When the Group Managing Director of Nigeria’s commercial bank, United Bank for Africa, UBA decided to shake hands with a female Muslim student from Kano, Khadijah Abdulhamid state at a recent event organised by the bank, he did not expect the outrage that has now greeted his action.
It’s a taboo for women to shake hands with men in Islam, according to those familiar with the ethos of the religion, saying the bank chief executive should have been briefed on the issue before the event.
The commercial bank is now under cross-fire from Nigerians, particularly Muslims who insist that Alawuba inadvertently embarrassed Khadijah and her religion.
Analysts insist that more than half of Nigerians are Muslim, and that such incident was expected to generate furore.
Khadijah is from the northern part of the country where the number of Muslims are even higher, and anything negative against the religion is regarded as an attack on the religion, two persons familiar Islam said.
This suggestion highlights the negative reactions that the incident has generated, analysts said, adding that
Islamic groups such as the Sultan of Sokoto-led Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, the highest Islamic organization in Nigeria, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, amongts others are not happy with the commercial bank over the issue.
According to a viral report in the social media, Khadijah, a student of Sweet Haven Secondary School, Kano state had refused to shake hands with Alawuba during the presentation of the UBA Foundation Award to her.
Instead, she bowed slightly to the UBA chief executive saying Islam forbids the act of women shaking hands with men. ‘My religion forbid this’ the Muslim student said to the shock of Alawuba.
Since the report went viral, reactions have greeted what transpired between Alawuba and the student, even as Mulims who have reacted said the bank did not do enough investigations before the event.
Others who reacted said they were surprised that the bank’s chief executive was not warned by his minders ahead of the event, describing what happened as a big gamble on the part of the commercial bank. “When it comes to the issue of Islam it’s very sensitive in the North. The commercial bank has been doing business in the country for decades to understand this,” one person familiar with the controversy said on Tuesday.
@flourish007, said “The UBA management acted inappropriately and owed the young lady an apology. Her right to defend her religious beliefs must be respected, as is the standard globally. The organization should have thoroughly researched and been aware of the winner’s background prior to this day.
Commendations to the young lady for standing firm.”
On her part, Beloved @belovedjew said,
“How does shaking hands mean “acted inappropraitely”. Nothing wrong with the man attempting to shake her- its customary of every presentation. However, if she refused to shake hands back its still ok they will just move on like nothing happened but to throw blame is wrong.”
CuteMum@MagnifisentChic said, “Emotional Intelligence. If it was a Bhudist, will they not follow their tenets? They should have researched and asked question and NOT MAKE IT A BIG DEAL!”
While Samuel Junior @SamuelJ21831751 said, “Naxoo! Buhari, Shetima have been shaking all the female Western big wigs when looking for loan, Tinubu even kissed and hugged the French president’s wife, but for small girl to shake her benefactor in an award ceremony naim be issue!! Emancipate yourselves!!”
However, some analysts insist that Alawuba cannot be totally condemned for any wrongdoing since the bank is not a state or religious institution. The bank should receive applause for awarding the student scholarship, according to others who also spoke on the incident.
But some Islam adherents who spoke with the magazine on the issue said UBA would have received sanctions, in other climes, for being gender and religious insensitive.
“Organisations should endevour to study what obtains in the two major religions in the country to avoid running foul of peoples’ belief, and offending their religious practices,”a social commentator who preferred anonymity said.
The source said “UBA has been doing business in Nigeria for too long not to understand the practices” in Islam.
From Other Climes
A similar incident occurred in Sweden after a Muslim girl refused to shake hands with her interviewers during a job interview. She later reported the matter to the country’s authority, accusing the organization of being insensitive to her religious beliefs, and for embarrassing her in public.
The company was ordered to pay her compensation after being found guilty of the accusations.
According to the BBC, the Swedish Muslim woman won compensation after her job interview was ended when she refused a handshake.
Farah Alhajeh, 24, was applying for a job as an interpreter when she declined to shake the hand of a male interviewer for religious reasons.
She placed her hand over her heart in greeting instead.
The Swedish labour court ruled the company had discriminated against her and ordered it to pay 40,000 kronor ($4,350; £3,420) in compensation.
Some Muslims avoid physical contact with members of the opposite sex, except for those in their immediate family.
However handshakes are traditional in Europe. Additionally, anti-discrimination legislation may forbid companies and public bodies from treating people differently because of their gender.
Sweden’s discrimination ombudsman’s office, which represented 24-year-old Ms Alhajeh, said the judgement had taken into account “the employer’s interests, the individual’s right to bodily integrity, and the importance of the state to maintain protection for religious freedom”.
What were the grounds for the ruling?
The interpreting company in Ms Alhajeh’s home town of Uppsala had argued that its staff were required to treat men and women equally and could not allow a staff member to refuse a handshake based on gender.
But the discrimination ombudsman said she had tried to avoid upsetting anyone by placing her hand over her heart when greeting both men and women.
Sweden’s labour court found the company was justified in demanding equal treatment for both sexes – but not in demanding that it be in the form of a handshake only.
Her refusal to shake hands on religious grounds was protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, it said, and the company’s policy in demanding a specific greeting was detrimental to Muslims.
The court also disagreed with the firm’s assertion that Ms Alhajeh’s approach to greetings would cause a problem for effective communication as an interpreter.
However the judges were divided over the case – with three supporting Ms Alhajeh’s claim and two voting against.
What did Ms Alhajeh say?
After the judgement Ms Alhajeh told the BBC she believed it was important to “never give in” when convinced that one is in the right, even as a member of a minority group.
“I believe in God, which is very rare in Sweden… and I should be able to do that and be accepted as long as I’m not hurting anyone,” she said.
“In my country… you cannot treat women and men differently. I respect that. That’s why I don’t have any physical contact with men or with women. I can live by the rules of my religion and also at the same time follow the rules of the country that I live in,” she added.
She had complained about her treatment to the discrimination ombudsman’s office, which said that the “difficult issue” was important enough to go to a court for judgement.
In 2016 a Swiss school’s decision to exempt two Muslim boys from shaking both male and female teachers’ hands after they refused to shake the hand of a female teacher caused uproar and led to the family’s citizenship process being suspended.
In April, an Algerian woman was denied French citizenship after refusing to shake the hand of an official during her citizenship ceremony.
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