Have you noticed mannequins with indecent clothes or with heads attached to them at shopping malls and retail outlets?
Well, the use of mannequins is responsible for immoral thoughts among the public, Kano Hisbah commander says.
People in Kano, a Muslim state in Nigeria, were surprised after the police ordered stores to use only headless mannequins to advertise clothing.
"With the head on it looks like a human being," says the leader of the Islamic police in Kano, Nigeria.
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) August 16, 2021
The Islamic police force in the Muslim-majority state has raised eyebrows after it ordered shops to only use headless mannequins to advertise clothing. https://t.co/mjfIbZSxqW
According to a report by the BBC, the ban on the fashion mannequins in Nigeria’s northern state was announced by the head of the state’s Islamic police force, the Kano State Hisbah Corp on Wednesday.
“Islam disapproves of idolatry,” Haruna Ibn-Sina, the commander of the Sharia police known as hisbah, told the BBC.
Hisbah officers have not yet gone shop-to-shop to enforce the ban but there are concerns that this will happen soon.
With the head, they look like a human beings!
They want also headless mannequins to be covered at all times because showing the shape of women is contrary to the teachings of Islamic law.
Kano is one of 12 predominantly Muslim northern states that practice Islamic law. The legal system is supposed to apply only to Muslims. But in reality, non-Muslims are under pressure to adhere to the Islamic rules.
Shop owners are worried that displaying clothes on a headless mannequin would reduce their attractiveness to passers-by and affect their business.
Nigeria's Kano state have moved to ban mannequin heads on Islamic grounds pic.twitter.com/UeUzqkXDo5
— Naija (@Naija_PR) August 16, 2021
A couple of years ago the municipality had issued a circular stipulating that the mannequins should be headless and displayed with decent clothes. However, shops have not been paying heed to it and flouting the directions. The authorities have intensified inspection targeting outlets in public streets and in shopping centers to remind them of the ban.
Many Muslims in Kano back the hisbah's orders. But the younger generation believes that its interpretation of some of the teachings of Islam is wrong.
