New Delhi, August 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Several Muslim clerics have urged the Allahabad High Court to reconsider its recent judgment on wearing a hijab or headscarf with a prescribed school uniform, asserting that hijab is compulsory in Islam while maintaining that students should comply with institutional dress codes.
The High Court had dismissed a petition filed by a minor girl studying at a private school in Prayagraj, seeking permission to wear a headscarf along with the uniform prescribed by the institution. The court held that a student does not have a right to modify an educational institution’s prescribed dress code according to personal preference.
Reacting to the verdict, All India Muslim Jamaat president Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said the issue of school uniforms and hijab should be considered separately.
He said students should follow the rules of an educational institution within its premises, while maintaining that the Quran contains references to the practice of wearing hijab. He also urged the lawyers and judges concerned to refer to the Quran, Hadith and other Islamic religious texts to understand the religious practice.
Islamic Centre of India chairman Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli said the judgment should be reviewed and reconsidered. He maintained that hijab is an integral part of Islam according to the Quran and Hadith, while stressing that students attending a school must follow its prescribed uniform.
He said girls who wish to wear a scarf or hijab should be permitted to do so along with the uniform, citing the wearing of religious articles by followers of other faiths as well.
Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, president of the Shia Markazi Chand Committee, also said he had no objection to school dress codes and that students should wear prescribed uniforms. However, he argued that girls seeking permission to wear a hijab or headscarf should be allowed to do so.
He disagreed with the High Court’s observation regarding hijab not being an essential part of Islam, saying the Quran makes it compulsory. At the same time, he said women who do not wear hijab should not be excluded from Islam.
Naqvi said the Allahabad High Court judgment should be challenged before the Supreme Court.
All India Shia Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Yasoob Abbas also called hijab compulsory in Islam and said preventing a girl from attending school while wearing a scarf was, in his view, wrong. He urged the court to reconsider the matter and referred to the constitutional principle of equal rights for people of all religions.
Maulana Sajid Rashidi described the judgment as an infringement on an individual’s freedom of choice. He also argued that courts should focus on pending matters, including cases concerning women’s divorce, rather than commenting on religious issues.
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