TWO Saudi clerics have declared Muslim women are exempt from wearing full veils in France, which is planning to ban them, but added they should avoid visiting it as tourists.

The comments by Islamic jurisprudence scholar Mohamed al-Nujaimi and author and cleric Ayed al-Garni come two weeks after French lawmakers passed a bill under which women could be fined for appearing in public with the all-covering burqa or the niqab, which leaves the eyes exposed.

"For a woman who permanently resides in France or is a French citizen, if there is harm in wearing the veil ... it is permitted that she shows her face when need and necessity demand it," Nujaimi said in remarks published by al-Watan newspaper.

Muslim scholars are divided over the veil, disagreeing on whether and how much of a woman's face should be covered. Saudi clerics widely recommend it.

The kingdom is ruled by the House of Saud in alliance with clerics from the austere Wahhabi school of Islam who oversee mosques, the judiciary and education and run their own coercive apparatus, the morals police.

Nujaimi and Garni are not members of the kingdom's official Senior Scholars Authority, which has not commented on the French parliament's decision.

Tourism to Western countries like France, while not forbidden, should be avoided in favor of Muslim countries where veils are allowed, the clerics said. Every summer, tens of thousands of Saudi holidaymakers leave the kingdom and its searing heat to spend their vacationabroad, with many travelling to European countries.

"Tourism in a non-Muslim country is not indispensable, it is not needed, it is however allowed ... but we have a lot of touristic regions in our country and there are a lot of Muslim countries that do not ban the niqab," Nujaimi said.

Saudi Arabia is a major US ally that has close trade and political ties with France, home to Western Europe's largest Muslim minority of almost 5 million. It is thought that only about 2,000 women wear the full-length veil in France.

The new law, which still has to be vetted by France's highest constitutional authority and approved by the Senate, could make France the second European country after Belgium to criminalize the veil.

Comments by the two clerics come as the Louvre museum in Paris - with the support of the Saudi government - is displaying hundreds of artefacts from Saudi Arabia that have never been exhibited before. Among them are many pre-Islamic items.

Exhibiting them in the kingdom would have triggered uproar from many clerics in the kingdom.

• scholar [´skɔlə, ´skɑ-] n.学者；奖学金获得者 (初中英语单词)
• recommend [,rekə´mend] vt.推荐；使受欢迎 (初中英语单词)
• alliance [ə´laiəns] n.联盟；同盟 (初中英语单词)
• western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)
• vacation [və´keiʃən, vei´keiʃən] n.假期；休庭期；腾空 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• apparatus [,æpə´reitəs] n.仪器；装置 (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• forbidden [fə´bidn] forbid的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• indispensable [,indi´spensəbəl] a.绝对必要的 (高中英语单词)
• minority [mai´nɔriti] n.少数(民族)；未成年 (高中英语单词)
• constitutional [,kɔnsti´tju:ʃənəl] a.法治的；体质的 (高中英语单词)
• senate [´senit] n.参议院；上院 (高中英语单词)
• belgium [´beldʒəm] n.比利时 (高中英语单词)
• exempt [ig´zempt] vt.免除 a.免除的 (英语四级单词)
• permanently [´pə:mənəntli] ad.永久地；持久地 (英语四级单词)
• austere [ɔ´stiə] a.严峻(格)的；质朴的 (英语四级单词)
• arabia [ə´reibiə] n.阿拉伯 (英语四级单词)
• uproar [´ʌprɔ:] n.喧嚣；骚动；轰鸣，轰动 (英语四级单词)