Hijab is the common word for a gown that covers the whole body of a Muslim woman, except the face. There is also burqa, an outsized hijab which covers the whole body.
The original intention was for the hijab or burqa to preserve the dignity of Muslim women and shield them from the lusts of men – until Boko Haram perverted it to hide bombs for mass slaughter.
Special Correspondent Fatima Muktar examines the argument for and against the use of the hijab, and cites the ban in France of the niqab, which covers the face, apart from the eyes.
The jihadists clad young and old women in it and unleash them on the public as suicide bombers. This tactic complicates the work of security agents in determining which hijab wearer is a tinderbox.
Residents of the North have good reason to be wary of all wearers of hijab, innocent or deadly.
First blood
The first hijab bombing occurred on June 8, 2014 in Gombe, when a middle-aged woman detonated an explosive wrapped round her body at the 301 Battalion of the Nigerian Army Base on the outskirts of the city.
The explosion killed her and one soldier.
Eyewitnesses said the female suicide bomber walked towards the quarter guard of the barracks on the busy Gombe-Biu Road. Two soldiers stopped her for a search. She hugged one of them and the bomb went off, killing her and the soldier.
The other was badly injured.
The following day, another teen female suicide bomber blew herself up where students of Kano State Polytechnic who had completed their Higher National Diploma (HND) were checking their posting for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
She killed scores of students.
On July 17 this year, the day Muslims celebrated Eid-el-Fitr, two little girls wearing suicide vests tucked in their oversized hijabs, detonated the bombs at the entrance of a praying ground, and killed several worshippers.
The girls were aged between 10 and 11.
The following day, a female suicide bomber who disguised an improvised explosive device in her hijab exploded it at the entrance of the central motor park in Damaturu. At least seven people were killed and another 26 seriously wounded.
Difficult to stop
A research by Freedom Onuoha and Temilola George on the use of women for suicide bombing concluded that stopping the act is difficult because Islam forbids a man to frisk a woman.
“Most security or control posts in the North East are manned by male security, military or ‘civilian JTF (joint task force)’ operatives.
“More so, news of female suicide bombers is often sensational and attracts coverage better than their male counterparts as a result of the element of surprise and shock it provides,” the researchers said.
The frequent use of hijab for suicide bombing puts wearers of the robe in a dilemma, especially those who wear burqa, the outsized one.
Forced into the act
Kola Adesina, Head of mass communication department, Crescent University, Abeokuta, said burqa is supposed to portray decency and modesty, but lamented that evil doers have hijacked it for deadly use.
Daily Trust said in a report that innocent Muslim women are gradually setting hijab aside for other light veils. Some Islamic clerics believe it is a setback for Islam, though.
There are fears that Boko Haram fighters are converting the abducted Chibok schoolgirls into suicide bombers.
Chibok girls have not been found among those arrested so far. But many of the bodies of those killed in their act are mangled, making it difficult to conclude.
The girls Boko Haram deploys for such attacks usually do it under duress and, in most cases, someone else holds the remote trigger of the bomb they are forced to wear. If the handler suspects the carrier is changing course, he sets off the bomb.
Men impersonate women
Men also impersonate women in burqa, hide explosives, and explode them at public gatherings.
“If they had clinically investigated the first female suicide attack in the North East, it would have helped nip the use of female suicide bombers in the bud,” a security expert told Daily Trust .
Debate on use of hijab
The conversion of hijab into a weapon of suicide bombing has stirred debate on the use of the robe.
Tola Adeniyi, a veteran journalist who lives in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, urged the authorities to restrict the length of hijab, rather than ban its use.
Writing in the letters column of TheNiche on July 26, he said: “Female suicide bombers are becoming a common sight in Nigeria, especially in the North East where Boko Haram continues its deadly terrorist campaign with horrible ferocity.
“I wish to draw the attention of the security agencies to this growing phenomenon, particularly the role the hijab costume plays as a cover for the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
“Women bombers hide their deadly weapons, usually locally improvised bomb devices, in their voluminous robe.
“The authorities may not impose an outright ban on the hijab. Muslims should be restricted to wearing it to cover the head and the shoulders while the rest of the body is dressed normally without any attempt at ballooning.
“While we respect people’s rights to submit to the tenets of their religion, Nigeria cannot turn a blind eye to the use of the hijab by evil doers to conceal weapons of mass destruction.
“A stitch in time saves nine.”
A report in the BBC said the niqab (hijab which covers the face) is such a powerful statement liberal Muslims sometimes object to, especially in the developed countries where women have fought long and hard to shake off restrictions seen as outdated and imposed by men.
French initiative
France was the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places.
The country has about five million Muslims – the largest Muslim minority in Western Europe – but only about 2,000 women wear full veils.
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose administration brought in the ban, said veils oppress women and are “not welcomed” in France.
Under the ban, which came into force on April 11, 2011, a woman – French or foreign – runs the risk of paying a fine of Euro 150 (£133, $217) if she leaves home with her face hidden behind a veil.
Anyone found forcing a woman to cover her face may be fined Euro 30,000.
As of September 2012, up to 425 women had been fined and 66 warned for violating the headscarf ban, according to the French Interior Ministry.
The European Court of Human Rights upheld the ban on July 2, 2014 after a case was brought by a 24-year-old French woman who argued that it violated her freedom of religion and expression.
Countries across Europe wrestle with the burqa, which covers the body; and the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes.
Purpose of hijab
Hardcore Muslims see the hijab as the proper Islamic dress code intended to safeguard the modesty, dignity, and honour of women.
By wearing it, they argue, women protect themselves from lustful gaze or act that may expose them to sexual temptation or harassment – and also safeguards men against immoral acts.
Muslim clerics say the hijab must not reveal parts of the body, especially sexually attractive parts. It must not be tight or transparent.
Middle course
A middle course in the dilemma posed by the hijab as a weapon of suicide bombers is that the sanctity of the Muslim woman can still be protected without necessarily wearing the burqa (balloon hijab won by suicide bombers) or the niqab (face mask).
The other hijab, which is big enough to cover the body but too small to conceal a bomb, appears the best option.
“A Muslim woman is permitted to wear whatever she likes as long as her dress meets all the requirements of Islamic dress code, and covers the awrah (sensitive parts of the body),” explained a female Muslim who did not wish to be named.
“Hijab does not only refer to head cover, but to the whole dressing of a woman. This means that there are certain requirements for a woman’s dress to be Islamic: It must cover the whole body.
“The common sight of identifying a Muslim woman is the hijab. But with the fears of terrorism, it has become a dilemma as to whether to wear such a robe, considering that it is being used to perpetrate evil.
“But wearing it is commanded in the Quran for the believing woman to cover everything except the face, hands and feet when in the presence of men whom they are not related or married to.”