Cairo, Egypt - A political and religious storm sparked by Egypt's culture minister criticising the ever-growing popularity of the Islamic veil has snowballed into a fully fledged national affair.
Three days after Faruq Hosni described as "regressive" the increasing practice of wearing the veil, calls for his ouster mounted and debates on Muslim conservatism in the Arab world's most populous country intensified.
Sources in parliament said 80 lawmakers -- both from Hosni's ruling National Democratic Party and opposition movements -- demanded an urgent debate over the minister's comments.
"There was an age when our mothers went to university and worked without the veil. It is in that spirit that we grew up. So why this regression," the minister asked in an interview published Thursday in the independent Al-Masri Al-Yom daily.
"Each woman with her beautiful hair is like a flower, and should not be concealed from the view of others," Hosni said, arguing that "religion today focuses on appearances too much."
His remarks sparked the ire of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is Egypt's main opposition movement and controls one-fifth of the seats in parliament.
Muslim Brotherhood official Hamdi Hassan told AFP Friday: "We have presented an urgent appeal to parliament demanding that Culture Minister Faruq Hosni be relieved of his duties after statements in which he said that wearing the veil is 'regressive.'"
In an interview with Al-Jazeera television, Hosni refused to apologise but stressed that the view he had expressed was only personal and did not necessarily represent the government's stance.
He also said his comments to Al-Masri Al-Yom were off the record.
Qatar-based Egyptian cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi was quoted in the Gulf press as saying Hosni wanted women "to blindly imitate the Western civilisation, which has indulged in bestial pleasures, sanctioned gay marriage and condoned nudity."
Qaradawi, one of the most influential preachers in the Muslim world, added that women have an obligation to wear the hijab, or Islamic veil.
Other senior clerics in the region, including Saudi Arabia's mufti, also excoriated Hosni over his comments.
Growing conservatism has seen a vast number of women take up the veil in Egypt, formerly one of the most liberal societies in the Middle East.
Observers attribute the phenomenon to a variety of reasons ranging from growing Islamism to social pressure and fashion.
According to Egyptian sociologist Mona Abaza, 80 percent of the country's female population is veiled. "It is the most... successful aspect of islamisation," she told AFP.
Hosni's comments also caused surprise in Egypt's cultural and intellectual circles, but for reasons far removed from those of the Islamists.
Ezzat al-Qamhawi, novelist and editor of the weekly cultural magazine Akhbar al-Adab, said Hosni's stance on religion had so far been characterised by systematic compliance with the views of Al-Azhar, the leading Sunni Muslim institution in the region.
He also argued that the Muslim Brotherhood's criticism of one of the longest-standing ministers in Egypt was essentially a political move against the regime.
"I would have thought that they would have asked for his resignation earlier because of the state of Egyptian culture today," he told AFP.