PREAMBLE
Controversy is a Nigerian. It occupies a delicate but
vintage position in the hearts of most citizens and
revolves incessantly around trivial matters often to the
detriment of serious and meaningful issues. In no other
country of the world does controversy thrive as much as
it does in Nigeria.
Nigerians take pride in the vainglory
offishing out controversy even where it serves no
purpose. When public controversy in Nigeria is not about
politics, it may be about tribe or religion or gender. If this
country is most qualified for any adorable medal it is in
the realm of controversy.
Through such controversies certain peculiar vocabulary
such as tribalism, nepotism, marginalisation,
‘islamisation’and annulment often surface.
THE CURRENT CONTROVERSY
Currently, another controversy is raging in the country.It
is about an allegedly proposed ban on the Muslim
women attire called Hijab.
Incidentally, this controversy is between the Nigerian
Muslim community and the Federal Government on the
one hand and within the Muslim community on the other.
Some Muslims are alleging that the Federal Government
is planning to ban the wearing of hijab by Muslim women
and are therefore calling on President Muhammadu
Buhari not to dare it as such action may entail serious
implications.
Ironically, some other Muslims believe that the gross
abuse to which hijab is subjected(especially by Boko
Haram vandals) as well as the embarrassment which
such abuse constitutes to Islam has long warranted the
ban on hijab.
In the melee, a fierce controversy has ensued between
both sides.Thus,some Muslim groups and individuals
have taken to the internet to sensitise the Nigerian
Muslim Ummah on the need to counter the alleged
proposal with a view to preempting the Federal
Government from turning such allegation into a reality.
PROPOSAL TO BAN HIJAB
What most Nigerians, especially Muslim agitators, do
not seem to know is that the proposal to ban hijab did
not emanate from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Rather,it came out of a security meeting held by the
Presidents of West African countries otherwise called
ECOWAS. And the reason for resorting to such a
proposal is the well-known rampant and continuous
mass killing of innocent people with bomb blasts by
some devilish elements who callously use such dress to
conceal the bombs.
The proposal came up subsequent to the experience in
countries such as Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon
where the spate of mass murder by bomb blasts
concealed in Islamic dress in those countries went down
tremendously, following the ban on certain types of
hijab.
This experience came to confirm that the abuse of those
female Muslim garments by some devilish elements in
the society who are bent on decimating Islam by all
means. It is the main cause of mass killing adopted by
Boko Haram devils.
However, despite the ban on those types of hijab,
Muslim women in those countries still cover their heads
as well as their bodies but not in the types of robe that
can aid concealment of bombs. Besides, the three
governors of the frontline states in the Boko Haram war
(Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe) have also proposed the
banning of the dress for the purpose of peace.
WHAT IS HIJAB?
Linguistically, the Arabic word hijab means rein which is
a kind of strap with which a domestic animal, such as
horse, is cautioned against dangerous surge or unbridled
aggression.
Derivatively, hijab is a kind of scarf adopted in Islam for
Muslim women to cover their heads as well as to protect
the sensitive parts of their bodies against immoral or
sensual exposure. This is to prevent any possible
harassment or abuse to which immoral dressing easily
subjects women in the society.
By Islamic prescription, hijab is mostly meant for
women who have attained the age of puberty. But
younger women may wear it as a rehearsal in
preparation for their attainment of puberty.
TYPES OF HIJAB
Although the general name by which this attire is known
is hijab, there are other names according to the types
designed draped and worn by various Muslim women in
various countries and Muslim societies of the world.
There are several types of this attire.
For instance, in
most Arab countries, it is either called Abayah (loose
and flowing outer garment that covers the entire body
from head to feet excluding the face) or Al-Amirah
(which consists of a close fitting cap, usually made from
cotton or polyester in form of an accompanying tube-like
scarf) or Burqah (a complete cloak-like garment that
covers the entire body including the head and the face)
or Khimar (which is almost same as Burqah except for
its exclusion of Niqab).
Niqab is the special substance meant to cover the nose
of a Burqah wearing woman. In short, the name depends
on the pattern of sewing and the community in which it
is worn.
Meanwhile, the type of attire which the Boko Haram
heretic group forces some women to conceal bomb in
and which most Nigerians generally call hijab is either
Burqah or Khimar or Abayah. These are the types
banned in Niger, Chad and Cameroon which are also
being proposed for banning in the entire West African
region.
WHY DO MUSLIM WOMEN WEAR HIJAB?
Hijab is a dress of decency divinely prescribed for
Muslim women to preserve their chastity and to ward off
any indecent attraction that may cause public
harassment for them or subject them to sexual
abuse.See Quran 33 verse 59 which states thus in
respect of hijab:
“O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the
wives of Muslim believers to clad themselves in their
outer garments;that is more dignifying for them to be
identified with so that they will not be harassed; Allah is
most forgiving, Merciful”.
GENESIS OF HIJAB
Long before the advent of Islam, hijab had been in use by
women of various religions, including Jews, Hindus,
Zoroastrians, Christians and Buddhists though it was
called different names.
Head cover (hijab) was globally regarded as a spiritual
dress of dignity as women who wore it were accorded
high level of respect.
Today, as in the days of yore, each
community has a name for it in consonance with its
religion and language. For instance, it is called Chardon
in Iran just as it is called Dupatta in Pakistan and
Mukena or Selendang in Indonesia. In Malaysia, it is
called Tudung or Kerudung.
