The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has rejected the hint by President Muhammad Buhari that he may consider banning the use of Hijab if the spate of bombings currently pervading the Northeastern part of the country continued.
MURIC in a statement by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said that any idea of imposing a ban on hijab is escapist, scapegoatism, adding that such action will open the floodgates of anarchy.
MURIC said that instead of solving Nigeria’s security problems, the ban will most likely compound it.
The group reasoned that if army and police uniforms are not banned although they are often used by bandits, why should hijab be banned, insisting that if 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, according to MURIC, is the geographical area likely to be involved in the ban, wondering if it will it be limited to the three troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe or will be extended to the whole North East or cover the whole of Nigeria.
“The question also arises, Mr. President, if you ban hijab, what is the time frame? When will you un-ban 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?
MURIC says it appreciates the President’s dilemma, particularly the need to defeat Boko Haram, but insisted that 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.
“Buhari and his security chiefs must therefore find other means of stopping the bombings. They should leave Muslim women alone. Nigeria’s security agencies must sit up and device other means. There must be new initiatives and fresh ideas. Armchair crime-fighting is an anachronism. They must not use Muslim women as scapegoats. They must step up their intelligence gathering gimmicks,” it said.
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