CAIRO, Jan 12: The sheikh of Al Azhar has again defended his decree supporting a French decision to ban headscarves in state schools, according to an interview published on Monday.

The fatwa, which Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi issued during a visit here last month by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, was slammed by other Muslim scholars as well as by the Muslim Brotherhood.

France practises "secularism and whoever doesn't like this policy has only to leave the country", Sheikh Tantawi said in an interview with the Saudi-owned Al Sharq al Awssat newspaper, which is distributed in Cairo.

"The (French) are secular. They do not allow religion to intervene in (public) affairs. It's a domestic (French) affair," the Cairo-based sheikh added, while repeating that the headscarf remained a religious "obligation" for Muslim women.

French President Jacques Chirac last year backed a committee of French experts that recommended banning "conspicuous" religious insignia - including the hijab, the Jewish kippa or skullcap, and large crucifixes - from state schools.

A leading Shia leader from Lebanon, Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, demanded an apology from the Imam of Al Azhar. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is technically banned but is allowed to carry out some activities, also denounced Sheikh Tantawi's fatwa and an Egyptian weekly, Al Osboue, called for his removal.

Speaking to Al Sharq al Awssat, Sheikh Tantawi said "the (Islamic) nation is absolutely not confronted with a war of religion", adding that the French decision on headscarfs would not be followed by other steps against Muslims. -AFP