This time around three years ago, a young Muslim man in London was handcuffed and searched in broad-daylight for wearing too many clothes. He was heading for Friday prayers when a woman became concerned that he was donning three layers. She called the cops to speak to him. He was later handcuffed and questioned. After a thorough search and interrogation, the police found him harmless. They had to.
The video of the incident went viral and has millions of views. The incident was branded as ‘unlawful’ and ‘unreasonable’ by members of the public. A Twitter user wrote, “So just because he is Muslim, has a beard and wears a few layers is reasonable grounds to stop and search?”.
The man later also gave his statement in which he said, “I was rushing to Jummah Salat, and when I was near the mosque all of a sudden the police come and put handcuffs on me. The woman — the undercover police officer said I was wearing too many clothes but I was wearing two layers of clothes. The police falsely accused me of carrying a weapon and so on and so forth they searched me and found nothing as usual. They then took my date of birth address and name and they let me go”.
Muslim man stopped, handcuffed and searched because he was wearing too many clothes! #WearingClothesWhileMuslim pic.twitter.com/m9oBPv6gC9
— DOAM (@doamuslims) July 7, 2017
Britain Muslims facing discrimination
Muslims are being subjected to not only humiliation but even hate crimes across the globe just because of the way they look or the values they follow. Muslim men and women in the UK are less likely to succeed in work than any other faith group due to rampant Islamophobia [rejection towards Islam], discrimination, and racism.
A research which was released by the Social Mobility Commission in 2017, said young Muslims living in Britain face an enormous social mobility challenge and were being held back from reaching their full potential at every stage of their lives. As a result, young Muslims were more likely to be unemployed, underemployed, in insecure employment,, or in receipt of low pay.
Muslims have been victims of violence in the UK because of their religion. In 2005, The Guardian commissioned a poll that indicated an increase in anti-Muslim incidents [particularly after the London bombings in July 2005]. Another survey of Muslims, this by the Open Society Institute, found that of those polled 32% believed they had suffered religious discrimination at airports and 80% said they had experienced Islamophobia.
On the other hand, Muslims in the UK always come out to help the people around them. Also, British Monarch also agreed that Islam and Muslims are their saviors.
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