Hijab Victory: Your recognising identity of Muslim person has earned you Muslims’ confidence in Nigerian Legal Education, MURIC tells Law School

*Says Firdaus Amasa’s name must be written in letters of gold

*Says history of liberation struggle of Nigerian Muslims in heavily Christianised society must have girl’s name in letters of gold

*As Muslim Media Practitioners celebrate hijab heroine in Abuja

By Bashir Adefaka

“In particular, we treasure the advice, logistic and diplomatic support provided by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the able, visionary and dynamic leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. Equally praise-worthy are millions of Muslim youths who heeded our appeal for calm and therefore avoided public demonstrations over the Law School hijab imbroglio. This is indubitable evidence that MURIC’s efforts at re-engineering Muslim youths towards non-violence is yielding fruits.  To cap the edifice, we salute Amasa Firdaus. This is our heroine and our ambassador extra-ordinary. She is the game changer who successfully challenged an unjust status quo.”

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has commended the Nigerian Law School for calling Amasa Firdaus to Bar.

Amasa was denied into the hall for the ceremony in December 2017 in Abuja, by some Law School management members suspected to be working on instigation by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), to have her requisite Call-to-Bar on excuse that she refused to remove her hijab.

The denial attracted a Tsunami of criticisms and the attempt by the House of Representatives to intervene via public hearing was truncated by a court injunction, suspected to have originated from further efforts by CAN using the Christian Lawyers Association of Nigeria, which took the House of Representatives to court with a view to stopping it from resolving the matter.

CAN took the lead in the blocking of all efforts being made as its own submitted papers to the House committee transcended even the concerned Muslims’ before the Christian lawyers obtained the court injunction that finally stopped the public hearing.

The Nigerian Law School may however have been informed by sense of decency and patriotism under the law as it made u-turn Tuesday to go ahead and hand the girl her rights to practice in Nigeria as qualified lawyer, a development which many observed should now put to permanent stop anti-hijab crusade of CAN and its agents in government institutions, whom it uses to frustrate Muslims in the country in the practice of their religion thereby causing disaffection in the land.

Reacting to the latest decision by the Law School, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) hailed the Nigerian Law School, the Body of Benchers and the Council of Legal Education for deeming it right to grant redress by calling Amasa Firdaus to bar with her hijab.

MURIC said this, even as President of the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN), Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Balogun, leads other Muslim professionals and faithful to host a reception at the National Mosque Conference Hall, Abuja, this Wednesday, in honour of the fresh lawyer.

In a press statement signed by its director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the Muslims Rights Concern (MURIC) said the Nigerian Law School has succeeded in restoring the confidence of Nigerian Muslims in legal education by giving recognition to the identity of the Muslim person.

MURIC appealed to the authorities to allow other female Muslim students who elect to wear hijab below their wigs in future call to bar ceremonies.

The organisation argued that Muslims cannot be fully integrated into all aspects of Nigerian life unless authorities make inclusiveness a cardinal principle in their policies, rules and regulations.

MURIC also commended the House of Representatives for its quick intervention in the Law School hijab saga. The association lauded all Islamic organisations which showed interest in the struggle to liberate the Nigerian Muslim woman from the shackles of neo-colonialism as epitomized by the Amasa Firdaus phenomenon.

“In particular, we treasure the advice, logistic and diplomatic support provided by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the able, visionary and dynamic leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. Equally praise-worthy are millions of Muslim youths who heeded our appeal for calm and therefore avoided public demonstrations over the Law School hijab imbroglio. This is indubitable evidence that MURIC’s efforts at re-engineering Muslim youths towards non-violence is yielding fruits.

“To cap the edifice, we salute Amasa Firdaus. This is our heroine and our ambassador extra-ordinary. She is the game changer who successfully challenged an unjust status quo. Her name must be written in letters of gold when the history of the liberation struggle of Nigerian Muslims in a heavily Christianised society is finally chronicled.

“We doff our hats for her father, Alhaji Abdullahi Amasa, for sacrificing so much for a cause in which he believes. His preference for obeying Almighty Allah instead of pleasing ordinary mortals and his choice of al-Akhirah (the Hereafter) over and above this ephemeral world gave birth to the resilience manifested by his daughter.

“In conclusion, we urge female Muslim law students who are already accustomed to using hijab to continuing wearing it without nursing any fear of persecution. Hijab is an Allah-given fundamental human right of every Muslim woman. Our hijab is our right and our right is our right. We assure Nigerian Muslim women of unflinching solidarity and full support of Nigerian Muslims.

“Nonetheless, we appeal to Muslims throughout the country to be humble in victory, to seek no vengeance, to avoid issuing provocative statements and to pray for a brilliant and successful law carreer for Amasa Firdaus”.