LAST week’s religious disturbance at the Baptist High School, Iwo, Osun
State is one that can engulf the whole state, as well as the whole
region.
Although, Christians are against Muslim female students wearing hijab to schools founded by Christian missionaries, I want to say that wearing the hijab does not take away the fact that the school is a Christian school.
Religion is in the mind, and not in the outward appearance. Therefore, a female student who wears a hijab may not be as holy as one who does not wear. I am a Muslim, but all my children attended Christian missionary schools in Ibadan, where they recited the Lord’s Prayer every morning on the assembly. I can tell you that that did not change their religious inclination.
In the South-West, there are many husbands who are Muslims, married to Christian wives, who are allowed to continue practising their faith. I know a Muslim lawyer who is married to a Christian wife, and among their children are Christians and Muslims.
It is unfortunate that what is happening in Osun State, as regards the religious crisis being generated as a result of the reclassification of schools, is simply politics.
Therefore, I am calling on our people not to allow politicians to sow a seed of discord in us. Would a Christian mother who has a Muslim husband tell her children to go and cause trouble in school because some female students are wearing the hijab? There is virtually no family in the South-West that does not have the faithful of both religions. So, when some female students wear hijab to Christian schools, we should see them as our nieces.
Politicians can go to any length to achieve their aim, including causing religious crisis.
I am, therefore, using this opportunity to call on religious leaders in the state, especially the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), not to see this education policy as an attempt to Islamise the state. As I said earlier, religion is in the mind. No one can change another person’s religion with force. May God not allow religious crisis to thrive in the South-West.
Ismaila Adegoke,
Adegoke Castle,
Iree, Osun State.
Although, Christians are against Muslim female students wearing hijab to schools founded by Christian missionaries, I want to say that wearing the hijab does not take away the fact that the school is a Christian school.
Religion is in the mind, and not in the outward appearance. Therefore, a female student who wears a hijab may not be as holy as one who does not wear. I am a Muslim, but all my children attended Christian missionary schools in Ibadan, where they recited the Lord’s Prayer every morning on the assembly. I can tell you that that did not change their religious inclination.
In the South-West, there are many husbands who are Muslims, married to Christian wives, who are allowed to continue practising their faith. I know a Muslim lawyer who is married to a Christian wife, and among their children are Christians and Muslims.
It is unfortunate that what is happening in Osun State, as regards the religious crisis being generated as a result of the reclassification of schools, is simply politics.
Therefore, I am calling on our people not to allow politicians to sow a seed of discord in us. Would a Christian mother who has a Muslim husband tell her children to go and cause trouble in school because some female students are wearing the hijab? There is virtually no family in the South-West that does not have the faithful of both religions. So, when some female students wear hijab to Christian schools, we should see them as our nieces.
Politicians can go to any length to achieve their aim, including causing religious crisis.
I am, therefore, using this opportunity to call on religious leaders in the state, especially the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), not to see this education policy as an attempt to Islamise the state. As I said earlier, religion is in the mind. No one can change another person’s religion with force. May God not allow religious crisis to thrive in the South-West.
Ismaila Adegoke,
Adegoke Castle,
Iree, Osun State.
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