You'll love this...

ShahnazZ

Striving2BeAStranger
Tell me how pretty you think this is.

I'm sitting on the bus on my way to work when all of a sudden a black woman standing next to my seat "accidentally" swipes her hand across my face. Her ring scratched the side of my face and I ended up gasping in shock. This idiot then turns to me and in an extremely sarcastic and condescending tone goes "Sorry. It was an accident." She said this as if she were daring me to respond to her. I responded in the same tone that her "little accident" really hurt. She then got all up in my face and (in her less than classy repertoire) reiterated that she didn't go around swiping people in the face and moved to the back of the bus.

It took me every ounce of strength that I had not to respond to her with a well deserved remark that would send her all the way back to the stone age where she belonged. I do believe I sat there in shock for the rest of my ride and by the time I got to work (and even now) I can't help but reach up to touch the side of my face to see if there's a welt forming. Initially I did wonder if it was an accident. However, the look on her face and the tone of her voice basically told me that she knew what she was doing. When I mentioned this to my co-workers, one of them asked me if I had seen the news this morning. I responded I hadn't. She told me that two Somali men had been arrested in a NJ airport this morning on attempted terror charges and that she wasn't surprised that the backlash had already begun. She told me that since I'm so "obviously Muslim" because of my hijab that I need to be extremely careful.

Honestly, how am I supposed to be careful when all I did was get on a bus to go to work? I didn't go out of my way to do anything extraordinary. This just happened to me while I was undertaking a normal everyday routine. I don't understand why it's the fault of every individual muslim when a few are assumed to be unjust and evil. I'm sitting here, angry and frustrated, that I have to go through something like this when I was born and raised in this country just like everyone else. It's disgusting the levels that ingrates like this will sink to and what's worse is that in order to display our class and tolerance, its the victims that have to take the high road and ignore it all, despite the fact that it was a physical act.

In addition to carrying pepper spray, I ask you all to just make dua for all the Muslim brothers and sisters that are about to be victims of such backlash as we know such occurrences are now becoming everyday incidents. In all honesty, it seems like this is only the beginning.

JazakAllah khair for listening.
 

ilyas_eh

Used to be active here!
Jazak Allah khyir for sharing.

may Allah reward you for your tolerence sister.

i heard of a companion of prophet, that when he was beaten up(or punched), he said 'victory! victory' (or something like that) as he suffered that because of his faith.

Glad tidings!!!! i dont see much of a difference in your case.

may Allah make it easy for our brothers and sisters.
 

Aisya al-Humaira

الحمدلله على كل حال
Assalamua'laykum wa rahmatullah Sis Shanazz,

Nice to hear from you. Dont have much to say, but I guess I'll just leave a sisterly *hugs* for you. :)

Take care.

Wassalam.
 

miq1

Junior Member
Praise be to Allah (The Glorified and Exalted).


If you are going to travel alone, then you need to be prepared to defend yourself. Living in america, in which many persons in larger cities are well known for their racism and ill manners, requires toughness and the ability to stand up for yourself and put others in their place when they cross the line. This is easier if it is someone of the same gender, female, let the males deal with males or seek police assistance. Of course, every individual will defer in their ability to defend themselves, a young athletic man will have an advantage over a woman, etc, and each individual must assess their personal situation before responding. You should not feel as if you are the only one facing such things, all minorities that live in your land, such as Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and persons of other religions, face a great deal of persecution and prejudice and violent attacks. It is common in that land, therefore you need to be aware of your surroundings at all times and have a pre-planned manner of protecting yourself from hate speech or physical violence.
 

Kakorot

Junior Member
:salam2:

May Allaah reward you sister. Don't worry, all those people who are rude to you and mock you because your a Muslim would get what's coming to them on the day of judgement. So smile :)
 

Aapa

Mirajmom
Assalaam walaikum,

I am sorry sister but why did you have to identify the color of the woman. That initself reeks of racism. Why could you not have stated a woman, a kuffir, a female busrider. It is highly offensive to people of color when they are identified by color. Often people sense that internal racism. And we as Muslims do not identify people by color. This has been a long time issue in the States.
Muslims are of all color. And they have the burden of responsibility of not falling into the racist trap of using color as an adjective. This places a barrier.
This is not to say you were not assulted. However, if the person who assulted you was white would you have used the same adjective.
I have been fighting racisim for 40 odd years and I find your use of the word black as offensive.
 

