Fifteen-year-old Shabina Begum has lost her case to wear the jilbab to school in Luton. A High Court today ruled in favour of Denbeigh High School which already allows pupils to wear shalwar kameez and hijab as uniform. The School had cited health and safety issues and peer pressure as reasons why it did not wish to allow the wearing of the jilbab. Mr Justice Bennett ruled that the uniform policy was necessary “to protect the rights and freedoms of others”. The school also said that it had been concerned that ‘stricter styles’ of Islamic dress would create divisions among the students.

The jilbab (loose outer garment that covers the body) along with the hijab (headscarf) is considered the obligatory public dress for the woman as described by Islam, although the wearing of the garment is a matter of choice. Dr Nazreen Nawaz, a UK based doctor and Women’s Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, “while secularism has been promoted as the champion of religious tolerance, this ruling illustrates its intolerance. In practice, those who control legislation in secular societies have a free rein to be intolerant towards the Islamic faith. While such rulings further alienate Muslims, we urge Muslim women to adhere to their Islamic identity and respond to this ban with strong intellectual discourse and debate about the role and position of women in society. ”

“The Muslim community must be a strong example of Islamic values and challenge the myth that Muslim women are being forced into blindly adopting the Islamic attire, when in fact most Muslim women wear the Islamic attire as they consider it to be a divine obligation, like prayer and fasting.”

The Muslim Council of Britain viewed the landmark decision "very worrying and objectionable." It claims that the right to wear the jilbab should be respected.

"We hope that the family of Miss Shabina Begum will appeal against this ruling. Many other schools have willingly accommodated Muslim schoolgirls wearing the jilbab and have respected the religious practice of their pupils with reference to their attire. While Denbigh High School has accommodated other forms of Islamic dress, for some reason the school has chosen to make jilbab an issue. This should not really have been a concern in a school which has a Muslim pupil composition of almost 90%. Our schools need to respond positively to recognise and reflect the communities they are serving " said Dr Abdul Bari, Deputy Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

ABOUT THE MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN

The Muslim Council of Britain is the UK's representative Muslim umbrella body with over 400 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, charities and schools.

ABOUT HIZB UT-TAHRIR

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an independent political party whose ideology is Islam. The party adheres to the Islamic Shari'ah in all aspects of its work. It considers violence or armed struggle against the regime, as a method to re-establish the Islamic State, to be forbidden by the Islamic Shari'ah.

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