Hijab saga: ‘Law School violated Firdaus’ right’

An Islamic scholar, Dr. Mustapha Bello, has urged the necessary authorities, especially the National Judicial Council, to address “the violation of the fundamental human rights of a Muslim graduating law student” that took place recently.
Bello, who is an associate professor of Islamic Religion and Peace Studies at the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, said the case of the Nigerian Law School graduate, Amasa Firdaus, who was refused a call to the bar for failing to remove her hijab during graduation ceremony, was a clear case of rights’ violation.
Firdaus had reacted upon the controversy she stirred up, saying her wearing of hijab for the graduation ceremony was to challenge the Law School’s norm, which had been in operation for years, “as there is no law preventing a female Muslim lawyer from wearing hijab.”
Bello, in his reaction, noted that the Nigerian Legal Council should know that every society is not only governed by the law but also by customs, traditions and beliefs.
He said, “The issue of hijab should not be a religious one but the issue of an individual, to be able to express their religious and cultural identities and beliefs, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
“I am sure you must have watched on television, different convocation ceremonies where sultans or obas were being inducted or conferred as either chancellors of universities or with honorary degrees.
“Quite often, we find very many of them; the academic cap is always placed on the turban of the emir or sultan and also on the cap of a traditional
ruler.
“Nobody will ask a sultan to remove his turban because he is to be vested as a chancellor of a university; so, the issue of Firdaus is not just about religion, but about the Law School or the legal council, to understand that every society is not only ruled by law but also by customs and traditions.”
Bello said that if Muslim lawyers were allowed to adorn their hijabs in the United Kingdom, America and other parts of the world, Nigeria’s case should not be different, adding that it was high time the phobia that people had for hijab be nipped in the bud.
Firdaus’ case, he noted, was not the first of its type as there was a similar case in Lagos, when a woman molested another woman for wearing hijab in the court, noting that such an infraction was now turning a recurring
decimal.
“I feel the wrong done to Firdaus should be addressed by concerned authorities, because it has become an issue in the public opinion and very eminent Nigerians and legal luminaries have spoken that Firdaus has not contravened any law of the Nigerian Constitution.
“So, we urge the Nigerian Judicial Council to be bold enough to do what it deems fit and allow Firdaus to be properly admitted into the legal profession,” he demanded.