Hisbah women playing motherly roles in Kano communities

“We go through various forms of harassment and intimidation. Though we don’t normally go out for raids or arrests, as women, we are however the ones who interact with most of the suspected miscreants. I could remember an incident in which a teenage girl was reported to us by her parents and, being in the […]

“We go through various forms of harassment and intimidation. Though we don’t normally go out for raids or arrests, as women, we are however the ones who interact with most of the suspected miscreants. I could remember an incident in which a teenage girl was reported to us by her parents and, being in the same neighbourhood with the parents, I was assigned to treat the case. The case lasted over two weeks and at the end, we succeeded in convincing the girl and she was re-united with her parents.

“I never knew that some boys had actually encouraged the girl’s defiant behaviour, and so they were not happy with the intervention of the Hisbah office. They blocked my way and called me all sorts of names, threatening to deal with me if I ever dared get involved in what concerns them. It was a terrible experience, but to God be the glory, we survived it.”

The above narration was by a Hisbah woman official, who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity. She was threatened by a group of boys over an issue she intervened in between a teenage girl and her parents.

According to her, she was shocked beyond words but being that the job entails a lot of sacrifices, she was not deterred, she claimed.

Though their roles in communities can’t be over-emphasized, Hisbah women face a lot of difficulties especially with the miscreants in the communities.

According to Wikipedia, “Hisbah is an Islamic doctrine which means ‘accountability’.”

Hisbah is the divinely-sanctioned duty of the ruler (government) to intervene and coercively “enjoin good and forbid wrong” in order to keep everything in order according to Sharia (Islamic law).

So, Hisbah was introduced by some northern states, which adopted the Sharia legal system, as part of government’s effort to curb the pervasive insecurity and rapidly growing social anomie among people of the region, especially the youth.

In 1999, Zamfara State announced the adoption of Sharia. Other states in North West and also some in the North East did same few years late. Not only did they enact wide-ranging Shari’a legal system laws, they also established a number of Sharia institutions such as the Hisbah Boards and Zakkah Commissions, among others, to enable the Shari’a system function accordingly.

In law and practice, the Hisbah was set to perform a variety of functions that impact on women, socio-economic issues and the conduct of societal affairs at large.

Between 1999 and 2003, there were only 250 Hisbah corps. In 2003, the Board was given power to recruit 1,000 more members. Out of the 1,000,600 recruits should be males while 100 should be females, and all the 700 were to be recruited at the state level while 300 would be recruited at the local government level, making the total of 1,000.

It was however noted that the number of women being recruited was very minimal considering their importance in the whole processes and so an agitation for more women inclusion was made.

Their major role is in mediating disputes involving women, as well as domestic and other social vices.

According to Malama Usaina Isa, a Hisbah woman official, women patronize the Hisbah in large numbers, mainly to mediate in matrimonial and family disputes. She further stated that women have absolute confidence in Hisbah than any other legally instituted authority.

“It is estimated that in Kano, 70% of the disputes being mediated by Hisbah are family and matrimonial cases brought by women or any concerned party.  Women are fairly represented in the Hisbah and so the women find it very easy to interact with their fellow women. The women are satisfied with how Hisbah treats women fairly and impartially. In most of the cases treated by Hisbah, the women tend to wholeheartedly accept the decision of the Hisbah with no reservations,” she said.

The belief of many is that Hisbah women work more than the men because of the confidence reposed in them to mediate, and handle delicate issues, especially concerning the home front.  Women seem to patronize it in significant numbers, and also derive notable levels of satisfaction in the way their cases are handled.

Records have shown that with the establishment of Hisbah, practices relating to the girl-child, such as forced marriage, denial of education, street hawking, rape, as well as issues that affect women generally like unilateral divorce by husbands, denial of maintenance, physical abuse, seclusion and exclusion of women and so on, were identified, and measures to tackle them in accordance with Islamic injunction adopted by the board.

The women wing of Hisbah is said to have been saddled with the responsibility of playing a very vital role in addressing these issues.

According to Malama Binta Bala, a resident of Kawo quarters in Nasarawa local government area of the state, the women wing of Hisbah has been a solace, a comfort, and a hope to many women. She claimed to have benefitted from a reconciliation processes instituted by the Hisbah board. She said that the women wing of Hisbah saved her 15-year-old marriage from total collapse.

“I had issues with my husband for over three years of our 15 years marriage. Things were not going the way they should. All the while, I never knew the problem was with me until the day my husband took the issue to Nassarawa Hisbah office. He met a well respected Hisbah woman and narrated what we have been going through. I was invited the following day with my husband. Initially, I thought that was the end of my marriage; but after a fair hearing process, I discovered that I was at fault and I instantly apologised to my husband. Honestly, without Hisbah’s intervention I would have been a divorcee by now. We still maintained a good relationship with that woman and she commands respect from my family,” said Malama Binta.

Malama Binta further revealed that the presence of Hisbah, especially the women wing has reduced the pile of cases before Shari’a courts in the state.

According to her, the Hisbah women have been playing motherly roles to communities in the state, especially during the various stages of the mass wedding conducted by the state government at different periods, in guidance and counseling, reconciliations as well as enlightenment campaigns.

Another Hisbah woman official told our reporter that they are often called various derogatory names simply because “we are involved in the community Hisbah committee saddled with the responsibility of reconciliation and other correctional activities.”

She said some people see their job as that of hypocrites and so consider them as their enemies. She explained that women officials of the board usually face various forms of intimidation, threats, and mistreatment, but noted that it won’t deter them from doing their job.

However, efforts to get the state Hisbah women leader proved abortive, as she was said to be indisposed.