In a gesture that garnered support from countless social media users, Egypt’s Al-Azhar condemned sexual harassment, its justification and victim blaming on Monday. Egypt’s oldest and biggest Islamic religious institution stated that harassment, physical or verbal, was a ”’deviant behaviour” and was forbidden. Al-Azhar recurred to the teachings of Prophet Mohamed and the Quran to condemn the crime. It also called upon media to stop broadcasting any material that promotes harassment and for an increase of informative media programs that can educate citizens on actions to take in the event of one. ”Al-Azhar affirms that the criminalization of harassment must be absolute and devoid of any condition or context,” read the statement which also addressed common arguments harassers have used against women. Although sexual harassment in Egypt is rampant, many choose to believe that harassment occurs due to women’s ‘revealing’ clothing despite the fact that veiled women and women who wear the face-veil (niqab) also experience harassment. ”Justifying harassment of a girl’s behavior or clothing reflects a misguided understanding of the harassment of women’s privacy, freedom and dignity,” said Al-Azhar. The statement was made in light of the recent, publicized…
