We won’t back down on our right to wear hijab —Al-Mu’minaat

AL-MU’MINAAT (the Believing Women) Organisation is resolved to continue to fight for the constitutional right of Muslim women and girls in Nigeria to wear hijab without any fear of discrimination.

The National Amirah, Hajiya Nihmatullah Abdul-Quadri, stated this on Wednesday during a press briefing held at the organisation’s national headquarters in Lagos, in commemoration of the World Hijab Day, which is being observed across the globe today.

Hajiya Abdul-Quadri said in the past year, Nigerian Muslim women and girls came under attack like never before and this had increased in them, the will and strength to fight on for their constitutional rights using all means devoid of violence.

She accused the Nigerian government, through its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as companies, schools – private and public – and “bigoted individuals” of demonstrating hatred for Islam and Muslims.

She condemned what the recent treatments meted out to Muslim girls and ladies wearing the hijab even as she noted that some school heads in Lagos State have repeatedly flouted a subsisting court judgement permitting the use of hijab in schools.

“Almost on a daily basis, secondary school students call in to lay complaints of a staff member of their schools forcing them to pull off their hijab. From Lagos State schools to the University of Ibadan International School, Ibadan, to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Staff School, to schools of nursing in the South West, the sad story is the same.

“We have thus concluded that there is a grand plan playing out. A plan to either stop Muslim girls, the Muslim girl-children from being educated or change their religion; a colonial missionary policy in post-independent Nigeria.

“Meanwhile, we want the world to see us as a state working to increase enrolment, reduce the number of out-of-school children and increase access to education for the girl-child thus empowering the women. We want the world to believe that we are assiduously working to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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“It is obvious that sisters in hijab are attaining success upon success in their various endeavours. From schools to professions and even in businesses, we are shattering stereotypes of backwardness and breaking barriers. We are changing the narratives of failures to high achievements.

“Today, we also have scores of sisters in their hijab practising in various professions even as senior consultants in secondary and tertiary health facilities across the length and breadth of Nigeria.

“This is just the beginning. Failure stories have stopped. The narratives have changed, too. The future is bright for overtake. And the signal is clear and evident. This situation isn’t going down well with some people in some quarters. They are jittery. But that is not our concern.

“We are using this medium to tell our fellow Nigerians and the world at large that we shall get our constitutional rights. This is assured. We repose our confidence in Allah, the Creator, and every available legal instrument that has given us unassailable backing.

“Thus, discriminating against Muslims in hijab must stop forthwith. Al-Mu’minaat and the Muslim community will not overlook it. Individuals and groups, public or private who engage in discrimination or profiling of Muslims in hijab will be duly taken up through all non-violence means.

“Is it too much to ask to be allowed to be Muslims? To practise same in peace while not infringing on other people’s rights? We do not know how Muslim girls’ hijab affects negatively her colleagues in schools or workplaces or even neighbours. Allow us to be Muslims indeed and in truth as the constitution has guaranteed us this inalienable right.

“The freedom to practise any religion in Nigeria is guaranteed and circumscribed in Section 38 (1) of 1999 Constitution as amended.

“It states: ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance’.

“It is abundantly clear that our right to practise our desired religion is guaranteed under the law and as such, Muslims are entitled to wear their hijab anywhere as it is part and parcel of their religion. By this, any act of restraining Muslim girls from using their hijab while in school is a direct violation of their right to freedom of religion and freedom to practise same.

“We hereby acknowledge the unity of Muslims and Muslim organisations on this struggle for our rights across the country, while calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to join hands with us to put a stop to this unconstitutional discrimination against Islam and Muslims. An injury to one is an injury to all. The Muslim girl-children will continue to go to school, attain success here and hereafter.

“We also call on the government at all levels to act fast and direct all its agencies, departments to stop unwarranted discrimination against Muslim girls in hijab.

“Continuous silence on the festering hijab crisis is not golden at all because those who make peaceful change impossible are indirectly making violent change inevitable. And that is not the way to go in a country already battling with various challenges.”