French far-right’s Le Pen refuses to wear headscarf to meet Lebanon’s Grand Mufti

Najia Houssari | Special to Arab News
An aide of Lebanon's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian, left, gives a head scarf to French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. (AP)

BEIRUT: The far-right French presidential candidate and head of the National Front party, Marine Le Pen, Tuesday canceled a meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Abdel-Latif Derian after refusing to wear a headscarf.
Women are required to cover their heads when meeting the mufti.
For her part, Le Pen told accompanying media that she had made it very clear from the previous day that she will not wear scarf, adding that this was her position when she met the sheikh of Al-Azhar in Egypt.
Dar Al-Fatwa, Lebanon’s top religious authority for Sunni Muslims that is headed by Derian, said Le Pen’s assistant was reminded several times of the protocol ahead of the visit, and he replied: “No problem.”
According to Dar Al-Fatwa, upon her arrival Le Pen was asked to put on a headscarf before meeting the mufti.
When she said she did not have one, a white cover was brought for her but she refused to wear it.
The person carrying the head cover said she needed to abide by the rules and what was agreed upon with her assistant.
Le Pen told the person she was being prevented from meeting the mufti, but he answered that she was refusing to abide by the protocol, and that women who visit the pope in the Vatican wear decent clothing and a head cover.
The head of the media department at Dar Al-Fatwa, Khaldiun Qawwas, told Arab News that all diplomatic visitors of Dar Al-Fatwa abide by the protocol, including the assistant of the Polish foreign minister and US, EU and UN ambassadors.
The press conference Le Pen was supposed to hold at the end of her visit was canceled due to activists protesting against her party’s positions.
She has reiterated her fears of the growth of “Islamic radicalism,” and has expressed support for President Bashar Assad of Syria, whose army occupied Lebanon for 30 years.
She has tried to promote herself as a defender of Christians in the Middle East.
However, Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, the country’s second-largest Christian political party, said after their meeting that the conflict is not between Muslims and Christians but between moderates and terrorists, including Assad.
Walid Jumblatt, leader of the mostly Druze Progressive Socialist Party, tweeted that Le Pen’s statements in Lebanon “were an insult toward the Lebanese people and Syrian people.”