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Virginia: Muslim family claims hospital guard kicked them out, said niqabbed women looked “scary”
Muslims now own the mass media, apparently, and any charge levied against an infidel by them, newsworthy or not, becomes a big news item, such as the hijab-wearing 11-year-old girl in Canada who lied about being attacked by an “Islamophobe”; a Huffington Post writer still wrote that she deserved an apology. Now comes more big news in the same vein: “a Muslim family says staff at a Virginia hospital told them they looked ‘scary’ and threatened to kick them out when they went to visit a newborn relative in December.” Note that one is only “allowed” to use the words “Muslim family” or “a Muslim” when the story is about alleged Muslim victimhood, not when the story is about a Muslim victimizing someone.
And since when do individual allegations of stereotyping and insults make national headlines? It is also worth mentioning that the family states that the staff took issue not with the fact that the family was Muslim, but that the women were fully covered in black niqab. It’s offensive that a hospital staffer allegedly said they looked “scary”? The niqab has been banned in China, Tajikistan, Morocco, Latvia, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Chad, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and France; Chad and Morocco specifically stipulated that they were doing so for security reasons.
Note also the last line of the hospital’s statement: “We understand how important visitors are to our patients and their care. However, certain units in the hospital require family visitation hours to assure that all patients have a quiet, healing environment.” Could all this have simply been because the Zahrs came outside visitation hours?
The implication in the headline “‘You Look Scary’: Muslim Family Describes Discrimination at Virginia Hospital” is that some “racist” hospital in Virginia has problems with “Islamophobia.” In Northern Virginia, which has a large Muslim population, that is extremely unlikely. And this is all on the word of one Muslim family. In Pakistan, woe be to a Christian who is accused of blasphemy on the mere word of a Muslim, but in the U.S. there are more stringent rules of evidence, at least for now. The message being sent to the general public in many parts of the West now is this: “You better not offend or insult Muslims, or else. You too can be shamed on ‘anti-Muslim’ charges. No evidence, just the word of the Muslim carries big risks for you.” In the case of Arwa Zahr, the damage is done, whatever the outcome of this case. The claim of “Islamophobia” has already again been imprinted on the minds of readers.
“‘You Look Scary’: Muslim Family Describes Discrimination at Virginia Hospital,” by Julie Carey and Andrea Swalec, NBC Washington, January 10, 2019:
A Muslim family went to a hospital in Northern Virginia to celebrate a joyous occasion: the birth of a newborn baby.But they say hospital staff humiliated them by telling them they looked “scary,” and threatened to kick them out.Visiting hours were nearly over when the Zahr family went to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, in early December. They wanted to visit Ahmed Zahr’s newborn baby.When they got up to the third-floor birthing center, they were confronted by a security guard, Arwa Zahr, the newborn’s aunt, said in an exclusive interview with News4.“He screams and he says, ‘You’re not allowed to be here!’ And then he said, ‘You know, you look scary,'” she recalled. “I was shocked, like, ‘Did he say that?'”The Zahrs believe the guard was objecting to the full black veils Arwa Zahr and her mother wore, showing only their eyes.The family was ordered to go back downstairs. When the newborn’s father learned what happened, he told the guard he had been disrespectful.The guard summoned the shift supervisor, whom the family identified as the head nurse, and things got worse, the family said.“We tried to explain to [the supervisor] our side of the story. He looked at my mother as she was trying to explain what happened, and he told her, ‘Close your mouth or I’ll kick you out,'” Ahmed Zahr recalled.The family said that wasn’t all.“He’s telling them, ‘Nobody wants you here. The nurses don’t want you. The doctors don’t want you here,'” Ahmed Zahr said.As he continued to defend his family, the supervisor called police.“It was surprising to me. First of all, we weren’t threatening in any way. No one had done anything,” Ahmed Zahr said.The family spoke with Fairfax County officers, who they described as calm and helpful, and then left the hospital. Then, they registered formal complaints with Inova.The incident was especially hurtful because the infant’s grandparents, Dr. Nabil Zahr and Karima Zohdi, once volunteered as chaplains at Inova Fairfax Hospital, another hospital in the Inova system. They founded and run The Palm Tree School, a private school in Fairfax that provides Islamic studies as well as the standard curriculum.Ahmed Zahr said his family had never encountered such abuse.“Just to be treated like that just because of the way you’re dressed,” he said. “We’re been living here for, you know, 20-plus years. I haven’t witnessed discrimination to this extent.”Inova said all patients “have the right to a respectful, safe environment, free from all forms of discrimination.” They said they reviewed their anti-discrimination policy at all daily safety meetings.The hospital group said Inova is reviewing the family’s concerns, and that they offered to meet with the Zahrs.The family said they’re not interested in meeting until Inova says what action they’ve taken related to their specific case, and what any investigation they conducted found.In the meantime, the Zahr family calls the day they visited the hospital for the birth of a baby “The Day of Mortification.”They didn’t get to meet Ahmed Zahr’s first child, a baby girl, that day.Here’s the full statement Inova sent News4:Inova respects and values our diverse patient community and believes that all patients have the right to a respectful, safe environment, free from all forms of discrimination. We hold our team members and contractors to the highest ethical standards, supported by a strict zero tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind.We are reviewing the family’s concerns and we continue to look for opportunities to better manage these situations in the future….We understand how important visitors are to our patients and their care. However, certain units in the hospital require family visitation hours to assure that all patients have a quiet, healing environment.
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