Qura University in Makkah is to gradually introduce penalties for its female students who do not wear the Islamic hijab as part of a wider campaign to promote it entitled “My Hijab is Worship”. Sources at the university said that there are no specific conditions set for the hijab, other than that it should “provide proper covering and be unattractive”. The campaign, which is being run by the university's Student Affairs and follows a program set out by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, will see moves to promote commitment to the hijab. Nour Qarout, Dean of University Studies, emphasized at the launch of the program the importance of that commitment, saying that a “Muslim woman's modesty should be out of worship, not habit”. “The campaign aims to make female students aware of the religious, social and psychological importance of the hijab and promote that culture among them,” she said. She added that a competition was being planned for the best visual display, slogan or drawing with the hijab as its subject. The program's launch also saw non-Arab female students from the university's Arabic Language Institute speak on the hijab and their commitment to wearing it in their home countries.
