EVERYDAY ISLAMOPHOBIA
1. School student- Girl (hijabi)
[Classroom]
Teacher: “Go sit in the back. Your hijab is blocking everyone’s view”.
[Outside in the corridor]
Students taunt her: “Mulli! Mulli!”
[During the morning assembly]
Principal: “You cannot go on stage like this. You will have to remove your scarf”.
[Girl’s father, with a beard and a cap, comes to pick her up]
Other students: “Haha, Osama’s daughter!”
2. Office-going youth – Man
[Office]
Another employee: “Oh, you are Muslim? But you don’t seem like other Muslims.”
Another colleague: “You Muslims have a lot of kids, don’t you?”
[Office Whatsapp group message, visible on his phone]
Message: “Muslims should all be taught a lesson. Oh, not you of course @Muhammed”
[In a bus]
An old man sitting in the same seat, near the window: “Please sit a little bit away from me”.
3. College student- Woman (hijabi)
[Cafetaria]
Another girl: “How can you wear a hijab? It must be so hot inside!”
[Classroom]
Teacher: “You are so lucky that your parents allow you to study. Otherwise, Muslim women are so oppressed.”
Another student: “What is that in your lunchbox? It’s not beef, is it?”
A boy student: “You Muslim girls cover yourself up, and then your men do ‘jihad’ and take away our women.”
4. A young married couple
[Outside an apartment building]
Agent: “Sorry, they said they don’t rent out to Muslims.”
[The wife sitting with non-Muslim friend/friends and having tea]
One friend (jokingly): “Be careful or he might triple talaq you!”
[In the bus]
Random but friendly woman: “Congrats! So did your parents take your permission before the wedding?”
[The couple entering a restaurant, at the door]
Waiter: “Sorry sir, we don’t serve non-vegetarian”.
5. Taxi driver with beard and skull cap – older man
Man poking his head inside: “It’s okay, I will wait for another cab.”
[Inside the car]
Friendly young passenger sitting at the back, cheerfully: “So Chacha, how many wives do you have?”
Hindutva goon sitting in the back: “If you people stay quiet, good for you. Or we know exactly what to do with you.”
A mother shushing a young child sitting with her: “Shh! Don’t talk to the driver. He is a Musalmaan!”
6. Youtube Influencer- Bearded man
[Reading comments under the video ‘Raheem’s Reviews’.]
One viewer: “Giving this video dislike because you are Muslim.”
Another viewer: “These guys are just waiting to blow themselves up so they can get 70 virgins.”
[Outside]
A friend: “Maybe you will get more views if you shave off your beard and not advertise that you are Muslim”
Another friend: “Isn’t technology haram for Muslims? Your people usually go off to Syria to rear goats.”
7. Researcher – Woman (non-hijabi)
[Inside a seminar hall]
Fellow audience member: “Moderate Muslims like you are okay. But most Muslims support terrorism”.
[Visiting a non-Muslim friend’s grandmother]
Grandmother: “You are so clean. Usually, Muslims are so smelly and dirty”.
[At a party]
Another guest: “You are specializing in temple architecture? Why don’t you specialize in mosques or dargahs?”
Another guest: “Muslims have so many countries. We only have India. Why don’t you leave that to us?”