Financial fraud accused Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub has been showing off being awarded Global Muslim Media Person of the Year award since past few days on her social media accounts.
After congratulations started pouring in for her, she put up yet another post on Instagram.
She has showed off this award on Twitter too, and congratulations have since been pouring in.
We, of course, got very curious about this award. After all, the team of ‘Muslim News’, a Nigeria based website which ‘is a mouthpiece for underreported Muslim achievers and events in Nigeria and across the world, which are never given prominence in the mainstream media,’ had chosen her after ‘rigorous deliberations. Apparently, as per the website, Rana is ‘voice of voiceless’ and has been “has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights of Muslims, especially the girl-child, who have been denied access to education due to ruthless hijab ban in many parts of India, the so-called world’s largest democracy.”
The website then gave out disclaimer that “Though Ayyub does not wear the Hijab, the organisers of the Award extolled the journalist for believing firmly that every Muslim girl in India has the fundamental rights to adorn the hijab, and that right must be protected.”
The publisher of the website said that while Ayyub does not wear the hijab today, “doesn’t mean she will not use it one day”. They awarded her because of the “fact that she is a Muslim and speaks for millions of girls in India to wear hijab in the face of Modi’s persecution is a great sacrifice that must be acknowledged”. Alhaji Abubaker, the publisher, further added that “hijab, according to the Shari’ah is compulsory, but education comes first before enforcement, particularly in a Muslim or Shari’ah practicing state.”
*Cough* Hijab is a choice *cough*.
Speaking of hijab, the same website had run a poll in September this year to find out which global media house is most ‘hijab friendly’ media house.
The poll asked people to choose which media house allows them to promote Islam and its values. “Despite not having says in the editorial policies of their organisations, they are always pushing for informed narratives in their stories, both in print and online, especially when it comes to the issue of Hijab,” the website said about the hijabi journalists associated with these media houses.
The obscure website is otherwise not regularly updated since their editorial section on their homepage was last updated in June 2020 and before that in November 2019. It has usual trope that Modi is fascist, RSS is extreme-right wing terror group and how Muslims are persecuted in India and had it not been for Rana Ayyub, all these things would never have seen light of the day. It is extremely obsessed with girls wearing hijab as of the dozen articles on its home page, at least two are about hijab.
There is not a single report on the women protesting against hijab imposition in Iran. Interestingly, other than Ayyub, something called “Vanguards of Hijab” were awarded Nigerian Muslim personality of the year this time. These ‘Hijab Vanguards’ were 12 Muslim personalities in Nigeria who fought for the hijab in Supreme Court of Nigeria. On June 17, 2022, Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld use of hijab in Lagos public schools. This decision came after 9 years of legal battle. As per the publisher of this website that awarded Ayyub, this decision was the ‘biggest milestone achievement recorded by the Nigerian Muslim community in recent times’.
In fact, in the post hailing Rana Ayyub, the publisher had said questioned Muslim community on efforts put in to educate women on significance of hijab “especially starting from their young age”. Abubakar said, “If they have been educated and received the right orientation and interpretation of the Qur’an and Hadith, they would not turn against it, not to the extent of someone dying, leading to a nationwide protest. Scholars must continue to educate every girl on hijab before enforcement,” as he hoped Rana Ayyub will also embrace hijab some day.
Rana has not yet gone personally to Nigeria to collect the award.
