The Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit has warned President Muhammad Buhari not to consider or attempt any ban on Hijab. Because
Ban on Hijab means victory for Boko Haram.

The Amir (President) of MSSN LSAU, Mallam Saheed Ashafa, said this at the ongoing December Islamic Vacation Course holding at Epe, Lagos on Wednesday.

According to Ashafa, ban on Hijab means that Boko Haram has succeeded in their deceptive ideology and may strengthen their unjustifiable zeal to kill innocent souls.

But Ashafa condemned the insight saying that such showed that the FG was still considering some unrealistic approach in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria.

"If Hijab ban must be considered, then the government has to also ban use of vehicles, hand bags, cell phones, motocycle and suits because more evils have been perpetrated through them. It's totally illogical to attach Boko Haram attacks to a dress code or pattern. Our Hijab is a garment of honour; it is an apparel of modesty and an outfit commanded to be worn by Allah."

Ashafa, however, condemned Boko Haram and its activities in entirety, but insisted that more practical approaches were needed to defeat the terrorists.

"Just as it would be wrong for anyone to say that suits or vehicles should be banned because they are used to rob or assassinate and terrorise; it would also be unfair  for anybody to consider Hijab ban because of its wrong usage

CALL FOR RESTRAINT ON MR. PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS ON POSSIBILITY OF BANNING HIJAB

The Muslim Congress (TMC) like other Islamic Organisations in Nigeria is disturbed, shocked and offended by the comments of Our Dear President, Muhammadu Buhari during the Presidential chat of Wednesday December 30, 2015 that he may ban Hijab if the suicide mission and senseless bombing of the Boko Haram sect continues. Is this the official New Year gift of Mr. President to the Nigerian Muslim Ummah because it came just two days to 2016?

We seek to inform the public that prior to the Boko Haram insurgency and till date, the Muslim Women and girls have been harassed in schools, offices, embassies, Passport Offices, NYSC camps, hospitals and public institutions for wearing Hijab. The comments of the President during the Presidential chat may open a floodgate to further harassment of a segment of the electorates who voted religiously and passionately for the APC-led government for the purpose of silencing Boko Haram. Why should the hunters be the hunted so soon?

Mr., President just imagine the lopsidedness of the implementation. Do you intend to ask policemen, army or task forces to enforce the proposed Hijab ban? Do you seek to issue circular on banning hijab to the Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals to force the Muslim women in government offices to remove their Hijabs including the wife of Mr. President, wives of the Muslim Governors and obviously the wife of the Communication Minister? Mr. President, do you want to direct the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to strip our girls and women naked?

His Excellency, when our women and girls refused to heed such illegal directives will they be arrested and imprisoned? These ugly pictures are just few of the crisis-ridden scenarios such ban of Hijab will engender in Nigeria. I am not an oracle, there obviously serious crisis ahead if the ban is enforced.

For those who do not know or are poorly informed about Islam vis-à-vis the use of Hijab, the directive to wear Hijab is divine and sacrosanct. No man, no matter how well-positioned in the society can upturn Allah’s instruction. Allah instructs:

“O you Children of Adam! We have bestowed on you raiment to cover your shame as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition.” (Quran 7:26)

“O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.” (Quran 33:59)

The Hijab directive from Allah is decisive. The fact that the Boko Haram Sect members use Hijab as a cover for their heinous crime is not enough justification to ban it. Rather, the security methods, tactics and technologies should be upgraded to stem the antics of this evil group.

In as much as the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria does not give the president the powers to ban eating, drinking, marriage and religion, he cannot ban Hijab. Hijab is part of the dressing of a Muslim woman including the president’s wife and daughters. There was a time in Nigeria when HIV/AID reached an epidemic and pandemic dimension, yet the Presidency did not ban sex. Nigerians suffer untold hardship on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway when a popular religious group organizes its programme, yet there was no ban, rather the untold hardship is being managed. Armed robbers are presently using military uniforms to purse their cause, yet there was no ban on military uniform. The message we seek to pass to those with sound intellect is that you manage your head ache, you don’t cut off or blow up you head.

Finally, we urge the Our Beloved President to be focused in the battle against Boko Haram sect, militants, corrupt Nigerians, bigots, arsonists and refuse to be distracted and misguided into taking a decision that will pitch the Muslims against him, his party and his government under the pretext that Hijab is a kind of dress that will not allow security personnel to be sure of people identities.” PMB invest in modern security equipment and body scanners. Muslims are not terrorists; evil-minder people only exploit our symbols. Are we to be blamed?

SIGNED
Dr. Luqman AbdurRaheem MNIM, FAAE, FCEnt
Amir, The Muslim Congress.

REACTION TO PRESIDENTIAL MEDIA CHAT:
BANNING HIJAB IS ESCAPIST, SCAPEGOATISM

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects any idea of imposing a ban on hijab. It is escapist. It is scapegoatism. It will open the floodgates of anarchy. Instead of solving Nigeria’s security problems, it is most likely to compound it.
If army and police uniforms are not banned although they are often used by bandits, why should we ban hijab? Security agents know how they often fish out hoodlums who use police and soldiers’ uniforms to commit atrocities. The same method should be used to prevent the use of hijab for bombing.
What crime have Nigerian Muslim women committed that they should be derobed in public? Without their hijab, Muslim women feel as if they are naked. Users of hijab are in all walks of life. They are civil servants, business women, teachers, etc. Most importantly, they are tax payers and voters. They voted Buhari into power. Is Buhari’s government warming up to encroach on Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslim women? Is this an appropriate pay-back?
Another dimension in the idea of banning hijab is the geographical area likely to be involved in the ban? Will it be limited to the three troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe? Will it extend to the whole North East or will the ban cover the whole of Nigeria?
The question also arises, Mr. President, if you ban hijab, what is the time frame? When will you deban it? Are we not likely to experience more religious upheavals after the ban as some religious zealots will want to capitalize on the ban by maltreating Muslim women? Will these religious fanatics who use the period of the ban to oppress Muslim women stop their repression even after hijab has been de-proscribed?
Has President Buhari pondered over the impact of the imposition of a state of emergency on those three states by the past administration? Did it stop insurgency? We posit that Boko Haram handlers will simply shift to other methods to conduct their nefarious activities. Already they have introduced suicide bombing by children. Is Buhari going to ban children from going out to the streets?
MURIC appreciates Mr. President’s dilemma. We understand that Boko Haram must be defeated. But Muslim women must not be the scape goats. Nigerian Muslims will not succumb to a policy that dehumanizes their mothers, wives, daughters and sisters. Banning hijab tantamounts to institutionalizing the stereotyping of Muslim women. This is unacceptable.
Hijab is more than a covering for female Muslims. It is a unique identity for Muslim women. It is a mark of dignity and a symbol of piety. Hijab is an integral part of Islam, a microcosm in a macro. Whoever bans hijab has fired a shot at the religion of Islam. We therefore advise Mr. President to tread softly.
Hijab also represents chastity and innocence. By banning hijab, Nigeria will be pronouncing its hypocrisy to the international community as a country which claims to be fighting HIV and AIDS yet it has failed to protect chastity and innocence. Whoever bans hijab has given unbridled licence to indecent dressing among women, its attendant sexual licenciousness and the exposure of society to its aftereffects.

On a final note, we opine that banning hijab will be a mark of victory for Boko Haram. The insurgents will celebrate their success in causing so much confusion and such wide division between the government and its Muslim citizenry.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director, 
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
08182119714
 


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