(Photo courtesy: http://www.resporton.com)

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Hi I’m Marco Werman. This is the World. It looks like the Iranian Women’s soccer team may not be able to compete in the 2012 London Olympics. Soccer’s governing body, FIFA, barred them from a qualifying match because of their full tracksuits and Islamic head scarves. FIFA has said that it’s a safety concern although it also bars teams for displaying religious messages on their uniforms. Elham Seyed is an Iranian born designer who lives in Montreal. A few years back, she created a garment for female Muslim athletes. It’s called ResportOn. So, Elham, describe ResportOn for us. What is it made of and how do women actually wear it?

Elham Seyed: It’s actually a garment that’s very tight around the head and around the neck, so there’s not any extra material and loose material around the head and actually the material that is chosen is called Coolmax and it’s a very specific and particular material for, um, sports. It allows the body to be able to breath and keeps you fresh and actually dries extremely quickly. It can go up to 14 times faster than cotton, and that’s one of the lovely parts of the equipment that the athletes love about it.

Werman: I mean it’s very sleek looking. I guess for our listeners imagine kind of what speed skaters would be wearing. There’s a face covering, but it doesn’t completely cover your face. It’s kind of very futuristic looking, and you don’t get hot under this kind of hood that you’re wearing.

Seyed: As you said, may be skaters and maybe divers. It’s the same kind of equipment that is used.

Werman: Elham, you yourself don’t wear a headscarf. Apparently you were studying design, and you heard about these Muslim women who were going to compete in a Tae Kwon Do competition. Can you tell me that story?

Seyed: Yes, so in 2007, when Muslim team, WORD they got expelled from the tournament in LaValle. They got expelled because of security matters, and I was in university at that time. And a year after, I said, “You know what? Like, why not design an equipment that can answer to the both needs ’cause the referee was saying, “It’s not secure enough” and the girls were saying, “We wanna wear the hijab.” And after two years, when I designed the equipment. the referee and the world’s Tae Kwon Do Federation changed the law and they allowed Muslim people to wear the equipment they want as long as it’s secure enough. So that’s when for the first time to Montreal’s Muslim Tae Kwon Do team, while wearing ResportOn, they went on the field, and I was like watching them. I was on the field, and I was like crying because from the beginning my whole point was for these girls to go back on field. And that’s why the equipment is called Resport, so redo the sport.

Werman: Right. Slightly different outcome, though to the current business with the Iranian Women’s Soccer Team. I know you’ve been following this story closely. When you heard about them effectively banned from competing in next year’s Olympics in London, what did you do?

Seyed: I was extremely sad. Actually, I am very emotional, and I had tears in my eyes cause they have worked a lot during these last few years actually to be able to get to that level. And their team was so strong. And I don’t take any position, but all I am saying is that I don’t know what the equipment was exactly, the equipment that they were using, and what is the exact reason that FIFA at the last minute they decided not to allow them. But I was just sad because they are athletes, and they have to be able to do their sports, you know what I mean? In the middle of this, it’s only the athletes who are getting punished. That’s the thing.

Werman: Well, as you say, ResportOn really addresses the safety of a sport’s outfit.Tell us who wears ResportOn right now, the kind of teams around the world.

Seyed: Actually there are a lot of teams who contact us from Calgary from Montreal from Europe. And we have a very good achievement of what we’ve had is that there’s a future police officer in Austraila who contacted us, and they loved the design and they wanted to try it, and then we sent a ResportOn for them. They did all the tests for security and comfort, and I can’t say any, how do you say, official word from the Australian Federal Police, but all I can say is that there’s a future Muslim woman in Australian wearing ResportOn. We made a specific design with the color they needed with the specification they needed, and she’s using it today.

Werman: Iranian Canadian designer Elham Seyed, creator of ResportOn, she’s been speaking with us from Montreal. Thanks very much.

Seyed: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

• BBC coverage
• The niqab in Islam

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: In Egypt, there’s a debate underway over whether Muslim women should cover their faces. Now one of the country’s highest religious authorities has weighed in. Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi is head of Cairo’s Al Azhar University. He recently called on a young girl to remove her niqab, which covers the face. And he suggested that he would ban female university students from wearing it. But as Aya Batrawy reports from Cairo, many women in Egypt disagree with him.

[SOUND OF A YOUNG GIRL STUDYING THE KORAN]

AYA BATRAWY: Young women studying the Koran at Al Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s premier seat of learning. Here, they study in all-female classrooms. Most are dressed modestly and wear the hijab, or headscarf. But there are also hundreds studying here who choose to wear the niqab – a full length covering from head to toe, often black, with only a small opening for the eyes. Zizi even has her eyes obscured by a black cloth and wears black gloves. She started wearing the niqab just nine months ago and says she doesn’t care if Sheikh Tantawi himself asked her to remove it, she wouldn’t.

[SOUND OF ZIZI'S VOICE]

BATRAWY: [IN ARABIC] I respect him greatly, she says, but there is something greater and that is God.

Such defiance is rare, but debate over the niqab has touched a raw nerve in Egypt, where some see its increasing popularity as part of an Islamist threat to the state. Others regard wearing it as a religious duty. So when Sheikh Tantawi recently told a middle school student to remove her face veil, he sparked an outcry. According to local news reports, the sheikh told the girl that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and is only a custom. And he was reported to have said that he would issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against wearing it in his university. In a later effort to clarify his remarks, the sheikh appeared on a popular news program hosted by a woman who does not cover her hair.

[SOUND OF THE TALK SHOW HOST AND TANTAWI SPEAKING]

BATRAWY: He said that 99 percent of scholars agree that the niqab is not mandatory, so he is not going to follow the one percent that disagrees. And he explained why he said he urged a limited ban on the niqab.

[SOUND OF THE TALK SHOW HOST AND TANTAWI SPEAKING]

MOHAMMED TANTAWI: [In Arabic] The higher council of Al Azhar banned the niqab in a class of all females led by a female teacher because who is she hiding her face from? Does she want to say that she is right and everyone else is wrong? If that girl wants when the class is over to put on the niqab, she is free to do so.

BATRAWY: But the ban at Al Azhar has yet to take effect and the controversy continues. Al Azhar and its head have been accused of carrying out political orders. The government has also banned the niqab from the dormitories of state universities – shutting out dozens of students who refused to un-veil. Dr. Akram Shaar, an independent member of parliament who belongs to the politically banned Muslim brotherhood, says such moves are aimed at keeping Islamists out of universities – and are an attack on civil liberties.

DR. AKRAM SHAAR: [IN ARABIC] Do we ban scantily dressed women from university dorms? No. We do not agree with banning scantily dressed women nor do we agree with banning women wearing the niqab because this is a personal decision based on free will.

BATRAWY: This is merely the latest twist in a long-running back and forth over the face veil in Egypt. Until the beginning of the 20th century, upper-class women wore a sheer, silky veil over the face as a sign of their status and wealth. Later the veil was seen as a mark of oppression – removing it was an act of women’s liberation. Now many women are claiming it as a religious and civil right. Asmaa is studying at Al Azhar. All her niqab reveals are her large brown eyes.

[SOUND OF ASMAA, SPEAKING IN ARABIC]

BATRAWY: It’s not right to force a girl to do something she doesn’t want to do, she says, we will not allow anyone to step on our rights and the freedom to choose. Dozens of others currently barred from the dorms of Cairo University and elsewhere agree – even at the cost of an education. For The World, this is Aya Batrawy, Cairo.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.