Iran Seminary Chief to Baku: Don't Strip Women of Their Religious Rights

Hawzah News Agency- In a message reacting to the prohibition of the hijab in Azerbaijani educational institutions, Ayatollah Arafi addressed the country's rulers directly. The full text of the message follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

The issue of hijab and covering, particularly the covering of respected women, has always been presented in the holy religion of Islam and in the lifestyle and authentic Islamic traditions as a religious obligation throughout history. Fundamentally, religious obligations are not nullified by directives, human laws or governmental regulations, nor does their obligation fall away from Muslims.

Moreover, in the belief system of the school of Islam, the hijab is a manifestation of faith, chastity and the religious identity of the Muslim woman, arising from the belief and conscious choice of believing women. No Muslim country has the right to take this religious right away from the women and girls of its society or to deprive them — contrary to human rights and human dignity — of their rights such as education, teaching and participation in scientific and social arenas.

God Almighty says in verse 31 of Surah An-Nur: "And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity, and not to reveal their adornments except what normally appears. Let them draw their veils over their chests..." Based on this luminous verse, women must cover their heads and necks from strangers and observe Islamic hijab, and no one can nullify the explicit ruling of the Holy Quran through directives and human laws.

The issue of hijab in the Republic of Azerbaijan — where the authorities and some institutions have recently imposed restrictions on honorable teachers and dear students — is the same, given that the majority of the country's honorable and respected people are Muslims. Therefore, the honorable rulers and officials of that country are expected to respect the religious demands of the people, especially girl students and women teachers in that Muslim and devout land, which are based on the Holy Quran and the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), and not to allow the religiosity and religious demands of the Muslim people of that country to be undermined.

Alireza Arafi
Head of the Islamic Seminaries