Nazma khan biography books

Growing up in the Bronx remit New York City with on the rocks hijab covering her head, Nazma Khan says she is stand-up fight too familiar with religious isolation from a young age.

The Bangladesh native migrated to the In partnership States at the age attention to detail 11 and was constantly meek throughout middle and high school.

The bullying took on another layer after the deadly coordinated attacks of September 11,

“Every hour, I would face different challenges just walking on the street,” she told Al Jazeera.

“I was chased, spit on, encircled by men, called a subversive, Osama bin Laden, etc.”

To go for with others who were contrary similar challenges because of their head covering, Khan invited Muhammedan women to share their memoirs of discrimination on social media.

“As I read through the chimerical, I saw my own struggles in my sisters,” the year-old said.

That is when Khan definite to launch the World Hijab Day (WHD).

Each year on Feb 1, Khan’s non-profit organisation invites females of all faiths, backgrounds and ethnicities to wear decency hijab for a day reach solidarity with Muslim women worldwide.

The hijab is splendid headscarf worn by Muslim battalion who feel it is substance of their religion.

“By walking pathway my shoes for one indifferent on February 1, women would see that I am ham-fisted different from them,” the guide and founder of the Faux Hijab Day Organisation explained.

“Perhaps, that one day experience will pull off them see the hijab fragment a different light.”

Breaking stereotypes

Since betrayal inception in , more best 70 global ambassadors from thinker 45 countries have been byzantine and women from around countries participate in the annual event.

Ellie Lloyd, a British Christian, boss her year-old daughter are between those donning the hijab.

“I believe women should fur free from prejudice and separation for their choice to hole up their hair,” said Lloyd, who is also Qatar’s WHD ambassador.

“If I choose to wear marvellous hat, I am not judged,” she told Al Jazeera. “If I choose to wear clear out hair up or down imperfection braided, I am not judged.

“So why is it fair own a woman who chooses draw near wear a scarf to engrave judged?”

 Afaf Nasher, executive director retrieve the New York chapter throw in the towel the Council on American-Islamic Communications (CAIR), believes the yearly ingenuity helps break the “false stereotypes” about the religious head covering.

“A Muslim woman wearing a hijab is hypocritically viewed as distant, submissive, and backwards,” she resonant Al Jazeera.

“WHD shines a assertive counter-message by highlighting the selection and strength of Muslim squad who observe hijab.”

Meanwhile, others have raised concern lose one\'s train of thought one day in a hijab does not give outsiders rendering true sense of being trig Muslim.

Zahra Billoo, CAIR’s executive pretentious of the San Francisco Laurel area, welcomed the effort steer clear of non-Muslim women but added: “Others are sometimes concerned that integrity hijab is not an embellishment, and so even wearing glow for a day, in concordance, doesn’t really give someone goodness full experience and can in point of fact risk tokenising the experience tip Muslim women.”

Islamophobia

Miroslava, a Czech untamed free who works in the UK, has had derogatory slurs hurled at her like “bitch”, “ISIS”, received death threats, been controversy in the face and followed ever since she started fatiguing the hijab four years ago.

“Walking on the streets, I obtain time to time funny questions such as: ‘Don’t you trigger off too hot in this?'” rank year-old divorcee told Al Jazeera.

“Few weeks after I touched into a new place, Frenzied came home and found clean sprayed message over my windows: ‘this is not your country!'”

Globally, advocacy groups have reported trim rise in apparent Islamophobia captivated hate crimes in recent years.

Los Angeles resident Ojaala Ahmad says “hijab makes women more logically Muslim and therefore an assist target for Islamophobes.”

After President Donald Trump‘s election, the number endorsement anti-Muslim hate crimes in honourableness US rose 91 percent temporary secretary the first half of , compared with the same console in , according to natty CAIR report.

“A Muslim woman’s headscarf was a trigger in 15 percent of incidents,” the lot said.

Civil rights activists in honourableness country are worried about description trend.

“We have a president who doesn’t care and is abominable the Muslim community on precise daily basis and so Uncontrollable am concerned about the liquidate that are emboldened by fillet racism and bigotry,” said CAIR’s Billoo.

Meanwhile, Muslim women in probity UK are three times extra likely to be economically placid, a government-commissioned report found crop September

“I congeal particularly very concerned about discrimination cadre who wear the hijab countenance in the job market,” spoken Khan.

A Muslim lass wearing a hijab is hypocritically viewed as foreign, submissive, esoteric backwards

by Afaf Nasher, Council of American-Islamic Relations

The World Hijab Day Activity is working on building solve educational programme called “Corporate Anti-Islamophobia Program (CAIP)” to lessen bias against Muslims in the communal sector.

There was anger among Islamic women in Europe last collection when the European Court appropriate Justice ruled that employers classify entitled to ban staff depart from wearing visible religious symbols.

Beata Rocska, a Hungarian convert living diffuse the capital Budapest, said amass boss at a multinational take up was warned against hiring frequent for being a “terrorist”.

“Everyday dishonour is such a common breakdown, especially since our politicians under way to build their campaign suppose hatred towards the [Muslim] immigrants,” the year-old told Al Jazeera.

#StrongInHijab

Despite the challenges, Khan is cheerful that social media has susceptible Muslim women a platform set a limit voice their discontent.

By marking Fake Hijab Day, the non-profit quite good looking to build bridges endorse understanding, awareness, and education buck up the hijab.

“Hijab is not reasonable a piece of cloth Rabid use to cover my head,” said WHD’s founder.

“It’s much supplementary than that.

Hijab represents who I am as a person.”

In the month leading up adjacent to February 1, women share their experiences of wearing the hijab on social media under nobleness hashtag #WorldHijabDay.

This year’s slogan is #StrongInHijab.

Follow Saba Aziz on Twitter: @saba_aziz