revert2007

Love Fishing
Assalaam walaikum,

I am sorry sister but why did you have to identify the color of the woman. That initself reeks of racism. Why could you not have stated a woman, a kuffir, a female busrider. It is highly offensive to people of color when they are identified by color. Often people sense that internal racism. And we as Muslims do not identify people by color. This has been a long time issue in the States.
Muslims are of all color. And they have the burden of responsibility of not falling into the racist trap of using color as an adjective. This places a barrier.
This is not to say you were not assulted. However, if the person who assulted you was white would you have used the same adjective.
I have been fighting racisim for 40 odd years and I find your use of the word black as offensive.

I agree.
****No Comment***
 

ShahnazZ

Striving2BeAStranger
Assalaam walaikum,

I am sorry sister but why did you have to identify the color of the woman. That initself reeks of racism. Why could you not have stated a woman, a kuffir, a female busrider. It is highly offensive to people of color when they are identified by color. Often people sense that internal racism. And we as Muslims do not identify people by color. This has been a long time issue in the States.
Muslims are of all color. And they have the burden of responsibility of not falling into the racist trap of using color as an adjective. This places a barrier.
This is not to say you were not assulted. However, if the person who assulted you was white would you have used the same adjective.
I have been fighting racisim for 40 odd years and I find your use of the word black as offensive.

I had a feeling this was going to come up. I apologize if anyone was offended by my stating this woman's color. The fact that anyone would get an impression that I am racist when I myself was the victim of discrimination is downright disgusting as I love ALL my fellow Muslims equally. If I myself gave that impression, then I apologize. I allowed my anger to get the best of me in that moment as it had just happened. Thank you for pointing that out.

And yes, if the woman would have been white, I would have used the EXACT same adjective because a racist soul is the same as another racist soul regardless of skin color and the same adjective would apply to another racist person. I could care less what skin color a person has but when that person decides to assault me because I'm muslim then they are most DEFINITELY discriminating and are racist and thus they will be called just that. Two racist people will have the same amount of hatred in their heart for that particular race and thus, they are the same no matter what race they themselves are.
 

ShahnazZ

Striving2BeAStranger
JazakAllah khair to the rest of you for your kind words and may Allah reward you all.

It's very painful to have such a harsh reminder that as a Muslim, you are and will always be an outsider in mainstream society. Not only that, but now I have family members telling me that I should remove my hijab because it poses a threat to me and my future. I can't begin to tell you how agonizing it was to hear the very people who supported me when I first began wearing hijab to now suddenly turn on me and tell me to remove it because it's becoming an obstacle. SubhanAllah, its like asking me to cut off my arm. My hijab has become a part of who I am and my very identity. I hate that such a vile action by such a vile person has now led to such disgusting repurcussions. The day I'm forced to remove my scarf is the day I stop leaving my house. That's it. No questions asked.

Brother ilyas_eh, I really appreciate the example of the Sahabi that you gave. I can only hope to be compared to such an amazing personality. It's funny that you mentioned that because in the moment that I had been so concerned about getting a welt on my face, I wondered that if I had, should I be upset? Or pleased that I had a physical manifestation of my love for Allah to display to the rest of the world? Knowing how weak I am, it would probably be the former but it should definitely be the latter.

Brother miq1, what you say is unfortunate but true. I've been thinking of taking self-defense lessons lately as they now seem necessary for Muslim women in recent times.

JazakAllah khair again for all your support.
 

Janaan

ربنا اغفر لنا ذنوبنا
Staff member
^^oh hey, wait, I didn't get to say mabrook yet ukhty:D
Masha'allah sis- may Allah swt reward you for your patience wallahi- I've never been a victim but i know how hard it is to keep your cool in such matters wallahi!
May you and all our brothers and sisters out there get their haqq on the day of account insha'allah! And may He- The Guider, Guide these cruel people to the right path insha'allah!Aameen:)
 

Aapa

Mirajmom
Assalaam walaikum,

I was assulted physcially and verbally on the job. I described the details in a post.
I was walking, a simple lesiure walk, two young men were sitting across the street on a park bench. I was unaware of their presence. I stopped to do some window shopping. I hear yelling. They got up and screamed what the ----was I looking at. I turned around and stood and waited for them to make a move. I did not move. I stood my ground and waited and waited. I looked at them and did not blink. In perhaps two minutes they retreated and sat down.

