Scholars head to court over niqab issue

A group of religious scholars have filed suit in High Court against the State over the ban on full face veil or niqab in schools, stating that the ban was unconstitutional.

Eleven scholars and two lawyer have contested that clause 145, subsection (a) of the Civil Service Act which effectively bans women from donning full face veils while in service was against the spirit of the Constitution.

The lawyers are Abdul Maaniu Hussain and Abdullah Naseer Mohamed. Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, Mohamed Shafiu, Ali Zahir, Hassan Moosa Fikree, Ahmed Sameer, Nimal Mohamed, Asif Moosa Ibrahim, Mohamed Sinan, Ali Zaid, Mohamed Mansoor and Hussain Abdullah Saeed make up the 11 scholars who had filed the issue. Most of the scholars are members of Jamiyyathul Salaf.

The group contests that clause 145, subsection (a) of the Civil Service Act was in violation of clauses 10, 16, 18 and 67 of the Constitution and therefore must be declared illegal as under clause 268 of the Constitution.

The case reads that donning the niqab was part of Islamic shariah, adding that the only point of differing between scholars was whether the niqab was a must or up to the individual. The case also reads that while Islam was the official religion of the nation, all the laws of the land are based on Islamic Shariah and principles, and while there were no differing opinions between scholars over niqab, the Civil Service had sought to ban niqabs in the workplace.

Therefore, the case states that the Civil Service act clause was in violation of the Constitution. Additionally, the case states that protecting Islam and protecting the rights granted under the Constitution was tasked to the Government. As such, the case states that the Government had failed to protect the rights granted to citizens under the Constitution.

While Civil Service has banned full face veils from the workplace, two employees have been fired from their jobs due to this.