20th
July, 2015
PRESS RELEASE:
BAN
ON HIJAB? IT HAD BETTER NOT BE
The Nigerian press has been agog with the debate on a possible ban on
hijab for the past two weeks. They hinge the focus on the preponderance of
female bombers who wear hijab. Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Gabon and
Congo-Brazaville have also allegedly banned the hijab. So the argument is why shouldn’t
Nigeria?
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) condemns the idea of
placing a ban on hijab. It is as laughable as it is preposterous. It is the
height of provocation. It is an attempt to ridicule Muslims in public. It is
nothing but a hidden crusade against Muslims.
The proponents are simply intolerant, parochial and fanatical
Muslim-haters who have drowned themselves in the ocean of Islamophobia. Above
all, it proves that in spite of so many religious riots which occurred in this
country, some Nigerians have not learnt their lessons as they are still
reluctant to live and let live. We assert that this crude attempt will definitely
fail.
It is widely known that anti-Muslim elements within the
country have tried on several occasions to mislead gullible Nigerians that this
country is a secular state. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Nigeria is a
multi-religious state where freedom of religion should be enjoyed by
Christians, Muslims and traditionalists.
Any attempt therefore to ban hijab in Nigeria will tantamount
to a brutal assault on Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslims. It will be a
contravention of Section 38 (ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
MURIC asserts that the idea of placing a ban on hijab was
floated by anti-Muslim elements in the society who had, in the past, vainly sought
to deny Muslim women of the right to use hijab. The same bigots have been
opposing the use of hijab by female Muslim children in Nigerian public schools.
The same overzealous extremists have always treated Muslim
women in hijab with disdain even in government offices. They ask Muslim women
to remove their hijab while following procedures for obtaining international
passports and driving licences.
This is clearly an attempt to get in the bends what the
enemies of Islam could not get in the straight. Having failed to achieve their sinister
objective in peace times, they have decided to float it in Nigeria’s trying
period believing that such infantile pontification will becloud the Federal
Government’s reasoning. But they have failed woefully.
MURIC asserts clearly, unequivocally and unambiguously
that Nigerian Muslims are not slaves in this country. We are neither servants nor second
class citizens but bona fide
Nigerians and equal partners in the task of building a virile and united
country. We will not allow anyone to blackmail us into submission over the Boko
Haram imbroglio.
Anybody who compares Nigerian Muslims to their Chadian, Nigerian
or Cameroonian counterparts is living in a fool’s paradise. How many Muslims
are in Congo-Brazaville for instance? What applies in those five countries
where hijab was allegedly banned does not apply here. How many religious riots
have you heard of in those countries? How dare you compare them to Nigeria in
this context?
Sentiments apart, the Nigerian society is a very volatile
one and religion is particularly explosive in this country. The Nigerian Muslim
community is sophisticated and cannot be brushed aside by any minority elitist
group brandishing a rustic and myopic idea. We know our rights and our rights
are our rights.
They even got it all wrong. Ordinary hijab was not banned
in those five countries. What was allegedly banned is the burka or full-face veil and the niqab
(face veil with an opening for the eyes). But hatred nursed for fellow Muslim
compatriots informed the exaggeration. They believe this is ample opportunity
to embarrass Islamdom.
Is it not in this same Nigeria that armed robbers often
disguise in police uniform to rob, maim and kill innocent people. Has anyone
ever suggested that police uniform should be banned? Where were those calling
for a ban on hijab when Boko Haram insurgents were using Nigerian Army uniform
to carry out their nefarious activities? Why didn’t they call for a ban on army
uniform because of that? Assassins have struck on many occasions donning suit-up
(trousers, shirt, tie and coat), why haven’t they call for a ban on suit-up?
By the way, are these Muslim haters unaware that there are
hundreds of non-Muslims among Boko Haram insurgents? Our security forces know
better. There have been many cases of non-Muslims disguising as Muslims to launch
attacks. It is indubitable that some people are eager to give Muslims a bad
name in order to smear our religion. It is man’s inhumanity to man.
MURIC advises these Muslim-haters to drop their poisonous
and divisive garbs. Let us all come together, Christians, Muslims and
traditionalists to fight these heartless and unscrupulous Boko Haram marauders
to a standstill. Any call for a ban on hijab is a call to divide Nigerians once
again along religious lines. Any such call is an invitation to chaos.
Nigerian Muslims reject any attempt from any quarter to
treat them with disdain. Respect begets respect. We will not stand akimbo while
conscienceless elements dehumanize our mothers, our daughters and our wives. Hijab is a divine commandment, a religious duty and a civic right.
Any community or country that bans hijab has committed religious apartheid.
Even South Africa has dropped the garb of discrimination.
It is not only a matter of faith but also a matter of
dignity. What kind of son will look on while his mother is being de-robed? No
man worth being called a husband will allow his wife to be molested unchallenged.
Neither will parental instinct allow a father to stand by while his daughter is
treated with ignominy. We refuse to be oppressed.
For the avoidance of doubts, any attempt to enforce a ban
on hijab in present-day Nigeria will polarize the country and throw it into
another religious crisis. It will turn the war against Boko Haram into a war
against Islam. Please stop it right now. Don’t even think about it. Nigeria has
enough trouble on its hands already. It should not even be contemplated in the
North East where the attacks are preponderant otherwise it will turn the
population against our security agents.
Where are the human rights activists? What have they got to
say about the unfolding scenario? Where are the defenders of women’s rights?
Why are these groups always silent when the rights of Muslims are being
violated or about to be infringed? What of all their claims that they are the
ones defending the rights of Muslim women? They should speak up now or forever
remain silent on any issue concerning Muslims.
Enough of this double standard. Are Muslims not also human beings? Is it
objective by any standard to look the other way when Muslims are being
oppressed? It is all so illogical. How can you love our daughters, our wives
and our mothers more than we do? How can you cry louder than the bereaved? But
why are you silent today when open injustice is about to be done?
MURIC challenges activists to open up. Only objectivity can
save rights activists from cells of bias and the time is now. We appeal to the Federal Government to ignore the rantings of rebellious
subjects and enemies of peace who are calling for a ban on hijab. They are an
infinitesimally tiny cell of oppressive elitists who wish to throw Nigeria into
a general pandemonium.
Instead of stigmatizing Muslim women, Nigerian security agents
should be more professional. They should be proactive. Intelligence gathering
and forward-looking anti-crime tactics is the in-thing in serious security
outfits everywhere in the world today. We have agenda for security agencies.
They should go after Boko Haram’s bomb-makers or are they ghosts? Nip Boko
Haram bombing plots in the bud. Destroy their laboratories of evil. Leave our women alone. Let the Muslims go!
Using every peaceful and constitutional means, Nigerian
Muslims will resist any attempt to ban hijab. We can assure Nigerians that if
this happens there will be massive peaceful protests by hitherto docile Muslim
groups, particularly women. We will make so much noise that even the deaf will
beg to be allowed to sleep. We spent the whole of Ramadan praying for peace in
Nigeria. What else do you want? You will hear from our lawyers. Whoever
tramples on the rights of law-abiding Muslims in this country should be ready
for our curses. Nigerians should stop fishing in troubled waters.
Finally, we appeal to Muslims to remain calm and
law-abiding. Those who are in the corridor of power in the country are more
intelligent than the rabble-rousers think. Their plot will not work. We charge
the National Assembly to sink its differences and address this issue. We call
on the Nigerian press to publish for the progress of Nigeria and to avoid all
pressures at publishing to divide the country either on religious or ethnic lines.
The print and electronic media should refrain from inciting the public against
Muslim women.
Professor
Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC)
