ShahnazZ
Striving2BeAStranger
:salam2: I hope you're all in the best of health,
Yesterday an incident at my MSA left me and several other sisters very shaken up.
A man posing as a niqabi entered the female section of the MSA and told us that he "wanted to be a sister." He had actually followed another niqabi from the train station and came into the MSA with her. She suspected him of foul play and asked him to remove the niqab. Initially, before admitting that he was a male, a few sisters had suspected that he might be a male based on the fact that he had a very deep voice, refused to show us his face, and carried a very large duffel bag of clothing, including men's deoderant.
At first glance, I, along with several others, was terrified because I really did believe he was threatening as I didnt' know what was in the bag. The entire time he sat there quietly while we interrogated him I felt that he would pull a gun on us or tell us he was going to hold us hostage.
After getting him to admit that he was a male, he showed us his face and I asked him to step outside as it was disrespectful for him to be in the sisters' section to begin with. He was lectured on what the Quran says about gays and about Qadr and the Law of Allah. Despite this, I doubt we really helped him. The brothers decided to take over after that and a short while later, he left.
All of us sisters were extremely shaken up after that and alhamdulillah we're all grateful he didn't harm any of us. However, we're now dealing with the realization that he might have been a pervert looking to spy on hijabis and niqabis within the confines of our MSA space. Another point brought up by another sister was that coincidentally he "invaded" our territory at the very day and time, that all the brothers were at a nearby masjid for the Jumaa prayer. The fact that he might have known that there wouldn't be any men around could possibly have made it easier for him to enter the sister's section.
However, this is just speculation since based on HIS words, he was a born muslim man but wanted to be a sister. Whether this is true, I do not know but if it is inshAllah I hope he finds peace and if it's not and he is a pervert, then my MSA is now on high and vigilant alert lol.
This incident left many of us feeling unsafe and exposed somehow in addition to the fact that we're no longer allowed to consider the MSA our safe haven as many of us once did. And I, for some weird reason, now feel "dirty" even though I know he didn't have time to "watch" any of us as we immediately started interrogating him before he had time to get comfortable in the MSA.
What exactly are we supposed to do in a situation like this where we come across Muslims who want to be the opposite gender but still Muslims? How are we supposed to deal with individuals like this? (The brothers contacted an Imam for instructions on how to proceed with the situation, but I doubt it took them very far since he left not too long after.)
Thanks for listening and please pray that we get our sense of security back.
Yesterday an incident at my MSA left me and several other sisters very shaken up.
A man posing as a niqabi entered the female section of the MSA and told us that he "wanted to be a sister." He had actually followed another niqabi from the train station and came into the MSA with her. She suspected him of foul play and asked him to remove the niqab. Initially, before admitting that he was a male, a few sisters had suspected that he might be a male based on the fact that he had a very deep voice, refused to show us his face, and carried a very large duffel bag of clothing, including men's deoderant.
At first glance, I, along with several others, was terrified because I really did believe he was threatening as I didnt' know what was in the bag. The entire time he sat there quietly while we interrogated him I felt that he would pull a gun on us or tell us he was going to hold us hostage.
After getting him to admit that he was a male, he showed us his face and I asked him to step outside as it was disrespectful for him to be in the sisters' section to begin with. He was lectured on what the Quran says about gays and about Qadr and the Law of Allah. Despite this, I doubt we really helped him. The brothers decided to take over after that and a short while later, he left.
All of us sisters were extremely shaken up after that and alhamdulillah we're all grateful he didn't harm any of us. However, we're now dealing with the realization that he might have been a pervert looking to spy on hijabis and niqabis within the confines of our MSA space. Another point brought up by another sister was that coincidentally he "invaded" our territory at the very day and time, that all the brothers were at a nearby masjid for the Jumaa prayer. The fact that he might have known that there wouldn't be any men around could possibly have made it easier for him to enter the sister's section.
However, this is just speculation since based on HIS words, he was a born muslim man but wanted to be a sister. Whether this is true, I do not know but if it is inshAllah I hope he finds peace and if it's not and he is a pervert, then my MSA is now on high and vigilant alert lol.
This incident left many of us feeling unsafe and exposed somehow in addition to the fact that we're no longer allowed to consider the MSA our safe haven as many of us once did. And I, for some weird reason, now feel "dirty" even though I know he didn't have time to "watch" any of us as we immediately started interrogating him before he had time to get comfortable in the MSA.
What exactly are we supposed to do in a situation like this where we come across Muslims who want to be the opposite gender but still Muslims? How are we supposed to deal with individuals like this? (The brothers contacted an Imam for instructions on how to proceed with the situation, but I doubt it took them very far since he left not too long after.)
Thanks for listening and please pray that we get our sense of security back.
