{"id":869,"date":"2023-08-08T15:46:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimpress.com\/?p=869"},"modified":"2023-08-08T15:46:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:16:56","slug":"i-know-my-rights-and-ill-never-take-off-my-hijab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"I know my rights, and I\u2019ll never take off my hijab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Even in \u201csafe\u201d countries, Islamophobia lingers \u2014 and that\u2019s why we need to stand together and speak out<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To the bully who targeted me for my hijab: you must\u2019ve been so happy to make me afraid like never before. You took my innocence, and my excitement at enrolling in university. It was a struggle to gather myself and get back to who I am: a strong, fearless woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGo back to where you came from,\u201d you said. You looked at my headscarf and told me it wasn\u2019t accepted here, told me to \u201cremove it or go back.\u201d I felt helpless, not knowing whether to run, scream for help, or just do nothing. I recited every prayer I could in my heart, begging for God\u2019s mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n

As if sent from heaven, an angel of an old man came to my rescue. He walked straight to where you were tormenting me, and you left calmly, like nothing happened, sure that you achieved whatever you had in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remained, devastated and traumatized, having no words to describe what just happened. I couldn\u2019t properly reply when asked if I was okay; all I could do was nod and walk away, short of energy, and unsure of who to trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

That happened after barely two months in this country. My high expectations of my time here went down the drain. I asked myself: how safe am I here? Who do I turn to? To whom do I tell the story of what had happened to me?<\/span><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t yet made friends at SFU. My mother came to mind, but I ended the call before she picked up. I realized that I\u2019d regret telling her, because she\u2019d worry that I wasn\u2019t safe in my new faraway \u201chome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent days in my room with no food and no contact with anyone, just lying down and sobbing. Afterward, I became anti-social, and never felt ready to talk to new people. I wouldn\u2019t walk anywhere alone. Whenever I saw bigger guys, I found myself moving quickly away.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t something I could control, and I didn\u2019t like that. I questioned those behaviours every time, promising myself that they wouldn\u2019t happen again, but I couldn\u2019t help it for a long time. I\u2019m normally social, joking and ever-joyful; now, I can\u2019t stop thinking about the many happy moments I missed during that period.<\/span><\/p>\n

To the bully who targeted me for my hijab: I don\u2019t know who else you hurt before coming for me, but you\u2019ve opened my eyes to the real world and made me see things as they are. I came here excited to feel safe and secure, able to exercise my rights and privileges, but even in one of the \u201csafest countries\u201d in the world, I still don\u2019t have the power to choose what I want to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve reignited my fire, and despite the fear you tried to inflict upon me, you\u2019ve empowered me. I know my rights better now, and I\u2019ll never take off my hijab just because you or anyone else wants me to, or because it\u2019s \u201cnot accepted here.\u201d It is my dignity, my respect, and my honour, and I will never trade it for anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

I speak for all the women out there who, like me, have faced racism and Islamophobia without knowing how to deal with it; who kept their grievances to themselves because of fear; who didn\u2019t know where to report the injustices. We\u2019re in this together, and nobody should feel abnormal for it. Racism and Islamophobia can happen anywhere, and it\u2019s no fault of the targeted individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insecure, unwanted, and unsafe: that\u2019s how I felt that day. But I won\u2019t let it stop me from speaking my mind \u2014 everyone assumes that all\u2019s well, when it\u2019s not even close. I tell my story not because it\u2019s unique, but because it\u2019s what many women face. I choose to tell my story today, tomorrow, and every day after.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even in \u201csafe\u201d countries, Islamophobia lingers \u2014 and that\u2019s why we need to stand together and speak out To the bully who targeted me for my hijab: you must\u2019ve been so happy to make me afraid like never before. You took my innocence, and my excitement at enrolling in university. It was a struggle to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[371],"tags":[381,375,382],"video-categories":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"video-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muslimpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fvideo-categories&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}