media and has a woman be called a a hero especially
with but what disappointed me was there
was only two people probably who spoke
[Music]
up so I became the president of the
national new students upon reflection
probably a role that I wouldn't have
taken on but I felt like I needed to
take on at the time there was so much
like divide within the student movement
there was a lot of like racist and
islamophobic rhetoric um that it was
really important to have somebody that
was able to challenge those um in an
apologetic way we took sustainability
Department out of NS and we made it its
own entity it became a body that didn't
only just work in higher education as an
us does but it worked across the
education sector it became a body that
was student LED um that was like way
more radical and worked on social
justice and climate Justice rather than
planting trees on campuses and and
talking about you know the polar bears U
and plastic straws they were really
talking about systemic issues and
working with grassroot communities and
I'm still doing a lot of work with
climate advocacy I'm a climate Justice
consultant I consult for the UN on green
jobs on like climate Justice based work
on jeez how will you make the world a better
better [Music]
[Music]
place I was able to be accepted for what
I am for me it was significant because
it was the barrier that I overcame in
dispending those stereotypes and
actually achieving my goal which was to
actually achieve that without
compromising my
identity other Muslim women from
countries like um the Middle East and
you know other people who are saying
that wow this is really good to you
achieve this there was a one Muslim lady
from France said they would never have
this on our TV so you we're so happy to
see this happening in Scotland and it
was really touch ing it was really
overwhelming but it was also really
heartbreaking because it just showed
that there people don't have same equal
opportunities in life as a visibly Muslim
wom they were going to spend the weekend
in in London um and meet a friend of
mine there who was Huda and um and then
sha who's the other hijabi uh kind of
came uh down from uh Oxford and so we
planned to just meet for dinner
um but Shyer who's a big uh big football
fan uh was like it's the quarterfinals
you know we can't not watch the
quarterfinals she then uh took a selfie
of us and she tweeted it we called it
the three hijabis because it you know
that's who we are that's you know
visibly that is what we uh look
like she tweeted about the amazing win
against Ukraine that the England team
had uh managed uh to achieve um and uh
talked about you know what you know why
was it that you know there was a whole
kind of inspired group of people
supporting the England team because of
how inclusive they were because of the
taking of the knee because of the
wearing of the rainbow armband all of
these equalities issues and suddenly I
was on BBC and on ITV and God knows
where else talking about what I thought
about the game I remember my mom saying
to me who's a huge Liverpool fan since
when did you become so actively such a
big football fan mom what does it smell
horm I think for me I
always pride myself in in the work that
I do for the community I think that for
me is my greatest joy is knowing that
I'm serving my community in the way that
I do and anything else that I receive is
is a bonus on top of that because now I
have so accolades I've worked in
television I've worked in digital I've
presented reported video produced edited
I can do as much as I need to be able to
do to be considered a multimedia
journalist um I've worked you know in my
home country C in UK and turkey and so
on and yet my trajectory has always been
very difficult particularly because I
would say I'm a Muslim woman and I don't
fit into a culture or Narrative of
Muslim Muslim women that um has been so
foundational to how people view Islam
wly negative won't be problematic but
it's what feeds the machine [Music]
[Music]
unfortunately the final game came we
knew that it was going to turn racist um
uh just based on our own experiences of
you know when you're successful and
you're doing well people love you but
the moment you make a mistake then it's
no longer you are a successful player
you are suddenly a black man you are
suddenly a Muslim woman in the shadow of
their hero hundreds of protesters took
the knee their chance Against Racism at
marus rashford's mural drowning out the
vicious words that were scrolled on the wall
wall [Music]
[Music]
before so before 9:00 we launched the
petition to ban racists from football
and by midafternoon it was like I don't
know like hundreds of thousands of
people had already signed it and and me
and and Huda and Cher you know in the
morning were like even if we get 5,000
signatures it'll be
great you know literally every News
Channel you can think of was invested in
this petition um and it was just growing and
and
growing and within 48 Hours we'd reached
his name is Michelle he met me on the
two three days afterwards and he he
brought me a a bunch of flowers and you
know we just uh spoke about the more
common ground that we have together uh
we didn't go too much into politics
because I think that just ruin
everything to be honest with you I mean
everyone has their own ideas about what
the Palestinian Israeli
conflicted but um at that point I'm just
talking about I we'll just talk about
the society and how how we should you
know we live in Britain and there's
different religions and there's
different races how we should come
together instead of being separated [Music]
when the Manchester Arena bombing
happened it was God less than a year um
