MICHIGAN MUSLIM SHUNNED FOR WEARING HIJAB

Cairo, 6 Dzulqa’dah 1436/21 August 2015 (MINA) – In a fresh Islamophobic attack, a Muslim woman has been denied service in a Michigan store after she refused to take off her Islamic hijab.

“This is really about ignorance, it’s really about fossilized policies and people being stubborn and not coming up to the modern time,” Dawud Walid, of the Council on American Islamic Relations, told WJBK on Wednesday, August 19.

Walid added that women are permitted to wear headscarves to do everything from go to the bank to take driver’s license photos. OnIslam.net quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The problem erupted when Nadia Kamal said she was denied service by the clerk at Advance America Cash Advance in the Detroit suburb of Westland on Wednesday.

“The lady she told them just take it off a little bit and put it back,” her husband, Fatah Kamal, said. “She said, ‘I can’t, I’m in a public place I cannot do that.'”

Nadia feels comfortable removing her hijab only in the presence of “very close family,” her husband said.

The Muslim woman reported facing ill treatment when she was denied services and kicked out of the Michigan cash advance store.

Citing the reason for the action, the company known as Advance America said it requires all customers to remove any hoods, hats, sunglasses and other head coverings as part of its safety policy.

“It is an important security measure designed to ensure that anyone entering our centers can be easily identified,” the company said in a statement.

“Advance America respects all religious beliefs and serves all customers with dignity and respect.”

Kamal is just one of a number of Muslim women suing the company for discrimination, the station reported.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

United States is the home to from 7-8 million Muslims. (T/P007/RO6)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)