" ban that violates personal freedom and contradicts the principle of equality for all citizens.

The group also sought action against Egypt’s minister of Higher Education. "We have a ruling from the Supreme Administrative Court to the effect that women have the right to wear the niqab," Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud told Al-Arabiya.

"It might not be an obligation in Islam, but it is also not against Islam. So, women have the right to wear it when and where they choose," he argued, adding that they would continue to fight until the court overturns the ban.

Al-Azhar's Deputy Chairman, Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, slammed the Muslim Brotherhood and said that they do not have the right to file lawsuits since they are an "outlawed group." He added that the matter was an internal policy that the group has "no right to object to."

Female students also took to the streets in Cairo, demonstrating against Al-Azhar's ban, reports BBC. The news site points out that the niqab is worn by an increasing number of women, which indicates that religious and social conservatism is growing in Egypt.

Mar Mohammed runs Nur Moda (Women's Fashions) in one of the busiest merchant streets of Cairo. After being in the business for twenty years, he explained, "I have never sold as many niqabs," he told BBC reporter Christian Fraser. "A hundred, 120 a day," he said, "no problem." His assistant, Heba, wears the niqab. "The sheikh won't affect my decision to wear it," she said. "I feel more relaxed in this. Men aren't looking at me. I feel closer to God."

BBC recalls the "pro-niqab" spam campaign that circulated around Cairo by e-mail last year. "A veil to protect or eyes will molest!" it warned. The sociologist Said Sadeq of the American University in Cairo pointed to the influence of Salafism, an ultra-conservative school of thought in Islam.

Contrary to traditional Western ideas that women are sociologically repressed and pressured into wearing the niqab, Hossam Bahgat, one of Egypt's prominent human rights campaigners, argued that many of them are actually well educated and intelligent women "who follow a version of Islam that requires them to cover up in the presence of men."

The BBC article concludes that religion has become a divisive point in Egypt, splitting the country apart.