“Use Headless Mannequins To Advertise Clothes, Cover Their Breast, Bottom Shapes” — Kano Hisbah Tells Shop Owners

Hisbah, Kano’s Islamic police force, has forced retailers to only use headless mannequins to advertise clothing.

This is because Islamic teaching prohibits idolatry, according to the statement.

“Idolatry is forbidden in Islam,” claimed Haruna Ibn-Sina, the Sharia police commander.

“With the head on, it looks like a human being,” he said, according to the BBC.

Ibn-Sina also wants the headless mannequins to be covered at all times since showing “the shape of the breast, the shape of the bottom” is against Sharia [Islamic law] principles.

Traders in Sabon Gari, a Christian-dominated area of Kano state, also expressed discontent with the Hisbah’s decree.

Chinedu Anya, a shop owner, claimed that placing clothes on headless mannequins would make them less appealing to passers-by, affecting his company.

While some Muslims in Kano support the decree, a few younger Muslims have pointed out that Hisbah’s interpretation of several Islamic principles, such as the prohibition against mannequins, is incorrect.

“Although Islam prohibits idolatry, the hadith [teachings of Prophet Muhammad] makes it plain that Allah will judge your intentions. It can’t be considered a sin unless you’re bowing down to a mannequin” according to a Muslim cleric.

However, Halliru Maraya of the Islamic Council of Nigeria, a top Muslim theologian, claims that the Hisbah’s position on the mannequins is correct since “Islam is against carving human sculptures, whatever name you want to call it.”

While the statement in Kano is the first in Nigeria, initiatives to prohibit the use of mannequins have been made in other predominantly Muslim countries.

Kano is one of 12 Muslim-majority states in the north that follow Islamic law. Only Muslims are meant to be subject to the legal system.

Non-Muslims, on the other hand, are under pressure to follow Hisbah’s rules, which include a prohibition on full-bodied mannequins.

Despite Nigerian condemnation, the Hisbah group has continued to press for an Islamic agenda in the country’s north.

The organization, which was founded to police Sharia law in several states in the region, has outlawed fashionable haircuts, sagging trousers, disc jockeys playing music at social occasions, and tricycle riders adorning their vehicles with pictures considered indecent and against Islamic tenets.

A barber and his customers were recently imprisoned for offering and receiving haircuts that Hisbah deemed disrespectful to Islam.

They’re also known for destroying entire truckloads of alcoholic beverages.

Hisbah agents arrested two individuals in March on suspicion of sending pornographic materials to a married woman.

Following the woman’s complaint to the board, the offenders were tracked down and arrested.