ABUJA – Acknowledging her strong determination, praises have started pouring in for the Nigerian veiled Muslim lawyer, Amasa Firdaus, for her successful call to bar after she had challenged the restriction on hijab during call-to-bar ceremony, Daily Post reported on July 10.
In addition to many Muslims who have voiced out their admiration of Firdaus for sticking to her faith, among the dignitaries who congratulated her is the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmed, pointing out that the lawyer “has fought for future generation and that history will be kind to her.”
He tweeted: “Congratulations BARRISTER Amasa Firdaus who was called to bar today with her Hijab. That didn’t come so easy, her victory is one of many good advantages of Social Media.”
After seven months of rejecting her, a list of the new lawyers called to the Nigerian bar by the Council for Legal Education included Firdaus as number 788 in the list.
In December 2017, Firdaus was denied access into the hall for the ceremony which took place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, for refusing to remove her hijab thereby generating controversies.
She had described the action as “a violation of her rights, adding the hijab doesn’t violate the dress code set by the law school but was a mere convention that the British gave to us and we have to stick to it.”
Nigerian Islamic bodies, including the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), had supported her, calling for a review of the dress code.
Hijab is a mandatory veil worn by adult Muslim women in the presence of any male outside of their immediate family, which usually covers the head and chest.
Nigeria, is the 3rd most populous country in the Muslim World with nearly 200 million people, according to the current statistical reports.
Islam represents the plurality religion in this West African country by 47.3%, while the rest percentage is shared between Christianity and over ten other faiths.