- Muslim Community Leaders in Hong Kong express concerns about Schools’ request for beard shaving.
- There have been several incidents were Muslim boys have been told to shave their beards and Muslim girls to remove their hijabs.
Two teenagers reached out for assistance as they faced pressure from their schools to remove their beards, grown in accordance with their faith.
Ali, a Form Five student at Man Kwan Pak Kau College in Tin Shui Wai, disclosed that he and two fellow Muslim classmates received multiple warnings threatening demerits if they retained their beards.
“The discipline teacher said that it gives our school a bad look,” the 16-year-old boy said. He also said that he felt “threatened” and scared as demerits could lead to expulsion.
Earlier this month, Ali revealed that he, along with two fellow students, had resorted to shaving, yet he confessed to losing complete trust in his school.
“I’ve had enough of this, and I said to the school that it was super wrong,” he said.
He reached out to the Muslim Council of Hong Kong (MCHK) inquiring about a letter that could elucidate to the school the reasons why he and fellow Muslim students should be granted permission to maintain their beards, even after shaving.
Muslim Council of Hong Kong leader Abdul Malik
On 20th September, Abdul Malik, founder of the council, sent a letter to the school. The letter read:
This letter is to confirm that keeping a beard for a Muslim male is necessary in the religion of Islam. It is part of the Islamic teachings in which it states a Muslim male should not shave his beard off and is not allowed to do so.
Malik continued by quoting the Prophet Mohammed (saw), “trim the moustache and leave the beard to grow”.
“We request your school to kindly allow the Muslim students to keep their beards and not force them to shave it off, as it goes against our Islamic principles,” his letter went on to say.
The religious leader mentioned to the Post that this wasn’t the first time the council had been approached to compose letters regarding the Muslim tradition of males growing beards and females wearing hijabs. In the past, at least five students from various secondary schools had reached out to the council, according to Malik.
He cited an instance where girls were instructed to remove their hijabs while at school. In one case, a student filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) after the school disregarded the council’s plea. Another Form Five student from a Pok Fu Lam school sought the council’s assistance on September 25 after being asked to shave his beard.
Michael, aged 18, who chose not to disclose his school’s name, disclosed that the school had recently enforced stricter regulations regarding beards. He recounted that the school’s discipline teacher had expressed concerns, stating that it did not reflect well on the institution. Michael expressed significant discomfort with shaving his beard and mentioned receiving three verbal warnings already, with the possibility of being marked with a “defect” if he refused to comply.
Shameel Ibrahim, a 23-year-old research assistant at the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture at Chinese University, regarded the prohibition of a Muslim student from maintaining a beard as “discriminatory” and “ignorant.”
