"Go back to where you belong. Leave this country....."
A decade had passed since 9/11 incident in United States and no one, not even in the fresh wake of the tragedy, had anyone personally insulted me for being a Muslim. There were many incidents that took place right after 9/11 and some Muslim women even took off their head coverings (Hijab) in fear. I had heard about reports of such happenings but had never experienced any discrimination myself.
Stunned beyond belief, I stood rooted at the spot where I was about to enter the departmental store while the woman continued her rant. For a brief moment, I felt like retaliating in defense but in the end, I simple turned around and walked inside the store.
Shaken to my core, I could not shop or concentrate even at work afterwards.
My coworkers sensed the difference and on learning the details, were outraged. Each one of them, unanimously said that I should have retaliated and talked sense into that lady. That's when I realized...
That lady was in pain. In that moment, she had crossed the limit of reasoning. No amount of logic was going to make a difference or change her mind that I was not responsible for the atrocity, or my religion for that matter. How many interfaith dialogues had taken place ever since? How many efforts had been done to educate the world about the peaceful message of Islam since after? How many times had it been reminded that Islam existed in the world for over fourteen hundred years before 9/11 and no one called Muslims terrorists before that date?.....
I knew all this. I had all the answers, all the arguments, all the reasonings but I walked away in silence because one cannot make conversation with someone who is not willing to listen.
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