THE REPUBLIC OF MEASURED SCARVES
An Open Letter to the Government of Azerbaijan
You banned a child’s khimar and called it “secular education.” Perhaps next you will ban rain because it makes believers remember Allah.
To the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
the Cabinet of Ministers,
the Ministry of Education,
and every official who signed, weaponized, enforced, or defended Resolution №309:
From Anis Labidi
Mr. President,
- The girl who keeps her khimar may be tested.
- The girl who removes it under pressure may be tested.
- The official who enforces the restriction is tested.
- And the president who has the power to correct it is tested.
A government that fears a girl’s headscarf should ask itself an uncomfortable question: what, precisely, is so powerful about a piece of cloth that the state must intervene?
- You did not ban a weapon.
- You did not ban violence.
- You did not ban coercion, corruption, ignorance, or injustice.
- You banned — or allowed schools to ban — a piece of cloth worn by Muslim girls and women as obedience to Allah.
Then you called it “secular education.”
How brave.
A state that can manage borders, pipelines, and political power apparently trembles before a schoolgirl’s headscarf.
What a fragile secularism you have built.
It survives everything — except a khimar.
The Law That Pretends Not to See
On 21 September 2026, Azerbaijan’s Cabinet adopted Resolution №309, changing school uniform rules. The text speaks of clothing that violates the dress code or conflicts with “secular education.”
- It does not say “khimar.”
- It does not say “hijab.”
- It says “neutrality.”
But the results have been loud enough: girls wearing headscarves have been turned away from schools, and teachers who cover have faced pressure and dismissal.
This is the modern grammar of prohibition:
Do not name the victim.
Name “neutrality.”
Do not say you are excluding Muslim girls.
Say you are protecting the classroom.
Do not admit that the state has chosen which conscience is acceptable.
Call the khimar “additional clothing.”
A bureaucrat may call this clever.
A believer calls it cowardice with paperwork.
You Are Not Regulating Fabric
For Muslims, the khimar is not a fashion trend, a foreign flag, or a political costume.
It is an act of obedience.
Allah says:
“And tell the believing women… to wrap their headcovers over their chests…”
— Qur’an 24:31
- You may dislike this command.
- You may misunderstand it.
- You may find it inconvenient for your version of modernity.
- But you do not get to pretend it is nothing.
A Muslim girl who wears khimar is not merely choosing cloth. She is answering Allah as she understands His command. When the school gate stops that answer, the state is no longer managing uniforms.
It is managing conscience.
And conscience is not a ministry’s property.
If Coercion Exists, Punish the Coercer
If a girl is forced to wear khimar against her will, protect her.
If a parent abuses a child, investigate.
If anyone uses religion to threaten or control, prosecute them.
Islam does not ask you to defend coercion in order to defend conviction.
But Azerbaijan has not investigated individual coercion.
It has treated every covered girl as a suspect and every covered teacher as a problem.
That is not protection.
That is collective suspicion wearing the costume of child welfare.
A state that truly cares about a girl’s will should ask her what she wants — not decide from an office that it knows her heart better than she does.
Otherwise, “protection” becomes a very efficient word.
It protects the state from questions.
Secularism Should Not Mean Fear of Allah
Secularism, if it means anything, should mean that the state does not impose religion.
In Baku, it apparently means the state may punish its visible practice.
That is not neutrality.
That is a rival creed.
The state has simply changed the commandment:
Instead of “You must pray,”
it says, “You may not visibly obey.”
Instead of “You must cover,”
it says, “You may not cover.”
The classroom has not become neutral.
It has become a small temple of state-approved appearances.
Allah says:
“Do they then seek the judgment of ignorance? And who is better than Allah in judgment for a people who are certain?”
— Qur’an 5:50
You may call your rule administrative.
Allah calls it what it is: a claim that officials know better than the Creator what a believing woman may wear before Him.
Parliament Cannot Repeal Revelation
A parliament can pass resolutions.
A ministry can issue circulars.
A school director can stand at a gate and decide which children are sufficiently “secular” to be educated.
But none of them can repeal the Qur’an.
