The European council Muslim Brothers deplore restrictions on veil

Men of religion, taking part in the meetings of the European council for al-Ifta, held in the Irish capital Dublin, criticized statements made by al-Azhar Grand Mufti, Sayed Muhammad Tantawi ,over France's right to prevent Muslim women from wearing veils in schools.

Members of the council, which is headed by the Islamic scholar, Youssef al-Qardawi, condemned the recommendation given by the French President, Jacque Chirac, to approve this law, and warned against its consequences.

For its part and in a statement, the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brothers) groups at the Islamic parliamentarians bloc at the Egyptian parliament denounced the position taken by Sheikh al-Azhar.

The statement said that "statements of the Grand Imam of al-Azhar on the veil question was a shock for the people of the Islamic nation, men and women and these statements had saddened and angered many of them." The statement said that Sheikh Tantawi volunteered to make statements that "violate the Koran, the Sunni consensus," calling on al-Azhar scholars "to stand against these suspicious statements which violate the consensus of the nation and its scholars and undermine its doctrine."

Tantawi's statements raised different reactions and differences between al-Azhar sheikhs and the clergy men, stressing that what he had said in front of the French minister of the Interior Nicola Sarkuzi only represents his personal view.

Meantime, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak considered that the French decision to ban the veil in public schools "is a French matter that can not be interfered in," adding that it is applicable on Muslims and on non-Muslims.

In a televised statement yesterday broadcast by the Middle East News Agency on Thursday, Mubarak said that "we can not say no for the decision ( the French decision to ban the veil)."