Many people have no issues with wearing the American flag on shirts, pants, bathing suits, hats, shoes and more; however, if a muslim woman wears it as a hijab, some conservatives view it as grossly distasteful.
They, apparently, like their fashion critique with a side of xenophobia and Islamophobia.
Saba Ahmed is currently receiving a mix of high praise and hate mail following an appearance on the FOX news show, The Kelly File, where she wore an American flag hijab. Ahmed is the President and Founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition. She was recently in the middle of a heated debate between host Megyn Kelly and Katrina Pierson, a spokesperson for Donald Trump’s campaign.
In his latest round of asinine comments, Trump said that as President of the United States he would “absolutely [have] no choice” but to close down mosques where “some bad things are happening.” Pearson was beyond proud to defend him.
Pierson, unfortunately, is of the mindset that people who practice the Islamic faith are typically associated with terrorism. “Let me give you a quick example of the not so distant past…” Pierson went on to list a number of Muslim leaders who are now dead or incarcerated because of terrorist attacks that supposedly originated in a mosque.
Kelly added, “Experts who have studied this have said that the mosques tend to be hotbeds for political activity, not as much religious activity.”
“Megyn, We go to the mosque to pray,” Ahmed calmly replied. “It’s absolutely horrifying to hear that our constitutional rights of free exercise of religion are going to be challenged just because somebody thinks that there may be some attendees who may disagree with your views.”
She added, “The thing is, you wouldn’t shut down churches just because there was one or two Christians who were acting badly. The mosque has nothing to do with terrorists.”
The airing of the segment led to many viewers having more of an issue with Ahmed’s hijab versus her comments. “Now is not the time for a Muslim to be wearing a American flag hijab. Bad timing on her part. End of discussion!” tweeted Rebecca Boudreaux.
@richardselby now is not the time for a Muslim to be wearing a American flag hijab. Bad timing on her part. End of discussion!
— Rebecca Boudreaux (@RebeccaAnn66) November 18, 2015
“She has used our [American flag emoji] as head gear & hijab this is wrong,” tweeted user @Iamhatgy. “American flag should & could not be used as a clothing item. Respect our [flag emoji].”
Ahmed stands by her subtle yet bold decision, “I just wanted to show that Muslim Americans celebrate our patriotism, too,” she said. “So I went on the show wearing the flag to show that we’re proud Americans. We want to live in peace. And what ISIS is doing doesn’t represent our religion, and we shouldn’t be targeted because of a few bad people.”
Check out some of the tweets about Ahmed below and let us know: Do you found her hijab offensive?
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