Professor Ishaq Akintola
reacted to Professor Wole Soyinka’s view on the subject of muslim insisting on
wearing hijab to schools instead of uniform.
Ishaq Akintola is a Professor of
Islamic Eschatology, Muslim Activist, Human Rights Activist, Social
Commentator, Advocate of Dialogue.
Professor Wole Soyinka on
Sunday 26th June 2016 waded into the hijab controversy in the State of Osun. In
an article titled ‘To Everything, Its Place’, the much respected Nobel Laureate
descended heavily on Muslims for daring to seek approval for the use of hijab.
The
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is fully aware of Soyinka’s great contribution to
the attainment of democratic rule which we are all enjoying in Nigeria today.
We also acknowledge his role in the uplifting of Nigeria’s image particularly
in the circle of intellectuals worldwide.
Nonetheless,
we are amused that our intellectual guru deployed all the Weapons of Faith
Destruction (WFD) in his arsenal to his Islam-bashing combat field but saw
nothing wrong with the way leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) Osun chapter incited Christian students in their rejection of the court
judgment which was favourable to the Muslims.
Nothing
was said about CAN’s gross disrespect for the rule of law. Could he have
forgotten that CAN’s attitude constitutes serious threat to democracy and the
rule of law which Soyinka himself fought hard to enthrone?
Professor
Soyinka contended that the issue of hijab was never raised “for several
decades” after independence and assumed that the Christian uniform is the
conventional or, in his own words ‘common dress code’. We beg to disagree sir.
We assert that the revered Nobel Laureate is not only taking too much for
granted but also taking liberty for license.
MURIC
affirms that Professor Soyinka still needs to do his homework very well before
going to press. Contrary to his claim that hijab was not mentioned for decades,
Muslims in Yorubaland have been agitating for civil rights right from
independence and the files of governments at both federal and state levels are
full of petitions forwarded on issues of the Allah-given fundamental rights of
Muslims. Those petitions were repeatedly submitted on a regular basis by Muslim
communities and Islamic organizations. Of course Soyinka is not expected to
know this but it goes to show the limitations of human knowledge even among
nobel laureates.
To
assume that the current school uniform used in public schools should be the
dress code is to commit gross injustice to a large section of the populace. We
have heard activists complaining that the authors of the Nigerian constitution
did not consult the Nigerian people before writing it yet they ‘fraudulently’
claimed that “We, the Nigerian people…”
The
colonialists committed the same fraud against Nigerian Muslims when they
replaced Islamic landmarks with Christo-British practices and this includes the
school uniform. Islam was in Nigeria for 800 years and in Yorubaland for 200
years before the advent of Christianity but British sense of fairness could not
go beyond uprooting what it met on ground.
Islamic
schools in Lagos alone were more than fifty by the year 1775 and they used
hijab as part of their uniform. This was long before the arrival of the British
in Nigeria and the advent of Western schools with their Christian school
uniform. What was imposed by colonial fiat cannot be called ‘common dress code’
by any common sense.
Let
us reiterate for the umpteenth time and for the avoidance of doubts that to us
as Muslims the present uniform is Christian uniform unless Soyinka can convince
us that the British were not Christians. Justice, equity and fairness demands
that this should have been revisited immediately after independence.
Yet
what the Muslims are asking for is not more than a slight adjustment from the
head to the bosom to be made of the same stuff and colour with the school
uniform. We are not asking for any different uniform for Muslim students who
are males. It is only for the girls.
Professor
Wole Soyinka sir, with all due respect, you are well known for your atheistic
propensities and you do not hide it. We respect you for that. But you cannot
sit in judgement over religious matters since you do not believe in religion.
You cannot give what you do not have. We even expected that you would ask both
Christians and Muslims in Yorubaland to go back to their culture thereby using
‘buba, sokoto, iro, gele and iborun’. MURIC would have welcomed such a
suggestion because all we want is decent dresses for our daughters.
Soyinka’s
vilification of Nigerian Muslims is legendary. It would have been normal if he
had once taken up the Christian folks but we cannot remember when last he did
that. We also cannot forget so soon how he lampooned the late Dr. Lateef
Adegbite (leader of Yoruba Muslims) severally during his life time. This
lopsided trend is quite disturbing because we see it as deliberate. A little
balancing will give more credibility to our revered Nobel Laureate.
It
is high time Professor Soyinka picked another pastime instead of bullying
Muslims. The way Soyinka and Femi Falana took up the Ese Oruru brouhaha earlier
this year was astounding. The prejudice was crystal clear. Whereas CAN was the
first to raise the issue of religion in the matter by pointing accusing fingers
at Nigerian Muslims and MURIC merely reacted, Soyinka and Falana called a press
conference just because of MURIC. It was an unprecedented albeit unnecessary
bullying. They lambasted MURIC for “turning a personal issue into a religious
one”. We simply ignored the duo at the time to avoid heating up the polity.
On
a final note, we assure Professor Wole Soyinka of our greatest regard for his
person. However, we advise him to commence a balancing reengineering of his
views about Muslims. We are not asking him not to criticize us, but he needs to
balance it sometimes if not all the time. His credibility will be greatly
shaken if he continues to bully and vilify Muslims. If Soyinka really believes
in his ‘To Everything, Its Place’, we most respectfully remind him that ‘To
every group, its due.’
Professor Ishaq Akintola
Ishaq school hav e being wearing uniforms in regardless of religion in Naija since without complain why insist muslim must wear hijab now? so silly
ReplyDeleteTHEY WANT TO TAKE OVER START UNNECESSARY PROBLEM DEM NO DEY TIRED. NAIJA HAS ENOUGH PROBLEMS MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO FOCUS ON PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
ReplyDeleteCorporate Seminar Finance Insurance tech Hedgefund Fashion Health Fitness
ReplyDeleteWellness LifeStyle Concierge BaccaratHotel PeninsulaHotel MandarinHotel MeToo - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for Executives