But Islam came to
statutorily adopt it in the early 7th century as a peculiar
identity for Muslim women in some countries in Asia and
the Middle East, including Arabia.
Hijab is not necessarily a combination of long garment
plus scarf as designed in the mentioned countries. And
Islam did not limit it to any particular design or colour.
Other dignifying dresses like the type of “up and
down” (Buba and Iro) type of attire worn decently by
Nigerian Muslim women in the Northern and South
Western parts of the country which do not expose their
bodies in any way is equally qualified to be called hijab.
It is rather unfortunate that some satanic forces have
now turned the protective dress generally called hijab
into an instrument of death by violence. But this is not
quite strange since virtually every beneficial substance
anywhere in the world today is satanically abused.
HISTORY OF HIJAB
Hijab reached the Arabian Peninsula from India via
Persia (now Iran) several centuries before the advent of
Islam.
It was originally meant for the upper class people,
such as princesses and wives of monarchs. But it later
became a dress for all willing women when it was
adopted by Islam not as a dress of class but as a
respectable dress of chastity. Islam is not a religion of
class. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was divinely
mandated to preach the religion of peace to all and
sundry. Thus, hijab as an adopted dress for Muslim
women could not have been discriminatory as it used to
be before the advent of Islam.
Despite its adoption as an Islamic dress, the type of
hijab designed and worn in some Muslim countries is
not necessarily mandatory on all Muslim women.
What is mandatory is decent dressing that keeps chastity and
maintains fidelity.
Every nation has its language and
culture. Islam does not reject a particular language or
culture except it contradicts any of its fundamental
tenets. That is why Muslim women who wear either
Burqah or Khimar are in the minority worldwide. A
woman who does not wear Burqah or Khimar cannot be
declared persona-non grata in Islam. As far as dressing
in Islam is concerned, decency is the general norm.
IMPLICATIONS OF BANNING HIJAB
Hijab, like any other decent dress is a matter of human
right which no government can unilaterally ban.
But if
anything in Islam constitutes danger to human lives and
constitutes threat to peace in a society, such a thing
could be banned or suspended for the purpose of peace.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) showed a good example of
this when he sacrificed a whole pillar of Islam (Hajj) for
the purpose of peace in 628 CE. Six years after he was
forced to migrate from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE, he
decided to go on pilgrimage in Makkah following
inspiration to perform Hajj that year.
The Prophet’s Example
Thus, accompanied by 1400 Muslim men and women
who were fully dressed in Hajj regalia, the Prophet set
out on pilgrimage in March 628 CE. The congregation
had taken along with them all their needs including the
rams they would slaughter. He had thought that the
Meccans would respect the sacredness of the month and
honour pilgrimage as customary in Makkah. But that
assumption did not work.
On getting information about the Prophet’s trip to
Makkah for pilgrimage, the Meccans quickly assembled
and sent a delegation to meet the him and his entourage
on their way to Makkah to tell them that they would not
be allowed to enter the city.
Most of the Prophet’s companions were infuriated by
that message from the Meccans and urged the Prophet
to promptly declare a war. But the Prophet turned down
such a request and rather asked the Meccans to come
up for a treaty that would facilitate peace. Thus, each
side set up a peace committee and they jointly resolved
to put the treaty into writing.
In the process of writing the treaty, the Meccans
objected to any reference to the name of Muhammad
(SAW) as a‘Prophetof Allah’. The Prophet’s Companions
countered the objection and insisted on preceding
Muhammad’s name with the word Prophet. But again,
the Prophet calmed down his companions and agreed to
the demand of the Meccans.
THE CLAUSES OF THE TREATY
The contents of the treaty signed by the leaders were as
follows:
1. Both parties would cease hostilities for a period of
ten years.
2. The parties would not interfere with the free
movement of one another.
3. The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah upon him)
would return that year, but the Muslims would be
permitted to enter Makkah the following year.
4. Any Muslim man coming from the Quraysh to join
the Muslims would be sent back, but any man going
from the Muslims to Quraysh would not be sent
back.
5. Any tribes other than the Quraysh that wished to
enter an alliance with Muhammad (Peace and
blessings of Allah upon him) were free to do so, and
any that wished to enter an alliance with the
Quraysh were free to do so.
By the contents of that treaty, the Muslims were
prevented from performing that year’s Hajj which was to
be the Prophet’s first Hajj.
That showed the value of
peace in Islam.But eventually, the treaty turned out to be
a victory for Islam as it became an unprecedented
catalyst for the propagation the religion.
CONCLUSION
If Prophet Muhammad (SAW) could go so far to ventilate
the atmosphere for peace why can’t the Muslims of
today follow suit?
I am a Muslim who believes strongly in the use of Hijab
by Muslim women. But considering the thousands of
lives so far lost in Nigeria through the abuse of Islamic
dress by some devilish elements one would think that
Nigerian Muslims should show understanding and co-
operate with the authorities on any reasonable measure
that will stem the spate of killings without disrupting
their mode of worship. Banning hijab is not the same as
banning the practice of Islam. Life is sacred. And to
worship, one needs to be alive. God bless Nigeria.
WE WANT TO ASSURE THE ENTIRE MUSLIM UMMAH THAT TARIQQ CONSULT NIGERIA'S SCHOLARS AND RESEARCH TEAMS ARE WORKING ON A COMPREHENSIVE REPLY ENOUGH TO SHOT THIS ACCLAIMED MUSLIM FEMI.
KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSS....
