Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 05 April 2017 07 Rajab 1438
‘Anonymous teen’ says ‘we may be Muslim but we don’t want to hurt you’, in a devastating letter two weeks on from the attack.
A POIGNANT letter has allegedly been left on a London bus by someone claiming to be a 14-year-old Muslim schoolgirl in the wake of the Westminster terror attack.
The letter sees the author describe how she feels “almost guilty” following the nightmare attack, which she says was discussed at her school the following day.
Writing in the heartbreaking letter – which has not yet been verified – the author claims to have been asked where they were in the aftermath of the terror attack on March 22.
The letter was reportedly found on a London bus almost two weeks after the attack at Westminster Bridge.
It reads: “Dear stranger, please read my letter. From – a Muslim
“I am a Londoner aged 14 years old I also happen to be a Black Muslim.”
The author adds: “The next day I woke up early and as I was watching the news it dawned on me that I would go to school and people would expect answers.
“I went into form and as we spoke about the current affairs I felt all eyes on me.
“I felt flushed and hot suddenly – almost guilty?
“What do I have to be guilty for?
“I couldn’t determine if I was being paranoid or eyes were darting to the corner of the room to where I was sitting.
“I walked into my first lesson and a girl had asked me where I was the night before, I laughed it off because I knew she was joking and that’s what humans do when they don’t know what to say.”
The author went on to say she has to “think twice” when walking through Westminster every Saturday – over fears she could be attacked because of her hijab.
It adds: “We may be Muslim but we don’t want to hurt you. We aren’t terrorists.
“Every Saturday I pass through Westminster and I had to think twice about it this time.
“I was scared that maybe I would be assaulted because of the many labels that come with wearing a hijab.”
Social media users have taken to Reddit to praise the author of the letter.
One said: “This is heartbreaking.
“I’ve been moved by this and I hope it’ll have an effect on the public to stop treating Muslims (or anyone else regardless of race, religion, gender, etc) differently.
“There’s no reason to blame somebody else, or even treat them differently, for an action that they don’t have any control over, at all, regardless of circumstance.”
Another wrote: “Shame you have to learn to deal with it. Stay strong.”
One user who described herself as Muslim weighed in: “Not surprised.
“Visibly Muslim young woman myself.”
“It’s been the same s*** since 2001 with September 11.
“I hope she just learns to deal with it like I have.”
Echoing the sentiment, another said: “Muslim here in the same situation.
“Unfortunately it just takes one or two idiots to really wake you up and see how evil the world can be.
“We must learn lessons from our religion and realise that by definition as Muslims we will always be struggling in this life one way or another.
“Be strong!”
Source – The sun.co.uk
