“I recently visited London, and although there is a big Muslim community over there, I still felt that I was being singled out from the rest of the crowd. People were giving me looks, especially since I was wearing the scarf (hijab). I was shocked to find that a lot of people were simply ignoring me, as if I was invisible, they wouldn’t even look straight at me when I approached them and talked to them.. I will never forget the times I overheard passersby saying bad things about me and when I turned around they were not at all embarrassed that I had heard them, but would look at me straight in the eye with a hateful look as if challenging me… How can some people be so cruel and racist? If I could only make them feel a tenth of the hurt they caused me then maybe they would reconsider what they are doing? So call me naïve if you want, but I would rather live in the hope of all these barriers will one day be removed and that hatred will be gone rather than face the cruelty of racism and misconceptions.”
When I read this blog entry by Angham Amman, I was really touched. How can we stop prejudging each other? If a woman wears a scarf, it is by her choice. The symbolism aligns her in Angham’s situation with her faith. Many women across the globe choose to wear this head dress in devotion to their faith. We cannot view her fairly in a negative way, for we do not know her.
Recently, France banned Islamic women from wearing the head scarf in public. This action shocked me for who can make a decision like this for an individual and how can this insensitive action benefit people who want to live peacefully in harmony with others? Our world is at a real crossroads. It is only when we reach out to understand each other will we truly create a harmonious and peaceful world. All other actions and insensitive create disharmony, disrespect and eventually war.
Maureen Simon
An excerpt from “A Dialogue Across Borders” from the “Imagining Ourselves” blog of the International Museum of Women by Angham Ali Amman
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