Disappointed but not surprised that the Firdaus Amasa Hijab victory didn’t make the covers of Nigeria’s top newspapers, Rasheed Abubakar, known for his critical and unbiased media reportage of Islam and Muslims did not only analyse how Barrister Amasa’s Hijab victory was conspicuously missing in the newspapers, he immediately took the bold step to float what is today known as Muslim News, Nigeria’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper.
Exactly today a year ago, Muslim News debuted with her print edition, specifically dedicated to Barrister Firdaus Amasa, who had just been called to bar with her Hijab on after a 7-month struggle with the Nigerian Law School. The 12-page newspaper came at a time when the Nigerian Muslim community had been yearning for an alternative news medium which would project the image of Islam and celebrate Muslims.
The colourful first edition of the newspaper was not only massively welcomed by Nigerian Muslims, its 2500 copies sold fast and out rapidly in institutions such as the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and University of Ilorin, where Barrister Amasa studied law. At that time, she was already a corps member serving in Osogbo, and she ordered for hundreds of copies and even took some to Port Harcourt, where she was honoured for her heroic feats.
Despite the richness of its stories and its warm reception from different parts of the country, Muslim News was surprsingly rejected by some sections of Nigerian Muslims. Who are they and why the rejection? Watch out for the Muslim News Publisher’s Diary, titled: “One Year of Islamic Journalism: Muslim News Nigeria’ First Anniversary” in the July 2019 print edition of our newspaper.