The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as Shiites, has condemned the alleged forceful removal of Hijab by police officers in Abuja, describing it as a grave religious abuse and blasphemy.
According to a statement by Maryam Sani, on behalf of the Sisters Forum of the Islamic movement, the incident involved Muslim women in detention who were allegedly forced to remove their Hijab, a religious headscarf.
The statement denounced the act as a violation of religious freedom and cultural sensitivity.
“We will publicise this abuse to the public (within and outside the country) and also challenge it in the court of law,” the group threatened.
This comes after a one-minute, twenty-one-second video taken within the premises of the FCT Police Command, which was shared in a WhatsApp group of the police community in the FCT went viral on social media showing how the police forcefully removed the Hijab of Muslim sisters, while in police detention.
Sani claimed the Muslim Sisters were arrested during the 2024 Abuja Arba’een Symbolic Trek.
The statement read:
“Our attention has also been drawn to pictures of people arrested during the 2024 Abuja Abra’een Symbolic Trek paraded by the police on 28 August 2024 to newsmen at SARS Abbatoir. The pictures taken by the newsmen also showed our Muslim sisters without Hijab.
“Hijab is a commandment of Allah, the creator of earth and heaven. Allah (T) says in the Qur’an, ‘O Prophet! Say to your wives, your daughters, and the women of the believers that they should let down upon themselves their jalabib.’ (Qur’an: Surah Al-Ahzab, verse 59).
“Hijab is our religion, culture, and right, and the abuse of Hijab is more painful to us than the shelling of live ammunition on us. We will not take this abuse lightly. Certainly, an abuse to Hijab is not just an abuse to the people arrested but to the Muslims and the religion of Islam.
“Verily, the leadership of the police is fully aware of the sanctity of Hijab to Muslims; they just decided to deliberately abuse our religion. First, we condemn the forceful removal of Muslim sisters’ Hijab and consider it an abuse to Muslims and blasphemy to Islam.”
The organisation added that if it is assumed that the perpetrators are not Muslims, it will not believe that during their education, from home training and childhood upbringing at family level through University education and in-service training, they have never learnt how to respect people’s religion and culture.
Meanwhile, the Islamic movement in another round of protest on Friday urged the police authorities to respect people’s religion and culture.
The nationwide protest took place in various cities across the country such as Abuja, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, Zaria, Yobe, Gombe,Bauchi, Jos, Katsina, Kebbi and Niger among others.
In Abuja, the protest kicked off at Banex Juma’at Mosque immediately after the Friday prayers and ended at the popular Banex junction.
In Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna and Katsina, many people joined the protest saying Hijab does not just belong to the Shiites Women.
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