The Muslim Student Association of Nigeria recently filed a suit against the Lagos State Government over the use of Hijab in primary and secondary schools.
Justice Modupe Onyeabo of a Lagos High Court in Ikeja, has set September 26 to deliver judgment on the case.
Two Muslim students of Aturashe Junior
High School, Surulere, Lagos, filed the suit through their fathers. They
claim the restriction of the use of Hijab at the school violates their
fundamental rights, calling it wrongful and unconstitutional.
According to Channels TV, the date was fixed after counsel to the students Gani Adetola-Kaseem (SAN) and the Lagos State Solicitor-General Lawal Pedro (SAN) argued and adopted their written submissions.
In his arguments in court on Friday,
Adetola-Kaseem stated that the essence of wearing Hijab by Muslim
females is to prevent them from tempting the opposite sex or being
tempted by them.
He insisted that it is mandatory for all
Muslim girls who have attained puberty to participate fully in the
practice of Islam, which includes the dressing mode, worship and
fasting.
And from the Islamic point of view,
womanhood is determined not by biological age or marriage but by the
time the person attain puberty.
Adetola-Kaseem urged to grant the
application because the position of the Lagos State Government, violates
the religious rights of the applicants and the court’s duty to protect
them.
The counsel to the government said that
wearing of uniforms in public primary and secondary schools is for
identification of students from different schools in Lagos, as well as
to encourage a sense of unity, discipline, organisation and orderliness
amongst the schools.
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