France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen rejects a headscarf ahead of her meeting with Lebanon's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Deryan in Beirut on February 21, 2017 (AFP Photo/Anwar AMRO)

Beirut (AFP) - France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen capped her visit to Lebanon with controversy on Tuesday when she refused to wear a headscarf to meet the country's top Sunni Muslim cleric. You shouldn’t mix politics and religion.”

“A woman is free and equal,” “Bravo,” “A woman does not have to hide her face in front of a man.”

“There are those who speak about women’s rights and there are those who actually defend them. When asked if she fears her proposal may ignite the anger of the Muslim community, she said: “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”

The headscarf incident occurred ahead of a scheduled meeting with Lebanon’s grand mufti, Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian. The leader of National Front (FN) party on Tuesday arrived at Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan's office in the capital, Beirut, and was offered a white shawl to cover her hair. 'Le Pen was informed'

Speaking to journalists as she walked away from the meeting, Le Pen said she had met in the past with the Grand Mufti of Egypt's Al Azhar, one of the world's leading Sunni scholars, without having to wear a veil. "The highest Sunni authority in the world had not had this requirement, so I have no reason to," Le Pen said, referring to her 2015 visit to Al-Azhar, the prestigious Egyptian institution of Sunni Islamic learning. The officials at the mufti’s office “kept the meeting and consequently put me before a fait accompli,” she said. In a statement on Tuesday, the press office for the Grand Mufti said it "had informed the presidential candidate, through one of her assistants, of the need to cover her head when she meets his eminence, according to the protocol assumed by Dar al-Fatwa", the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon. The cleric’s press office said Le Pen’s aides had been informed beforehand that a headscarf was required for the meeting and had been “surprised by her refusal”. After meeting Christian President Michel Aoun - her first public handshake with a head of state - and Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri on Monday, she had been scheduled to meet the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian

He heads the Dar al-Fatwa, the top religious authority for Sunni Muslims in the multireligious country. “The Lebanese and Arabs, like most of the world, considers that France is the home of human rights and the republican state makes no distinction between citizens on ethnic, religious or class grounds.”

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Speaking after meeting French President Francois Hollande in Paris, Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon, said Le Pen had “insulted” the Lebanese and Syrian people.
French National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen leaves before her scheduled meeting in Beirut with Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim religious leader, Grand Mufti Abdellatif Deryan, following her refusal to accept the offered headscarf to cover her hair. Le Pen's aides had been informed earlier about the traditional, religious need for a headscarf for this meeting.