Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni said in an interview published on Thursday that the ever-growing number of women wearing the Islamic veil in his country marked a 'regressive' trend.
"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?," he said 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," he said, arguing: "Religion today focuses on appearances too much.
"A woman's true veil is the inner veil, not the visible one," Hosni went on, adding: "The relationship between God and a person does not hinge on the latter's sartorial decisions."
"Egypt must go back to being beautiful and stop imitating other Arab countries, who once considered it (equal) to Europe," Hosni said.