Dawn Maqsood, born and raised in a Christian household reverted to Islam at the age of 26, said she was obliged to remove her Hijab due to people's treatment towards her.
The Scottish woman revealed that basic day to day tasks became difficult and stressful because of the way she dressed.
The general opinion of Muslims is not a positive one and I knew I was making myself a potential target. I was nervous wearing it in the office but my team, particularly my manager, supported me through it and it soon became normal.
In everyday life, it was the small things I noticed. People don’t hold the door for you, they don’t help you in the supermarket when you’ve dropped something on the floor, you don’t get the same friendly customer service as the non-Muslim person in front of you in the queue.
I was anxious for my daughters that something would happen when I was out with them and it started to wear on my mental health. Hijab was not created to be a burden upon us so I decided after a lot of soul searching to stop wearing it although I hope to go back to it one day, God willing.
There were also the assumptions that my husband had forced me to wear it and I must somehow be oppressed which if you know me is laughable.
She also added:
It's a sad fact that I lose sleep at night worrying what the world will be like when my daughters grow up, will they be any more accepted than I am now? I would say to anyone who is facing any kind of discrimination, speak up, don’t let it be accepted until we speak out nothing will change.
People have to realise Islam is a religion of peace, it’s not so different to many other religions out there. Islam has no colour. Islam is not specifically for one ethnicity, Islam is for everyone.