that I'd been there with my own children
um at a concert um watching Justin
Bieber of all people um at the time um
and and you know the kind of that
connection not only to Islam but to the
Libyan Community specifically really
really Hur and I think for me it was the
impact that it had on my children
them reading the comments reading
articles um online um and feeling that
actually people hate us for something
that we didn't do that something that we
weren't even involved in was really really
really
hard some of the comments my kids made
at the time um to me about you know I
know why people hate us and I'm like no
we're not this isn't us you know what
happened what this person did is not us
this isn't Who We Are
um but I think for them it just felt
like a real knock um on their own
were I remember just the absolute
shock um how heartbroken we were and I
remember I was I was in manester that
day like I was not far from like the
arena we were like out with some friends
but I just remember being so in shock
and like the whole city just mourning
you know such a heartbreaking um period
anybody and everybody was really really
like broken at the incident and how it
happened um and what had happened and
and how how shocking it was that
something that like can happen so close
to our [Music]
[Music]
homes I was adamant that I was not going
to allow what happened to push me home I
know that there were many families
particularly from Libyan background that
just stopped going out because they were
so fearful of numerous attacks that
happened across the city islamophobic
attacks those that had daughters
particularly would drive them everywhere
back forth you know stopped using public
transport because public transport was
often the place where a lot of the
[Music]
The Daily Mail mentioned my name in an
article about the terrorist attack which
was like the most
bizarre shocking thing and the
connection that they made at the time
was the the bomb like terrorist
essentially he went to the University of
sford at like one point in his life um I
think he was enrolled there maybe for
like a couple of months I don't know but
also the other connection the very OB
vious and islamophobic connection was
that I'm a Muslim woman who was just
about to become president um at that
Union you know I went out to the uh
visuals every day practically um in the
city center in Dean skate in Picadilly
and in St K square and and so on and I
know lots of Muslim groups did the same
for us it was about making sure that we
were paying our respects but also so
unfortunately that you know unless we
were visible people would assume that we
didn't care that it didn't have that
impact on us um when it was [Music]
[Music]
huge multiple articles that followed it
was something like um white hating or um
terrorist sympathizer like the kind of
that they were using was so dangerous
and so like just deceptive in everything
that it was um and like that's what the
daily are learn for right like they the
media like they they portray you how
they want to portray you they package
you how they doesn't matter what's in
the body of the article right they'll
they'll package you and portray it in
the way they want to portray it and I
remember just seeing my face everywhere
up I saw a massive shift in people's
behavior just people not want to sit
next to me on
trains it just took me a bit by surprise
by how people just then reacted to that
incident happened and therefore all of
us are complicit all of us are a
problem I couldn't take public transport
couldn't freely walk around certain
areas I was getting death threats
letters written to me um my social media
was flooded with like death threats I
don't think people recognize or realize
when a an article's written about that
is completely a lie doesn't matter
because the consequences are so severe
like you put somebody's life directly at
risk um I think the worrying thing for
me and and when I reached a point of
like actually this is this is this is
maybe I should step away from this is um
when I put my family directly arist
reporters are locking on my door you
know and my own family are like worried
of like it's something if reporters are
finding your houses and are the people
that threatening to kill you going to
find your houses the kind of letters I
was getting specifically Ally telling me
that they're going to um wipe me and my
family out you know those are that's
worrying um and I think there's there's
a thing of like I can take
responsibility for my actions I am I'm
the activist I've decided to speak out
um and therefore put myself on a public
platform right my family didn't sign up
for that and I think that was a really
worrying thing of like actually this is
unfair like this is my mother's worried
about like you know my little taking my
little brother to school because there's
random people in outside the house my
office had reporters that would come to
the point where the university had to
like arrange drivers and like organize
taxis for me to be able to safely be in
office if you are to look at terrorism
within you know the greater historical
scope you will find that it's rely of a
Muslims or people that look like me or
who are brown or black um and that what
is considered
terrorism um has always been defined by
governments who also have agendas um and
so it's very complicated as well as far
as simplistic this happens within a
context where it's very easy to find
someone to other and we were the [Music]
other it wasn't of who I was it wasn't
about as an individual it was about what
I represented that I was a visibly black
Muslim woman right and therefore it
could have been any other visibly black
