BRAZIL ALLOWS HIJAB IN IDS

Muslim women in Brazil would be allowed to do hijab in their drive licenses, national IDs and passports

Published by OnIslam

Muslim women in Brazil are allowed to put the hijab in their drive licenses, national IDs and passports after the western border city of Foz do Iguaçu installed a new policy for the Muslim headscarf.

“The hijab is not a fantasy,” Mohsin Alhassani, director of the Mosque Omar Ibn al Kattab from Foz do Iguaçu and the most prominent Muslim leader in the community, told Latino Fox News.

“It is part of a mandatory dressing of the Muslim women. It is really obligatory for our religion.”

Hijab drew national attention in Brazil after a Muslim resident, Ahlam Abdul El-Saifi, refused to remove the outfit for her driver’s license photo in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the state of Sao Paulo.

Offering a settlement for the issue, Foz do Iguaçu city Board of Aldermen approved a new law and sent a proposal to Brazilian national authorities to allow an exception for Muslim women to take pictures for official documents while donning hijab.

These documents include driver’s licenses, national IDs, and passports.

While hijab is an obligatory code of dress for Muslim women, the majority of Muslim scholars agree that a woman is not obliged to wear the face veil. Scholars believe it is up to women to decide whether to take on the niqab or burqa.

The new proposal won plaudits from federal police officers in Brazil who accepted the exception for Muslim women when issuing passport photos.

“It is allowed without any major problem, but of course the only requirement is that their face should appear clearly”, explained Guilherme Biagi, a Federal Police officer assigned in the state of Parana.