Catholic priest, reverend father Kelvin Ugwu has reacted to Adamu Garba’s tweet regarding Messi’s dress at the world cup as Islamic Garb.
In his post, Fr Ugwu revealed that the garment Messi dressed on before he lifted the world cup is known as Bisht which does not in anyway restricted to any particular religion. He state that the dress has been in existence during the days of Jesus.
He further concluded that the dress was a cultural garment with lots of significance, not Islamic dress as was posted by Adamu Garba.
His post;
“What Messi was dressed on before he lifted the world cup is called Bisht. A dress that was worn even in Jesus’ days. It was more common among the Israelites and the Palestinians. In fact, the area popularly regarded today as the Holy Land wore the Bisht.
“The Bishts are never restricted to a particular religion because it is a cultural garment with lots of significance. The garment is simply a status garment, associated with royalty, wealth, or religious position, especially if the person is a cleric or occupies a special position. It was never about Islam.
“But one Adamu somewhere in Buhari’s cabinet wants you to start looking at the Bisht as an Islamic dress. That is the same way Jellabiya, an Egyptian cultural dress, is now seen as a Muslim dress. This is also the same way hijab was hijacked.
“I am saying this because, even in Saudi Arabia, there are Christians. And all over the Arab world, there are Christians who speak Arabic, wear hijab, and dress in Jellabiya or Bishts, and it does not mean they are Muslims. Learning to separate people’s culture from religion is very important.”
