S.African Muslims Protest Anti-Hijab Measure

S.African Muslims Protest Anti-Hijab Measure

Muslims make up 2 percent of South Africa’s population.

By Al-Khidr Abdul Baqi, IOL Correspondent

ABUJA, July 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – South African Muslims rejected Monday, July 25, the sacking of a Muslim woman by her employer for wearing hijab, vowing to stand up firmly to discrimination at workplace.

“It is a worrying signal in a democratic and free country like South Africa that some companies and officials are intolerant of ethnic minorities, particularly Muslims,” Secretary General of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Hekmat Siddiq was quoted as saying by the local Sunday Times.

He said that the council will launch Tuesday, July 26, an intensive media campaign in TV and radio to draw public attention to the issue.

“Our campaign is also aimed at mobilizing people against any sort of discrimination against Muslims or any attempt to influence their (religious) attitudes.”

The Prisons Authority in the country fired Fayrouz Adam, 26, two weeks ago for insisting to take on her hijab.

A court verdict did justice to Adam after she sued her employer and ordered her to be reinstated in her job.

But officials defied the ruling and did not allow her in, arguing that she violated by-laws and challenged several notices.

Legal Action

Siddiq said that the council, for its part, has lodged a lawsuit against the chief of the Prisons Authority, vowing to bring the issue before the Supreme Constitutional Court, if necessary.

He urged all rights organizations to defend the “dignity of Muslims and the right of freedom of religion.”

Muslims make up two percent of South Africa’s 43 million population. In 1985, the MJC was established as the main representative body of the Muslim minority.

Muslims have also taken their share of sufferings from the repugnant Apartheid system, which was enforced in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

There are some financially-independent 400 mosques across the country in addition to five radio stations.

Islam grew by two phases of immigration in South Africa . During the first phase, Muslims were part of the involuntary migration of slaves and political prisoners from Africa and Asia that lasted from about 1652 to 1800. The main group of immigrants came from East and West Africa.

When slavery was abolished in 1838, British authorities realized the need for an alternative system of labor, and Indians (mostly Muslims) were brought in as indentured laborers to work in the sugar-cane fields in Natal. (click here to know more about the history of Islam in South Africa).

Islamonline.net