New Delhi: Muslim clerics on Tuesday urged the Allahabad High Court to reconsider its judgment on wearing the hijab with a school uniform, maintaining that wearing the head covering is “compulsory” in Islam.
The Allahabad High Court, in a significant judgment, had held that a student does not have the right to alter the dress code prescribed by an educational institution according to personal preferences.
The court dismissed a petition filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, seeking directions to the school authorities to allow her to wear a headscarf along with the prescribed uniform.
Reacting to the verdict, All India Muslim Jamaat President Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said the school uniform code and hijab were separate matters and should not be viewed together.
Speaking to IANS, Bareilvi said that students must follow the rules and regulations of an institution within the school premises. On hijab, he said its use was clearly mentioned in the Quran.
“I would request the lawyer and the judges to please refer to the Quran, Hadith (and other religious texts), from where they will get to know about the Islamic practices,” he added.
Islamic Centre of India Chairman Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli said the court’s decision on hijab should be reviewed and reconsidered.
Maintaining that hijab is an integral part of Islam according to the Quran and Hadith, he said girls who wished to attend school wearing a scarf or hijab should not be stopped. At the same time, he said every student must wear the prescribed uniform to study at the school.
“However, scarf or hijab should be allowed along with the uniform,” he said, adding that people of other faiths also wear certain religious articles without facing objections.
President of the Shia Markazi Chand Committee, Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, also said there was no objection to school dress codes and that students should wear the prescribed uniform.
However, if a girl sought permission to wear a hijab or headscarf, he said, it should be granted. He also objected to the Allahabad High Court’s observation that hijab was not an essential part of Islam.
“According to Quran, the hijab is compulsory in Islam,” Naqvi said. However, he added that women who did not wear hijab should not be considered outside the fold of Islam.
Naqvi told IANS that the Allahabad High Court’s decision should be challenged in the Supreme Court.
All India Shia Personal Law Board General Secretary Maulana Yasoob Abbas echoed the view, saying that hijab was compulsory in Islam and that people of different religions and faiths lived in India.
He said that preventing a girl from attending school in a scarf when she wished to wear one was “absolutely wrong” and urged the court to reconsider its decision. Citing the Constitution, Abbas said it guaranteed equal rights to people of every religion.
Maulana Sajid Rashidi described the Allahabad High Court’s judgment as “an attack on freedom of an individual’s choice”.
He said the court should focus on pending cases, including those concerning women’s divorce, instead of commenting on religious matters.
With IANS inputs