Friday, March 29, 2024

Gender separation of passengers in Kano: Islamic cleric hails decision, urges piety

A recent decision by the Kano State Government to enforce the separation of male and female passengers in commercial tricycles has been applauded as a return to the good old days, when moral upbringing and religious dedication were the order of the day.
The Deputy President of Habibullahi Islamic Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdulmaliq Junaid, gave the commendation at the weekend during a chat with our correspondent in Lagos.
He said Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, realising that his state is largely an Islamic setting, took the bull by the horn in deciding to enforce the separation of female passengers from their male counterparts in commercial vehicles, to ensure decency.
Last week, the Kano Government through the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Tricycles, had organised a sensitisation workshop for tricycle operators in the state, on the need to separate the female passengers from their male counterparts.
The workshop also dwelled on the need to eschew reckless driving during marriage ceremonies, and the use of telephone earpiece, while driving. The state government had said the workshop was a prelude to full enforcement of laws prohibiting such infractions.
Commending the new policy of gender separation of commuters, Junaid the governor’s policy was in line with the Holy Quran.
According to him, the meeting together, mixing, and intermingling of men and women in one place, and the crowding of them together, and the revealing and exposure of women to men, are prohibited by the law of Islam (Shari’ ah).
Junaid added that these acts are prohibited because they are among the causes for fitnah (temptation or trial which implies evil consequences), the arousing of desires, and the committing of indecency and wrongdoing.
He quoted the Qur’an in Surat al-Ahzab, verse 53 as stating, “For anything ye want, ask them from before a screen: that makes for greater purity for your hearts and for theirs…” adding that Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) had expatiated the verse thus: “I forbid you to enter their rooms (women who are not your wives); I forbid you to look at them at all. If one wants to take something from them, one should do so without looking at them. If one wants to ask a woman for something, the same has to be done from behind a screen.”
He noted that the Prophet (S.A.W) enforced separation of men and women even at Allah’s most revered and preferred place, the mosque.
“This was accomplished via the separation of the women’s rows from the men’s; men were asked to stay in the mosque after completion of the obligatory prayer so that women will have enough time to leave the mosque; and, a special door was assigned to women. Evidence of the foregoing are:
He opined that if these procedures and precautions were prescribed and adhered to in a mosque, which is a pure place of worship where people are as far away as they ever are from the arousal of desire and temptation, then no doubt the same procedures need to be followed even more rigorously, at other places as this is the greatest evidence that the Law of Islam (Shari’ah) forbids meeting and mixing of men and women.
Sheikh Junaid stressed that Muslims should not willfully choose or accept mixing and crowding, particularly in religious classes and council meetings in Islamic centres and that they should also endeavour to take precautions to avoid meeting and mixing of men and women as much as possible, while at the same time achieving desired goals and objectives.

Popular Articles