Outrage as Kuwaiti catering company says ex-hijabis 'deserve lashes'

Luxury catering business Lazurd wrote a lengthy post claiming female social media entrepreneurs are a part of a conspiracy to encourage girls and women to remove their headscarves.

"The evidence is clear that this a planned conspiracy. I have previously tried to talk about this and touch on the words of the Quran and Sunnah but it's always met with argument," Lazurd wrote.

The post is in apparent reaction to Kuwaiti fashionista and hijabi blogger Ascia al-Faraj removing her veil.

"Believe me, there's something planned to convince girls to not wear the hijab. The hijab is essential to the life of every girl and all of the Abrahamic religions command women to cover their hair," the post added.

The post sparked outrage across the country, but was also met with praise for Lazurd speaking up about the "conspiracy".

"You are a big company, if only there is something more you could do about it. May God preserve us all," account food_clips636 commented on the post.

"If it was up to us we would have lashed them," Lazurd replied to the comment with a laughing emoji.

"Unfortunately, this post is all we could do," they added.

Lazurd also replied to critics with threats of legal action if they continued to "verbally attack" their post.  

"This is a prestigious company in Kuwait that everyone knows about and they're infusing a conspiracy into society that there's an epidemic of women removing the hijab – which isn't even true," Sara, a Kuwaiti who challenged the notion, told The New Arab.

Her name has been changed to protect her identity.

"This is dangerous because a huge segment of Kuwaiti society sees these posts which puts women at risk."

She added that Lazurd's stance is hypocritical, especially considering their founder has been big on local entrepreneurship.

The company on Thursday updated their Instagram with another post appearing to be unfazed by its previous comments, posting a poem in defence of the hijab.

"They scoffed at me and said I was forbidden of my youth," the poem which addressed a girl being forced to remove her hijab said.

The poem continued to sexualise the headscarf, saying women removing their hijabs are on their way to hypersexualising themselves.

"You force on every girl to remove the veil – shortly after her clothes will be taken off".

The poem then implied that influencers are straying young girls and women to "expose themselves" and putting them in danger:

"You lured her under the guise of freedom – you exposed her and became prey to the wolf."

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