I am told to go back to Iraq very frequently. I respond and tell them I am from DC.

Sister..I was simply pointing out that we have to exhibit the best of manners. We are assulted daily. I carry my tasbi when I walk, now.

I thank you for being so understanding.
 

Al-Kashmiri

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Assalaam walaikum,

I am sorry sister but why did you have to identify the color of the woman. That initself reeks of racism. Why could you not have stated a woman, a kuffir, a female busrider. It is highly offensive to people of color when they are identified by color. Often people sense that internal racism. And we as Muslims do not identify people by color. This has been a long time issue in the States.
Muslims are of all color. And they have the burden of responsibility of not falling into the racist trap of using color as an adjective. This places a barrier.
This is not to say you were not assulted. However, if the person who assulted you was white would you have used the same adjective.
I have been fighting racisim for 40 odd years and I find your use of the word black as offensive.

As-salaamu `alaykum

I disagree... By mentioning colour, the sister has clearly reminded me that even those people/cultures who tend to "side" or at least understand our hardships in these times, are being affected by what is going on in the world. It shows the severity of the trial that we are facing, and media's role in society...

To illustrate, whenever something 'bad' has happened down here, pretty much everyone knows that generally speaking, black people are far more supportive towards the Muslims than anyone else. I grew up seeing nothing but this, and found that this is more so the case in America...

However more recently I've noticed that this is gradually changing, and while some of them may say to your face 'we don't believe the media rubbish', what they say in private is to the contrary... In other words, the ideological warfare on the Muslims has grown so severe, that even the sighted are growing blind. If even Muslims are affected by it, labelling everyone practicing as extreme, then what about others?

Was-salaam
 

al-fajr

...ism..schism
Staff member
As-salaamu `alaykum

I disagree... By mentioning colour, the sister has clearly reminded me that even those people/cultures who tend to "side" or at least understand our hardships in these times, are being affected by what is going on in the world. It shows the severity of the trial and media's role in society...

Was-salaam

Hm Yep, I agree with this and was going to post something similar, its an indication of how deep the problem is.

I would be more surprised if discrimination was coming from people of other minorites rather than white people, from whom its pretty common and almost expected in certain places.

Wa-salaam
 

Aapa

Mirajmom
Assalaam walaikum,

I believe I wrote a poor explanation. When a person of Africian American descent encounters the adjective black before the nouns: boy, woman, child, and man it is a continuation of a label. The connotations imply there is a difference. The label discriminates..and that is still a form of oppression. In a culturally specific sense it is overt discrimination i.e racial profiling. Very infrequently do we see white man, white child etc.


And I do believe that each encounter we face with the ignorant..they become mute because we do not attack like pit bulls. We look and the first thing we do is call upon Allah. Muslims never attack the ignorant.

Walaikum assalaam.
 

Valerie

Junior Member
I think it doesn't matter what the color of the person was, but how many people would have assumed this nasty woman was white?

Sidenote: I would have, and I'm about as white as they come (skin color wise, I burn easily and have green eyes and red hair). But, despite the rude people I've met, I can't assume that every racist out there has white skin.
 

ShahnazZ

Striving2BeAStranger
This appears to be getting off topic.

I opened this thread to vent about an occurrence that deeply hurt me. Some were offended at how I stated the issue and misunderstood my intentions, others saw what I meant and understood them. However, please don't turn this discussion into an issue on color.

However to Brother Al Kashmir and Al Fajr, I thank both of you for understanding what I meant when I wrote that instead of assuming I was racist. I did think about explaining it but felt that it would somehow manage to fan the flames yet again. The main reason this woman's race was so significant was because it hurt so much to have an individual who should understand both racism and discrimination better than ANYONE ELSE in this country, now inflicting that same behavior on someone else. I mean, shouldn't they get it? Shouldnt the Japanese, the Irish, the Native Americans, the Jews ALL get it? How many races have been discriminated against? Why on earth would they of all people want to perpetuate that twisted cycle of violence?

I thank you again for understanding what I meant. Irrespective, I would really appreciate it if this thread doesn't steer towards negativity on this board.
 
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