North Yorkshire Council defends presentation claiming Virgin Mary wore a hijab

North Yorkshire Council has defended a presentation delivered by Abbas Najib, chief executive of the charity Better Communities Bradford, during the York and North Yorkshire Hate Crime Conference. The presentation included a slide claiming that the Virgin Mary “wore a hijab” to argue that head coverings are a shared tradition across faiths rather than something unique to Islam.

Critics have challenged the historical accuracy of the claim, noting that Mary was a Jewish woman in first-century Judea and that the hijab as understood today did not exist during her lifetime. Najib defended the statement, asserting that “hijab is an Arabic word meaning a covering” and that the intent was to show that head covering is a common cultural practice.

In response to the controversy, North Yorkshire Council stated that the session was intended to expose staff to different perspectives and encourage debate rather than serve as formal training. The council emphasized that the speaker was unpaid and that attendees were free to question the evidence and assertions presented.