Muhammad Ali’s wisdom, et al

“When we arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister Laila and me up to our father’s suite. As usual he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us….. My father took a good look at us then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked […]

“When we arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister Laila and me up to our father’s suite. As usual he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us….. My father took a good look at us then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said ‘Hana everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find Gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock.  You’ve got to work hard to get to them.’ He looked at me with serious eyes ‘Your body is sacred, you are far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.’
The above anecdote from the life of the great sportsman was excerpted from the book: More Than A Hero:  Muhammad Ali’s life’s lessons through his daughter’s eyes.
In another commonsense argument in favour of a female observing the dressing of modesty, the following anecdote went viral last year. An Islamic scholar was said to have been accosted by a non-Muslim male who demanded to hear from him why Muslim women were being forced to wear the hijab (an outer veil that covered their head as well as the clothes they have above their skin). The scholar reportedly brought out two sweets. He unwrapped one and threw it on the ground where it got dusty then picked it up and asked his questioner which of the two sweets he preferred: the exposed, dusty one or the clean wrapped one. His questioner said he preferred the latter. The scholar then explained that this was why Muslim women are enjoined to cover themselves up through decent dressing; it is to protect them from dirt and dangerous exposure.
I find it expedient to recall these two short stories because today is World Hijab Day (WHiD). Muslim women in most parts of the world will mark this event in different ways but the central theme of the celebration is to pay homage to an important piece of religious obligation that has been unduly politicized and maligned. Countless Muslim women and girls, across the globe, have fallen victim to hijabphobia in instances that make it so hard to believe that all we are talking about is just a piece of clothing. What is it about the hijab that scares some people so much?
Unlike other ‘international days’, WHiD is not declared by the United Nations or any other global body. It is just the initiative of an American woman of Bangladeshi descent, Mrs Nazma Khan, who started it two years ago, with the sole aim of raising awareness about the safe and peaceful nature of the hijab and in solidarity with all women who had been victimized in one way or the other because of their head-covering. The fact that this one-woman initiative has gained such world-wide acceptance, shows how a great majority of us truly and sincerely wish to uphold this divine injunction.
The command in the Holy Quran is very clear on the subject of hijab and as believers in the sacredness of the divine injunctions contained in the Holy Scripture, we accept them without question. One of the verses where the hijab is prescribed for Muslim women runs thus: ‘Tell the believing women to lower their gaze and to preserve their chastity; to cover their adornment, except what is normally displayed and to draw their veils over their bosoms….’ Suratul Noor vrs 31.
Another one says ‘O Prophet, enjoin your wives, your daughters and the wives of the true believers to draw their veils close round them. That is more proper so that they will be recognized and not molested. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.’ Suratul Ahzab vrs 59.
There are other verses on the same theme, just as there are numerous ahadith of Prophet Muhammad urging Muslim women to observe the covering of modesty. The fact that lots of non-Muslims had joined the World Hijab Day celebration in the US and the UK last year means that some of them understood the philosophy behind the hijab. In any case as subscribers to a Western civilization that draws its inspiration from Judeo-Christian traditions, they are expected to notice that Maryam AS  (Mary) mother of Jesus (Prophet Isa AS) had observed the hijab, just as did the Jewish women of her time.
It is amazing how some people in the West feel that fighting the hijab is a Judeo-Christian obligation today. How can they fight their own heritage because it serves some cultural pride now that the hijab is exclusively identified with Islam? Perhaps the whole hostility is for economic reasons? All those fashion designers whose products and marketing strategies thrive on women moving about half naked obviously can’t tolerate a situation in which women choose to cover their natural adornments and maintain their independent-mindedness.
Observing the hijab means a woman or girl is happy with her natural looks and confident that she is more than just a body to be admired but a human being to be respected. It means resisting the temptation to obey all the pop stars, the movie stars and the fashion models who daily bombard our screens with the simple message that we have to emulate them. Above all, observing the hijab is choosing to obey and live up to the commands of Almighty Allah.
The Nigerian celebration, which is coming up today at 9am, will be held at the Thisday Dome, in Central Area of Abuja. It was organized by the Coalition of Muslim Women’s Associations in Abuja. It will feature, slide shows, lectures, various methods of tying the hijab, and a hijab show. Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo, wife of the Vice-president, will be the special guest of honour at the occasion while Senator Khairat Abdurrazak Gwadabe will be the mother of the day. Please be there as a special tribute to the hijab, which is Almighty Allah’s special uniform for us all.