Muslim woman on that front page right it
was nothing to do with me I think the
intention of of Articles like this and
like media portraying Us in the in these
lights is to terrify us from from taking
up political spaces H it's to terrify us
from calling out injustices and doing
the work that we do um but in adversly
what they did really give me a platform
they give me a bigger platform I was
just a young girl from sford that nobody
knew um and overnight I was known across the
[Music]
country if you abuse Islam or Muslims
then there's a legitimate case of
freedom of speech and therefore it's
okay put Muslim in an article and
suddenly you know it's going to get uh
Muslims are um you know very well
integrated particularly in the major
cities um because we're working we're
studying we're mixing we're going out
we're socializing and I think Muslim
women particularly have made an even
bigger effort to be constantly
out if they have more programs about
woman or uh or what Islam is about what
we believe in or what we celebrate it
could St them having that sort of
narrow-minded idea about what Islam is
Media I think media is the [Music]
[Music]
key I would say that my generation those
of us who um whose parents or
grandparents came here we you know take
on an unintended role in being a
conscience for this specific Society we
are uh we are the remnants of of that
past that is stubborn and I think that's
part of the reason why unfortunately we
as a community within the Muslim
Community specifically we we we go
through so much difficulty to access the
opportunities that we want because we
really are a reminder of the yester
years but you have to deal with us now
because we're [Music]
[Music]
here never ever had anyone um say
anything on my behalf which is
it's quite sad but I've learned to be
tough I've learned to do things on my
own I've learned
to speak up for myself I don't want to
be seen as a
weak Muslim poor Muslim weak girl that
doesn't that does has that has no voice
no we have a voice we're not weak we're [Music]
strong there's only one hijab wearing MP
is a very important um thing for us to
be able to see and understand that like
um we also belong in those powerful
places and and those spaces of making
change because we're a part of this
community this is our home this isn't
this isn't somewhere that we're we're
we're here
temporarily often as women we limit
ourselves in terms of our career
missions and what we the potential of
what we can achieve and actually even
wider than that as people of color in
general but I think it's a very useful
Point actually to really go back and ask
ourselves and reconsider do I enjoy what
I do do I think what I do is Meaningful
am I proud of what I do and could I be
doing something bigger something more
important in the industry in the media
industry there are some supportive
people I can't generalize that everybody
is Islam a fa but there is a lot of
hidden discrimination that goes on and I
think that lot lot not a lot of people
talk about it um because they're either
worry that they're going to lose a job
or they feel that it could hinder their
chances and for me especially um I
always feel that deep down inside they
want me to change myself in order for me
to progress but for me there's no
question that I would do that cuz I
would never compromise my identity i'
soul it's an imperfect system there are
a lot of factors at play that
unfortunately don't make journalism a
very Rosy craft or Rosy practice um but
despite the fact that it isn't perfect
and we need to continue to um strive to
make it perfect we do the work and
hopefully we'll get to a point where we
won't have to apologize for who we are
[Music]
I am the first visibly Muslim woman uh
to Ever represent uh Manchester City
Council when I was selected to represent
ardwick probably one of the most
deprived parts of the country I remember
this um man who'd come to support me uh
after I won um he had his two daughters
who were two visibly Muslim uh young
women uh with him and and he came up to
me and wanted me to take a picture with
his two daughters because um you know
they he wanted to make make sure that
they could see that a woman women like
them um can do the things that other
can't I think it's um important to try
to connect with everybody not just
Muslim people but anyone from any faith
just to get to know one another because
a lot of these people that are far right
or racist don't have Muslim friends
don't have Muslim neighbors don't
integrate in society I think it should
start in within schools as well because
that that's where most of this kind of
retric happens really I
think politicians who are you know
openly against Muslims and you know have
these kind of issues where they don't
want to even investigate islamophobia
within their countries do help in
creating the intensity of the
islamophobia that exists today and this
is really to bring about a divide [Music]
particularly this generation I feel is
is much more powerfully kind of saying
well here I am and this is who I am and
I think that is very powerful you know
the women that I follow on Tik Tok and
um on Instagram and Twitter and you know
just sharing their opinion about the
world and it you know and that is their
opinion and that's as valid as anyone
else's opinion and I think that's
I do have hope I have hope that things
are going to get better um and that like
I am going to be able to build and fight
for a community that I can raise my
children in and be proud of you know and
that's that's what we strive towards and
that's what we work towards um you
wouldn't give you all to something that
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