A Michigan cash advance store kicked a Muslim woman out of the store for refusing to take off her hijab.
We can all see that this is a blatant case of religious discrimination by a clerk at Advance America Cash Advance, a cash advance store in .
Fatah Kamal, the woman’s husband, had this to say about the incident:
“The lady she told them just take it off a little bit and put it back, She said, ‘I can’t, I’m in a public place I cannot do that.”
The man also went on to say that Nadia Kamal, his wife, only felt comfortable removing her hijab around “very, very close family.”
Advance America had this to say in their defense:
“It is an important security measure designed to ensure that anyone entering our centers can be easily identified.”
Clearly this is a ludicrous defense considering the fact that according to Dawuld Walid, of the Council on American Islamic Relations, women are permitted to wear headscarves in everything from driver’s license photos to going to the bank. The Supreme Court even sided with a Muslim woman who was facing employment discrimination by Abercrombie and Fitch.
Kamal and other Muslim women understand that this is a ludicrous defense, so they are suing the company for discrimination. I for one support their legal case, and hope that this case will help Muslim women get one step closer to religious freedom.
The discrimination these Muslim woman are facing for simply wearing a hijab is quite infuriating. If this were a Christian woman wearing a dress that covered her whole body, you would not be reading about her getting kicked out of a business. Because it simply wouldn’t happen. With Islamophobia becoming increasingly prevalent, it is clear that cases of discrimination like this will continue to happen.
Featured Image via NY Daily News
