Muslim Woman Responds to Pauline Hanson’s Outrageous Racist Behavior.

The following is an excerpt from an interview taken with Umm Jamaal Ud-Din, a teacher and Islamic scholar from Sydney in response to the recent hostility and provocations faced by Muslim women daily by both mainstream media and politicians. Okay, what I’d say is yes Muslim women need to be liberated but not from Islam and not from wearing the Hijab and Niqab. If anything I believe that Muslim women need to be liberated from the growing sense of fear and intolerance that’s been projected towards Muslim women in this country. Who are the scapegoats of this fear and hostility that has been perpetrated by media and politicians? It’s Muslim women because we’re the most visual out there in society. Already we’ve seen a number of attacks taking place.   I’ve personally had students who’ve been walking along minding their own business in shopping centers and being spat on by men. So we notice that it’s not really Muslim men that have been suffering the repercussions of this constant hostility projected towards Muslims, it’s Muslim women who are actually suffering from all of this. I think it’s a sad day when in particular young Muslim women cannot feel safe to express themselves and to identify themselves with their own religion. Where a young Muslim woman has to compromise her Hijab out of the fear of the repercussions of wearing her Hijab. We all know that Australia is supposed to pride itself on being a free and democratic society where people are supposed to feel safe, but unfortunately for a lot of Muslim women, that’s just not happening.   They’re not feeling that safety; in fact, they are feeling the fear of going out about their daily lives. And I don’t think anybody should have to experience that in Australia.