I recently wrote about how Westerns often overstated the importance of Egypt’s al-Azhar University - the most authoritative voice in Sunni Islam. al-Azhar, which is also the oldest university in the world, is significant and many of its rulings carry weights, but it is not infallible. In other words: al-Azhar is not the Vatican.

The university is seen by many Muslims as being corrupted by the Mubarak regime which relies on al-Azhar to cloth (unsuccessfully) the regime with legitimacy. al-Azhar’s ranks are also too conservative for most Muslims, a new development since the university has traditionally been mainstream. And al-Azhar is not beyond being associated with several buffoonish clerics whom issue absurd fatwas that no body follows (a recent one recommended female employees to breastfeed their male colleagues in order to establish a motherly relationship to break the alleged sexual tension in the office).

But the main Buffoon is none other than the Grand Mufti Shaykh Muhammad Sayid Tantawi. Believed to be senile, he’s acts of “wisdom” include throwing an ashtray at a female journalist because she asked him a question he disapproved of.

Fortunately for Egyptians, the Shaykh has a habit of traveling the country and bestowing his wisdom in person. Recently he cleared about the whole debate - Muslims are just dying to know - about the Niqab (the all-face covered usually found only in very conservative Muslim nations).

The Niqab has no basis in Islam (the Qur’an nor any Islamic judicial texts require) or Arab culture and is merely a new found act that is nothing more than a regrettable byproduct of the rise of ultra-conservative Islamic groups.

But Niqab should be a question of free will and although it should be discouraged, there are proper and improper arguments to be made in discouragement. The Grand Mufti is too benighted to properly address the subject.

In a recent visit to an Egyptian school he asked a young girl wearing the Niqab why she did such a thing. The teacher interrupted on the girl’s behalf, but he brushed her aside claiming “I know religion more than you.” He asked the girl to remove it and after she did he stated, “And what would you have done if you were a bit pretty?” Thus implying that the young girl is ugly and only ugly woman seek to cover their face.

Normally, when caught making such a cruel remark - and against a child - the said person would claim misunderstanding in regards to his words and that he meant no such thing. But the Grand Mufti has less than a normal intelligence. A week later to the day, he clarified his remarks on the Niqab stating that it may be worn whether “she is pretty or ugly.” Thus, alas, leaving no doubt the meaning of his original words.

Fortunately - because, again, Muslims are doing to know - al-Azhar sent another person to clarify the whole consuming debate on the merits of the Niqab:

“The niqab should be worn under two circumstances,” a cleaning lady who works at Al-Azhar, told CNN recently. “A very beautiful woman should wear it to prevent men from fighting over her, and an ugly woman should wear it to hide her face.”

This is the type of “wisdom” that al-Azhar bestows onto fellow Muslims. Of course, al-Azhar’s recent stand against the Niqab and its banning of it on campus is a genuinely good thing (which are rare these days coming). But the arguments against the Niqab are so childish and sexist.

This is why even when al-Azhar is right it has little credibility amongst Muslims.