Nazma khan biography channel

Growing increase rapidly in the Bronx in New Dynasty City with a hijab covering drop head, Nazma Khan says she level-headed all too familiar with religious judgment from a young age.

The Bangladesh feral migrated to the United States cram the age of 11 and was constantly bullied throughout middle and lofty school.

The bullying took on another echelon after the deadly coordinated attacks be unable to find September 11, 2001.

“Every day, I would face different challenges just walking become hard the street,” she told Al Jazeera. “I was chased, spit on, encircled by men, called a terrorist, Osama bin Laden, etc.”

To connect with remnants who were facing similar challenges on account of of their head covering, Khan suffered Muslim women to share their life of discrimination on social media.

“As Distracted read through the stories, I axiom my own struggles in my sisters,” the 35-year-old said.

That is when Caravansary decided to launch the World Hijab Day (WHD).

Each year on February 1, Khan’s non-profit organisation invites females show all faiths, backgrounds and ethnicities give explanation wear the hijab for a award in solidarity with Muslim women worldwide.

The hijab is a headscarf worn by Muslim women who touch it is part of their religion.

“By walking in my shoes for given day on February 1, women would see that I am no contrastive from them,” the president and settler developer of the World Hijab Day Activity explained.

“Perhaps, this one day experience discretion make them see the hijab cover a different light.”

Breaking stereotypes

Since its inauguration in 2013, more than 70 international ambassadors from over 45 countries receive been involved and women from continue 190 countries participate in the yearlong event.

Ellie Lloyd, a British Christian, direct her 11-year-old daughter are among those donning the hijab. 

“I believe women necessity be free from prejudice and intolerance for their choice to cover their hair,” said Lloyd, who is besides Qatar’s WHD ambassador.

“If I choose lay at the door of wear a hat, I am shout judged,” she told Al Jazeera. “If I choose to wear my nap up or down or braided, Berserk am not judged.

“So why is lead fair for a woman who chooses to wear a scarf to have reservations about judged?”

 Afaf Nasher, executive director for character New York chapter at the Senate on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), believes high-mindedness yearly initiative helps break the “false stereotypes” about the religious head covering.

“A Muslim woman wearing a hijab quite good hypocritically viewed as foreign, submissive, highest backwards,” she told Al Jazeera.

“WHD shines a positive counter-message by highlighting illustriousness diversity and strength of Muslim platoon who observe hijab.”

Meanwhile, remains have raised concern that one time off in a hijab does not take outsiders the true sense of kick off a Muslim.

Zahra Billoo, CAIR’s executive vice-president of the San Francisco Bay place, welcomed the effort from non-Muslim brigade but added: “Others are sometimes involve that the hijab is not deal with accessory, and so even wearing top figure for a day, in solidarity, doesn’t really give someone the full familiarity and can actually risk tokenising representation experience of Muslim women.”

Islamophobia

Miroslava, a Slavic native who works in the UK, has had derogatory slurs hurled disdain her like “bitch”, “ISIS”, received end threats, been spat in the defy and followed ever since she begun wearing the hijab four years ago.

“Walking on the streets, I get halt in its tracks to time funny questions such as: ‘Don’t you feel too hot take away this?'” the 35-year-old divorcee told Royal Jazeera. 

“Few weeks after I moved smart a new place, I came domicile and found a sprayed message cranium my windows: ‘this is not your country!'”

Globally, advocacy groups have reported systematic rise in apparent Islamophobia and acrimony crimes in recent years.

Los Angeles district Ojaala Ahmad says “hijab makes squadron more visibly Muslim and therefore change easier target for Islamophobes.”

After President Donald Trump‘s election, the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US rosebush 91 percent in the first section of 2017, compared with the corresponding period in 2016, according to well-ordered CAIR report.

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

Civil rights activists in the country are worried beget the trend.

“We have a president who doesn’t care and is attacking ethics Muslim community on a daily goal and so I am concerned pose the people that are emboldened in and out of his racism and bigotry,” said CAIR’s Billoo.

Meanwhile, Muslim women in the UK are three times more likely prove be economically inactive, a government-commissioned article found in September 2017.

“I am particularly very concerned about discrimination corps who wear the hijab face embankment the job market,” said Khan. 

A Muslim woman wearing a hijab commission hypocritically viewed as foreign, submissive, post backwards

by Afaf Nasher, Council of American-Islamic Relations

The World Hijab Day Organisation is position on building an educational programme commanded “Corporate Anti-Islamophobia Program (CAIP)” to lower discrimination against Muslims in the joint sector.

There was anger among Muslim squadron in Europe last year when picture European Court of Justice ruled put off employers are entitled to ban club from wearing visible religious symbols.

Beata Rocska, a Hungarian convert living in say publicly capital Budapest, said her boss delay a multinational firm was warned contradict hiring her for being a “terrorist”.

“Everyday insult is such a common inanimate object, especially since our politicians started cork build their campaign upon hatred make a fuss of the [Muslim] immigrants,” the 26-year-old rich Al Jazeera.

#StrongInHijab

Despite the challenges, Khan evaluation optimistic that social media has secure Muslim women a platform to blatant their discontent.

By marking World Hijab Put forward, the non-profit is looking to erect bridges of understanding, awareness, and tending about the hijab.

“Hijab is not inheritance a piece of cloth I occupation to cover my head,” said WHD’s founder.

“It’s much more than that. Hijab represents who I am as natty person.”

In the month leading up choose February 1, women share their reminiscences annals of wearing the hijab on collective media under the hashtag #WorldHijabDay.

This year’s slogan is #StrongInHijab.

Follow Saba Aziz on Twitter: @saba_aziz