A GOD-FEARING educator, presumably at a public tertiary institution, has stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest for sending out a chilling warning to “all university/higher learning institution-bound hijabis”:
DON’T expose your neck and ears (ear rings) even if they look a bit loose. Wear your hijab properly.
To my future students, I’ll stop you from entering my lecture(s) and lab(s) until you pin your hijab properly.
Editor’s Note: The lecturer has since made her profile private even though a screenshot of her post is currently trending.
A fair enough statement on grounds that it is obligatory for Muslims to guide their brethren along the path of righteousness as espoused by the concept of amar makruf nahi mungkar (enjoining good and preventing evil) or that the lecturer is teaching an all-Muslim class/Islamic education institution.
But that extra layer of dress code beyond those already gazetted by all public universities may spell discomfort or even encroaches into the rights of non-Muslim students if applied in a mixed faith environment.
This did not wait long to happen as a fellow pious counterpart of hers echoed her with her own dress code that applies to her “mostly non-Muslim students”.
“I forbid them from wearing shorts, slippers, singlet/spaghetti strap tops when they enter my class,” asserted the self-proclaimed mother of four who is presumably a senior lecturer in Xiamen University Malaysia.
“I feel a bit embarrassed being an auntie who takes the effort to look presentable for lectures.”
This was when another counterpart who is a non-Muslim enlightened the duo over “policing dressing of students everyday”.
That’s just gross. We can implement dress codes for presentations (which we do) but otherwise? It’s not for you to decide.
“I hope they (university management) discipline you over this. A colleague of mine did what you did and got a warning letter from HR (human resources department) when a student lodged a complaint and it went to the VC (vice-chancellor). Rightly so. Tsk.
Another non-Muslim who presumably is attached to the National University of Singapore (NUS) expressed gratefulness that “people in my circle can afford overseas universities where lecturers are more interested in the quality of our assignments than what we wear. 😂.“
“I don’t remember herring lecturers in NUS, one of the world’s top universities, busy themselves talking like that,” she jibed.
This was when a Muslim woman netizen ticked off the non-Muslim commenter to mind her own business in that “the topic doesn’t apply to non-Muslims”.
Interestingly, the non-Muslim commenter rebutted that her point “isn’t about *who* was being addressed but *where* and *how* the admonition was delivered”.
“In a class with non-Muslim students, specific remarks regarding religious obligations should be made privately or addressed only to the students concerned,” she opined.
“Non-Muslims might be off-topic in terms of the subject matter but they’re still sitting in that same classroom and hearing it. Context matters.”
Well said given even one fair-minded Muslim came forward to caution the over-enthusiastic lecturer that “if your university doesn’t have a policy of ‘not wearing a headscarf properly, you can’t enter the class’, you have no right to screen your students based on their clothing”.
“Moreover, don’t be surprised if there’re students who drag you to court because you deny their right to study at the university they themselves pay for,” he warned.
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The action of preventing students from attending class when they’ve already complied with the dress code set by UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) itself is an immature and unfounded action.
Students who comply with the official dress code have the right to enter the classroom!!!! DO NOT RESTRICT THE RIGHTS OF STUDENTS!! – Sept 10, 2026
