Hijab symbol of piety, not oppression — Don

WEARING of hijab by Muslim women is not a symbol of oppression but piety, a former deputy rector of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Dr Habeeba Adam, has said.

Adam made the submission on Tuesday in Ilorin in a paper she presented at the 2022 World Hijab Day celebration organised by the Kwara State chapter of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in (FOMWAN).

The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Hijab Our Crown and Not our Crime’.

According to her, the purpose of the celebration is to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to experience and appreciate hijab.

She said it was also to educate and spread awareness on why hijab is worn, to help highlight and address the challenges faced by women wearing the hijab.

Adam described the hijab as providing female Muslims with spiritual and physical peace and harmony.

She said the hijab signified something deep and accords the Muslim woman or girl the highest form of respect and status in Islam.

“The hijab is basically for modesty but it goes much deeper than just a clothe on your head. It is a symbolic of worship. Modesty is a very key part of the Islamic faith; it is the essence of our faith,” she said.

Adam pointed out that hijab was not an object of oppression or crime and as such, discrimination against those who use the hijab must stop.

“Enduring the silent ban on the use of hijab in public schools is allowing injustice, Muslim women in hijab pay educational tax and their children have rights to go to public schools with their hijabs on if they wish to,” she said.

Also in her lecture, Counsellor, Lamp Bearers Islamic School, Ilorin, Mrs Mutiat Olusheyi, recalled that during the pre-Islamic era, the female child was killed and buried alive by the Arabs because of the shame attached to her birth.

She explained that the advent of Islam emancipated the woman and stopped the infanticide of the females.

“Islam gave economic rights to women to own properties and engage in economic ventures just as their male counterparts.

“The hijab transcends material coverings. It encompasses the whole disposition of the woman and her morality,” she said.

According to her, the hijab is surrounded by piety and God-consciousness and people who use it should not be subjected to ridicule and oppression.

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