None of them can erase 24:31.
None of them can turn a command of Allah into a crime by adding it to a dress code.
You may exclude a girl from a classroom.
You cannot exclude her from the sight of Allah.
You may demand that she remove her khimar.
You cannot remove the conviction that led her to wear it.
This is where your policy becomes not merely mistaken, but arrogant:
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You have confused administrative power with moral authority.
A signature is not revelation.
A ministry is not a prophet.
And a school gate is not the Day of Judgment.
Justice Is Not a Majority Costume
Allah commands:
“O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice… even if against yourselves or parents and relatives…”
— Qur’an 4:135
And:
“And do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.”
— Qur’an 5:8
Justice is not whatever the stronger party calls order.
Justice is not whatever the majority finds comfortable.
If a Christian child were barred for a cross, the world would call it persecution.
If a Jewish child were excluded for a religious garment, the world would call it antisemitism.
But when a Muslim girl is stopped for her khimar, it becomes “education policy.”
How convenient.
How neutral.
How utterly predictable.
A State Afraid of Its Children
There is something almost comic here — if it were not happening to real children.
A government powerful enough to issue resolutions and confront protests has identified its greatest national danger:
a schoolgirl’s headscarf.
Not corruption.
Not injustice.
Not the moral condition of society.
A khimar.
One expects the Ministry of Education to issue an emergency notice:
“Warning: faith may appear in classrooms. Please remove it before entering.”
But behind the joke is something bitter.
Reports describe girls barred at school gates, teachers leaving their posts, children crying, and families confronted by officials.
These children are learning an early civic lesson:
that belonging may depend on how closely they resemble the state’s preferred image.
That is not education.
That is conditioning.
When Leaders Become the Test
The Qur’an warns that fitnah — persecution, trial, and obstruction in religion — can be graver than killing:
“And fitnah is greater than killing.”
— Qur’an 2:217
This does not mean every unjust law equals murder.
It means political evil is not measured only by broken bodies.
- A state can injure conscience.
- It can humiliate faith.
- It can teach a child that obedience to Allah must be hidden to be tolerated.
And history offers an uncomfortable lesson: when a people are tested, Allah may allow them leaders who expose what the people have neglected; and corrupt rulers often reveal the sickness they claim to cure.
I do not say this to curse Azerbaijan.
I say it as a warning.
A government that begins with the khimar should not pretend the principle stops there.
Today it is religious clothing.
Tomorrow, another conscience.
Then another.
To the Muslims of Azerbaijan
Do not answer injustice with hatred.
Do not answer humiliation with violence.
Do not let grief become despair.
Allah says:
“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided.”
— Qur’an 3:103
Learn your Dīn.
Teach your children why they obey Allah — not merely what they wear.
Support the girls and teachers affected.
Document what happens.
Speak truthfully.
Use every lawful avenue: petitions, courts, journalists, human-rights bodies, and public conscience.
Do not mistake patience for surrender.
Allah says:
“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”
— Qur’an 13:11
The first change is not rage.
It is knowledge.
It is dignity.
It is unity.
It is lawful courage.
To the Government of Azerbaijan
Stop excluding girls and punishing teachers for religious dress.
If your concern is coercion, investigate coercion individually.
If your concern is education, educate.
If your concern is secularism, practice the only secularism worthy of the name:
a state that neither imposes religion nor punishes its peaceful exercise.
Until then, do not call this neutrality.
Call it what it is:
a republic measuring scarves while pretending not to measure souls.
You may control the school gate.
You do not control the conscience.
You may issue Resolution №309.
You cannot issue a revelation reversing the Qur’an.
And you may exclude a girl from class.
But you cannot exclude her from the mercy, justice, and dominion of Allah.
Anis Labidi
21 October 2026
Author’s Note
I oppose oppression wherever it appears — against Muslims and non-Muslims, against the powerful and the weak. This article is written against a policy, not against the Azerbaijani people. My appeal is to justice, truth, conscience, and lawful peaceful action — not hatred, disorder, or violence.
Allah says:
“And do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.”
— Qur’an 5:8
