Washington : Muslim women in America are too afraid to wear their hijab, as the Muslim community expressed fear and shock after Republican Donald Trump was confirmed as President of the U.S., after months of anti-Islamic stands. Many of them are taking to Twitter, Khaleej Times Newspaper reported.
Some Muslims feel worries about their children as they may experience bullying at school because Trump’s victory validated the mainstreaming of Islamophobia. Some women are afraid to wear their headscarves in public in case this invites physical or verbal assault.” Other Muslims said they feared that Trump would install anti-Muslim activists, whose work he has promoted, in powerful roles at the Justice Department and other agencies.
For the editor of the Muslim section of Patheos, a website specializing in spirituality, Dilshad Ali had never felt the fear of Trump until now.
“I woke up today, and I finally felt it. It felt personal like the election was a vote against me,” the mother of three told CNN on Wednesday.
More than seven in ten Muslims had said they would vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, according to an October survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR). Just 4 percent had said they would vote for Trump, and perhaps as few expected him to win.
“Our worst nightmare has materialized… A man that built his platform on bigotry, misogyny, and the vilification of Muslims and minorities won the highest office in the land,” said Wardah Khalid, a writer and foreign policy analyst.
Yasir Qadhi, a well-known Muslim scholar in Memphis, Tennessee, said: “Shock. Complete and utter shock”.
“All of us are genuinely worried. I fear for the safety of my wife in ‘hijab’; of my children in the streets; of minorities everywhere struggling to understand what happened,” Qadhi told CNN.
Sahar Aziz, a professor at the Texas A&M University School of Law, said Trump’s election represents a regression to a less tolerant and inclusive America. “The general mood I am seeing among Muslims is concern that a Trump presidency will be open season on them.
“We could go back to that post-9/11, witch hunt-type environment,” said Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, a scholar and co-founder of Zaytuna College, the country’s first accredited Muslim college.
According to the latest survey in 2016, there are 3.3 million Muslims living in the U.S., about 1 percent of the total population. Nearly a year ago, Trump said if he were president he would call for a ban on Muslims coming to the U.S., and those words are still resonating with Muslim Americans now that he has won the presidency.
Ayesha Malik, a Muslim American student in her last semester at Eastern Washington University, says she was shocked when Trump was announced as president, KXLY Radio Station Spokane reported. “I was scared,” she said. “I’m fearful for people who look like me, individuals who pray like me.”
Malik says she fears for the safety of Muslims, a minority that Trump has discussed extensively during his campaign.
“I’m scared of the hate crimes that will start to spike.
There’s already an 89 percent spike in hate crimes against Muslim Americans,” Malik said.
Admir Rasic is a Muslim American who has been living in Spokane for the last 16 years. He says his family is also worried about how Trump’s language could put them in danger.
“We’ve heard his rhetoric and some of that troubles us Muslim Americans,” Rasic said. “Specifically, calling for greater surveillance of mosques, imposing stricter restrictions on Muslims entering the U.S., things of that nature.”
But Malik and Rasic say there is hope for the country moving forward, and that starts here on a local level, getting to know your neighbors.
“A lot of times, this divisive politics, fear mongering, happens because we don’t know people who are unlike ourselves,” Rasic said.
But, now that Donald Trump is president, members of the Muslim community say it’s time to rally behind him and help create a more unified nation.
“The only thing that we can do now gives him a chance,” Malik said.
Malik volunteers with the Spokane Interfaith Council, which brings people of different religions together. She says the work is more important now than ever, and that residents in Spokane need to take an active role in better understanding our neighbors.—SM/IINA
In US muslim population is 3.3 million & hindus are less than it i.e. 2.2 million, still hindus never find US insecure because hindus have maintained good reputation all over world. Hindus never supported terrorist activities & leave as peaceful minority in various countries.
On the other side, muslims where ever you are in minority, you start creating problems like terrorism, opposing democracy etc. I think muslim community itself is responsible for their reputation in the world.
WAIT AND WATCH ,HOW HE BEHAVES ,ELSE HE TOO WILL GET WHAT GEIRGE W BUSH GOT IN IRAQ BY A JOURNALIST
IF AMERICA DONT ACT HUMANELY ,IT WILL BRING WRATH OF HOT HEADS
JUST IMAGINE WHAT HAPPENED IN IRAQ ,THEY WENT TO FIND OUT WEAPONS OF MASS DESTURCTION BUT GOT DICK…
AND KILLED MILLIONS OF IRAQI AND HANDED OVER GOVT TO SHIAS…
REACTION IS NATURAL ,NOBODY CAN STOP IT………
THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF FOOLISH AMERICANS TOOOO WHO WILL CAUSE HEADACHES TO US ONLY
MODEST DRESS IS CODE OF CONDUCT OF CHRISTIAN NUNS…..THEY WEAR SCARF LIKE MUSLIM WOMEN ,THAT IS WHAT JESUS CHRIST (PBUH) TAUGHT…
CAPITALISTS HAVE MADE WOMEN WHORES IN WESTERN COUNTRIES ..
THEY ARE USED TO IT ……AND WHO ARE CAPITALISTS A FEW BUSINESSMEN .
NUDITY BRINGS PROFITS TO THEM AND THAT MATTERS TO THEM ,THEY LET CHRISTIANITY WHICH FORBIDS NUDITY GO TO RUINS