Compared to what was expected by their movement, arrested Brotherhood leaders sport a new cleaner chin. As beards can cause public disorder, clerical leaders debate Islamists' "new" look. One important cleric issues fatwas allowing Muslims to trim their beards "in order to bluff the army and the police".

Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Egyptian authorities yesterday arrested Safwat el-Hegazy and Ali Mourad, two prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures, as they tried to flee abroad. The first, with a trimmed beard and wearing a niqab, a female Islamic garment that leaves only the eyes uncovered, was arrested near Siwa, not far from the border with Libya. The second, wearing western clothing, was caught trying to leave the country on a direct flight to Rome.

The anti-Muslim Brotherhood crackdown that began on Monday with the incarceration of the supreme leader Mohammed Badie is pushing some less important leaders of the movement to leave the country. Dressed Western-styled with shaved beards, many are removing all visible signs of their affiliation with the Brotherhood.

A local news website yesterday said that when el-Hegazy was captured the fact that he wore a trimmed beard (pictured) was purely a coincidence. Nevertheless, Mouahmmad Abdulmaksoud, a respected Egyptian cleric, recently issued a fatwa allowing Muslims to shave their beard "in order to bluff the army and the police and arrive safely at pro-Morsi demonstrations"

Among Muslims, wearing an unkept beard has always been a mark of affiliation with radical groups like the Brotherhood, even in a country like Egypt, traditionally more pluralistic and less sectarian in religious terms.

For his part Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa issued a fatwa in January saying that growing a beard, or shaving it off, are both unrelated to Sharia (Islamic law).

In a city under a curfew like Cairo, where groups easily retaliate against each other, even trivial signs like the length of one's beard can have violent consequences.

For some residents of the capital, wearing a beard can spark attacks from pro-military Cairenes against Morsi supporters patrolling some areas of the city.

"People who wear a beard are paying the price for those members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups who have resorted to violence", said May Moujib, professor of political science at Cairo University.