Monday, April 30, 2012

Reward offered by Philadelphia Muslims for finding criminals masked in niqab

Gone are the days criminals rob banks with masks or pantyhose on their face. Now they dress in Muslimah's religious garb to commit robbery. Two such instances recently happened in Philadelphia. Members of Majlis Ash Shura, a group representing 71 mosques and congregations in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, recently decided to take a stand on the issue at hand.  

These 71 mosques have put together a $20,000 reward for the criminals who did this to be found.  In the picture below you can see one robber dressed in niqab.

 

Not only is it offensive to all Muslims, and anyone with a brain, but this feeds into the current trend in the US and around the world, of Islamaphobia. Because of instances such as this, Amara Chaudhry, a civil rights activist, wasn't allowed inside a bank recently until she removed her hijab.  A Muslimah who wears hijab does so for a religious reason, and taking off her veil in public isn't something she should have to do.  Muslimahs in hijab or niqab experience Islamaphobia more visibly because they are so easy to identify as Muslim.