Re: Veiled Praise
Verizon,
I am happy to see a marked improvement in attitude and hostility towards hijabans and Muslims. May Allah bless you with three more wives. Ameen sum ameen.
Re: Veiled Praise
minah: i dont blame your husband for feeling that way, protective rights are changing from day to day.
How long ago did you wear the scarf? was it after 9/11?
Re: Veiled Praise
Ma Mooli - it was just before 9/11 and I know that makes a difference but not too much of one, I meet and interact with enough Muslim women to know better. As I said the self-conciousness of the Muslim community is heightened simply because the constant references to Islamic fanatics and the constant coverage of Iraq, etc. I will say though, most single Muslim men from other countries are being sent back at a higher rate and most appealing the decision of immigration are denied. So, single men have a reason to worry, but women and married men (usually with families) I haven't seen any change.
Also, my daughter (being Muslim) wears hijab and she has had no problems, questions, yes, but no problems.
Does anyone living here see anything different? If you do not reside in America, your opinion is just that - opinion, not a fact.
As far as Americans reacting? I think most have more important things to worry about than the Muslim family next door. Occasional fruitcake will react to Muslims, but occasion fruitcakes reacts to whatever gets caught in that weirdness loop in their minds.
Re: Veiled Praise
aawww 
Re: Veiled Praise
I wore hijab for a while. Never got any rude or mean comments not even any questions (at least I don't remember). This was a year ago, July 2004.
Re: Veiled Praise
minah: it makes alot of difference, pre-911, people were generally indifferent or clueless about muslims. after 9/11, they suddenly became the phantom menace out to get everyone. it changed everything, to the extent, that straight after, some muslim women were afraid to leave thier homes due to constant stories in the news of women being assaulted and targetted cuz of thier hijab.
The perception changed so radically it created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust from both sides. That is one reason i think your hubby doesnt believe you, in that the mistrust towards the gov. policies is quite strong and it over rides everything. whilst i dont reside in america, i do reside in the west. the impact was quite evident on muslims all over the world, not just america. Hence, its not merely an opinion, its an informed one.
However, i do believe things have calmed down abit since then, people have gone to back to living thier lives as normal and being indifferent. Perceptions may be changing once again, but the barriers will definately take its time in coming down.
Re: Veiled Praise
Now wait.
I thought the whole reason for 9/11 was that the West was waging a war on Islam. Now you tell me we were indifferent? Clueless? Sort of hard to whip up any Crusader hate when you are generally indifferent.
(now watch the backtracking, we will conveniently redefine all the foreign policies designed to destroy Islam, even though we are indifferent.)
sigh.
Re: Veiled Praise
i was talking about the *generally*dumb public who took the gov. word as bible.
Re: Veiled Praise
So what are you saying, just because she has more freedom in America, she should still keep standard of expectaions at Arabia level? That’s stupid.
Re: Veiled Praise
Ma Mooli - I cannot recall a Muslim woman being targeted here because of hijab.
I agree about the sentiment and the heightened awareness, but as far as physical or even verbal attacks (outside of the one or two nutjobs), there were none. And, also, as I said my daughter (not a little girl, 16 now) has been wearing hijab all her life and nothing negative was said to her or about her faith. Occasionally a question along the lines of - do you wear that because your Muslim? or a Why do you wear that? but nothing offensive (don't believe questions are offensive).
I think the mistrust of government and it's policies is also a holdover of living in a country where it was just plain common sense to mistrust government and policies (ie Pakistan). I am not bashing Pakistan or focusing on it just using as an example. So, the extremity of the fear without any actual proof of it's legitamacy in america (not in war zones or in other countries, mind you) is a bit much (for me) but makes perfect sense for a lot of non-citizens who base their perception on the enviroment they grew up in.
But like I said, a single man living here has more to worry about than a married man with children. I have seen the sweeps of the neighborhood and my husband was actually stopped and questions by FBI at work and Homeland Security (Immigration) stopped him on the street. The FBI asked for ID politely and checked him, then let him go. Dept. of HS were a bit rougher and not as polite, but let him go also because all his paperwork is in order. The friend that was with him was detained because of an expired visa. He was a single man and had no roots here so he was sent back and visa reapplication was denied.
But even through all that and even though he was not detained or even abused, he still believes he has to be twice as good or twice as inconspicuous in order to live here.
Re: Veiled Praise
CAIR’s site should have the incidents online. Do take a look.
Re: Veiled Praise
sry LI - here meaning where I am.
Also - there is a difference between nutjobs doing something and something that is a mainstream belief. An occasion random attack does not indicate a pervasive belief, it indicts a nutjob at work.
We get nutjobs attacking every religion or principal here, a part of life dealing with them. Just like the snipers outside of abortion clinics, people who desecrate a Synogogue, to people who topple gravestones - fanatics are everywhere.
Re: Veiled Praise
"snipers outside of abortion clinics" Define Irony.
Pro-lifers taking away life.
Re: Veiled Praise
Minah, if it was one or two nutjobs, it wouldn't have been such a problem. There were plenty of newspaper articles covering these events. Whilst nothing happened to the people you know, it doesnt mean it didnt happen elsewhere. A hijabi friend of mine was assaulted on the bus. Some Sikh friends were verbally abused. I wasnae that old back then (around 16), but i remember these news events clearly as we used to discuss them often thinking any one of us asians cud be next.
However, one thing was clear, that these werent your average nutcases. they cud've been your friendly next door neighbour for all we know. It wasnt so much that they had a screw lose, but that 9/11 and the media had hit thier panic button and that had brought out the worst.
Re: Veiled Praise
Verizon - and the fact that they identify as radical or fundamental christians is a pain in the a$$. But the thinking they have is the loss of one life as compared to the loss of thousands of potential ones.
Re: Veiled Praise
My sister has been doing it since before sept. 11th, and nobody used to say anything to her except maybe one or two kids at school. after sept. 11th, a couple of people have said things to her like right up to her face especially when we’re at the DC metro area and all that. I have friends that do hijaab and they’ve told me about how people have flicked them off and said rude things to them for no reason other than the hijaab.
Re: Veiled Praise
Wow, remind me never to go to DC. Here's my Yankee background kicking in (bit o'prejudice) saying what do you expect from Southerners (ok, sorry, knee jerk reaction).
Sry, Phatima, as much as we have traveled in New England, PA, and NJ, neither of my kids, family, or even friends have heard anything like that. Some have, because of their jobs, gotten customers frustrated with accents and have heard things said about that, but never about religion.
Re: Veiled Praise
Oh yea that's just in the DC area. I live in Maryland, and the people here aren't too tolerant either. I mean, there's not many muslims here to begin with (i mean compared to NY and stuff). Yea don't get me wron, DC is a nice place, but the people around the metro area are.... f r e a k s!
Like once I was at the metro station with a few cousins and my mom and sisters (it was all girls), and some guy just randomly walks up to my sister and goes "Muslims will not last" and then just gets on the bus and zoom... he's gone.
People have said things to my mother like "go back to your country" and stuff, people flick off my dad when he's driving if he accidentally makes a wrong turn or summin. Yea this stuff doesn't always happen or anything, but when it does, it hurts real bad :(
Re: Veiled Praise
I think some people also call it racism, but we mustn’t forget what he does before 9.30 am
Re: Veiled Praise
OG is right, we need to make contact, get to know our neighbours: take some food over, work colleagues: explain y u do things they way u do, show them by our example what we are like.