The French government and the leader of the Muslim world's most prestigious center of Sunni Islamic learning found common ground on Tuesday on a contentious French proposal that would stop Muslim girls from wearing head scarves in French state schools.
The grand sheik of Al Azhar, Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, told reporters that although wearing the head scarf, or hijab, was a religious duty, governments of non-Muslim countries had the right to pass any laws they liked.
He said this applied even on dress codes.
He spoke before talks in Cairo with the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who assured him that France guarantees its Muslim citizens freedom to practice their religion.
President Jacques Chirac of France has called for a law banning Islamic head scarves and other religious symbols in state schools, strengthening France's commitment to secularism.
Many Muslims object to the proposed ban, saying that wearing the head scarf is a religious duty for Muslim women and that the garment should not count as a symbol meant for display.
But Sheik Tantawi, an Egyptian state-appointed official known for his liberal views, said different rules applied to Muslims living in Muslim countries and those living outside.
He said non-Muslim countries were free to impose bans like the one proposed by Mr. Chirac because "that is their right, which I cannot interfere with as a Muslim."
"If a Muslim woman observes the laws of a non-Muslim state," he added, "then from the point of view of Islamic law, she has the status of acting under coercion."
He cited the example of Islamic dietary laws, which allow infractions when Muslims are unable to meet the requirements through no fault of their own.
"Just as I do not allow non-Muslims to interfere in my affairs as a Muslim, at the same time I do not permit myself to interfere in the affairs of non-Muslims," the sheik said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the world's largest and most influential Islamist groups, disagrees with that point of view, however, and strongly opposes the French government's plans.
"The secular philosophy on which the French president based his decision to support this proposal, considering the hijab a religious symbol, is not correct," the group said in a statement last week, adding, "The Islamic hijab is a religious duty."
Mr. Sarkozy said French Muslims had the same rights as Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others, and assured his mainly Egyptian audience that the proposed law did not single out Muslims.
The law would limit not just scarves but also skull caps and "large crosses" worn in public institutions.
"You shouldn't see in it a humiliation for anyone," Mr. Sarkozy said. "You shouldn't see in it a lack of respect for your religion. You must understand that secularism is our tradition, our choice."
"I thank the grand imam of Al Azhar for indicating that in a secular and non-Muslim state, it is the duty of everyone to respect the law," he added.
"There are no rights without duties, and if the Muslims of France have the same rights as other believers, they have the same duties," he said.