In August of last year a Muslim woman went to court to request a name change. Before the judge would agree to hear out her case, he gruffly and ignorantly demanded she "remove her hat".
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She was wearing no hat, rather, the harmless yet infamous hijab that Muslim women have been donning for over a thousand years.
The young woman, not knowing that she had a right to say nay to a judge, sadly obliged, removing her hijab and shakingly proceeding with her court business. After going home this young woman felt humiliated and mistreated and decided to press charges against the judge and/or Wayne County. Wayne County has a large Arab-Muslim demograph and is said to be the most highly populated area of Middle Easterners outside of the Middle East according to Wikipedia and other sources.
It's quite unbelievable really that this has occurred in Wayne County/Dearborn Michigan in the year 2010.
Sadly, today the news on this lawsuit is not joyful news. A U.S. District Judge, Marianne Battani, says no offense was intended and has dismissed the case. The Muslim woman's lawyer, CAIR's Nabih Ayad, has stated that the case should have gone to trial.
One way to avoid sad situations like this in the future, is for Muslim women to be as well versed in their rights as possible. The Muslim woman in question did not realize that she could tell the judge something along the lines of, "Absolutely not, your honor. Wearing this hijab, not hat, is an integral part of my religion which I intend to exercise as long as I am in this country of liberty and freedom. Now, will you hear my case or not?"
Please, learn your rights, understand the rules and laws of the society you live in, and then exercise your freedom and liberty.
God Bless America.
