Cairo, Egypt - Egypt's minister of religious endowments expelled a fully veiled female employee from a meeting after she refused to uncover her face, an Egyptian daily reported Wednesday.
The religious counselor was asked by an aide of minister Hamdi Zaqzuq to remove her face veil before Zaqzuq's speech opening a training session Tuesday for religious advisors and prayer leaders or leave the hall, reported the Al Masri Al Youm.
"I totally reject the niqab [face veil]," said the minister afterwards. "No religious counselor needs to wear it since it is not required by Islamic law."
"How can a religious counselor belonging to the ministry teach Muslims about the principals of their religion when they are wearing a niqab?" he asked, adding that imams needed to renew their religious discourse and avoid peripheral matters like the veil.
The statement is the latest blow in the ongoing battle of women's religious garb that has seen periodic flare-ups in Egypt where increasing numbers of Muslim women are covering their heads and even their faces.
Many of the imams present condemned the minister's comments, according to the newspaper.
"We can't blame France and Great Britain now when they ban the headscarf and the niqab, because we are a Muslim country that deprives munaqabat [niqab wearers] their right to wear the Islamic costume," said one.
While the Koran only requires women to dress modestly, many Muslim scholars insist that women must cover their heads and even their faces.
The Egyptian government is increasingly starting to speak out against the more extreme forms of female religious garb, such as the face veil, and has banned it from a number of government offices.
In November, culture minister Farouk Hosni came under intense criticism for describing the veil as backward.
The ministry has appointed some 50 religious counselors to advise Egyptians on religious practice.