PROTEST AGAINST RAPE: ADDRESS INDECENT DRESSING FIRST

3^rd August, 2017

PRESS RELEASE:

PROTEST AGAINST RAPE: ADDRESS INDECENT DRESSING FIRST

A group of people under the banner of War Against Rape (WAR) staged a protest in Lagos today demanding an end to rape. The protest was staged at the office of the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.

Although the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) condemns rape and all forms of violence and coercion, the protest was misplaced and the protesters themselves were ill-informed and misguided. This protest is sheer cosmetic exercise.

We posit that rape is an affront against the dignity of womanhood and an assault on humanity. It should be condemned in the strongest terms. Nonetheless, taking a protest against rape to the governor’s office is a misdirection of target audience, a waste of man-hour and mere window-dressing. It cannot scratch the surface, talk less of hitting the subterranean region.

Rape is on the increase mainly because moral bankruptcy has hit its peak. Women are no longer ashamed of exposing their bodies in public, whether in front or at the back. Even dresses which do not expose their bodies are sewn so tight that no one is left in doubt about the objective. It is the age of dress-to-kill. But women forget that many of them will fall victims of stray bullets.

Indecent dressing is a provocation and this is the issue which decent societies must address. MURIC invites WAR to launch a campaign against indecent dressing. The way you dress is the way you will be addressed. You cannot send out a letter without receiving a reply. Many responsible corporate entities now disallow women who are scantily dressed from entering their premises. They also send back female staffers who appear in provocative and daring outfits.

WAR should tell women to elevate their self-dignity. Why do women allow themselves to be turned into money making machines (ATM) for capitalist enterprises? Why do they pose half nude in adverts, magazine covers, etc? Why are women ever so willing to expose their Allah-given delicacies to naked eyes?  

Government’s role should only be complementary. The governor does not dictate your taste in fashion. Women who elect to cut their blouses low at the front and their skirts outrageously short above the thighs have deliberately entered into a contract with men who are sick upstairs. Women should be told in clear and unequivocal terms that indecent dressing constitutes sexual harassment.

The Glorious Qur’an says, “Oh ye children of Adam, we have given you garments to cover your shame and to be an adornment for you. But the dress of righteousness is the best…Oh ye children of Adam, let not Shaytan (Satan) seduce you …” (Qur’an 7:26-27)  

In conclusion, MURIC advises parents and guardians to pay special attention to what their female children and wards wear. Women should desist from dressing up little female children like adults. Neither should they leave them unmonitored with strange men. The movements of teenage girls should be strictly monitored and they should not be sent on errands to men. In addition, married women should learn to adorn themselves respectfully.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,
President,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)