Muslim Teen Shares Message From Her Father About Taking Off Her Hijab, Dismantles Islamophobic Assumptions In The Process

By Petr Knava | News Stories | April 18, 2017 |

Lamyaa is a 17-year old Muslim woman living in Pennsylvania. After texting with some people in a group chat about Donald Trump and sharing her concerns about the political climate that his election has engendered, she experienced the kind of hate that way too many Muslims, especially women, often encounter.

That lovely bit of wisdom, squatting at the intersection of racism and misogyny, went like this:

‘Stop defending Islam B**** shut up you couldn’t take that scarf off or your dad would beat your ass.’

How did Lamyaa choose to respond to this?

She texted her father, who currently lives in Saudi Arabia, telling him that she was considering stopping wearing the hijab.

His response?

no i'm not taking my hijab off — l a m y a a (@lxmyaa) April 15, 2017

Here, a screencap for posterity:

According to Upworthy, Lamyaa has commented further:

People believe that Islam is misogynistic, hateful, or violent, and I think that stems from their inability to differentiate culture and religion. Islam is a religion and, like all religions, it is what you bring to it. I wear my hijab because it is sacred to me. It displays my connection to my faith and God. When I have the hijab on, I act kinder and I am more aware of what I say and do. This is because not only am I representing myself, but I am representing a faith much bigger than me.

In a follow-up message, Lamyaa elaborated:

pic.twitter.com/cVrld0pFFZ — l a m y a a (@lxmyaa) April 15, 2017



Isn’t it just lovely when someone calmly and simply dismantles blind, bigoted hate?



Header pic by Lamyaa

Petr is a staff contributor. You can follow him on Twitter.

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