In February,  a Muslim woman wearing a hijab (headscarf) named Darlene Hider said she was  discriminated against by a fellow traveler and Delta Air Lines staff because of Islamophobia.

If only the woman who threw out the insults knew that Islam teaches its followers to be peaceful, kind and honest. Unfortunately, the hijab and other signs of Islamic faith become targets for stereotypes by those who know nothing about these tenets of our religion.

Muslim women all around the world have felt discrimination of some sort for wearing the hijab which represents a Muslim women’s Islamic identity and her respect for the religion. Many people are mistaken by the purpose of the hijab and what is the actual meaning behind it.

A Muslim woman who wears the hijab not only follows the path of Islam by wearing it, it also helps cover their physical beauty and bring out their inner beauty within themselves. It is the principle of modesty and it’s intended to reflect one’s piety.

We started wearing the hijab at the beginning of our freshman year in high school. It has impacted our life in different ways, bringing us closer to our religion and helping us discover our true identity of who we are as Muslim girls.

Some people have done horrid and offensive acts towards the Mosque (holy place of worship). An incident occurred in Pflugerville about a Mosque being vandalized by having feces and ripped pages from the Quran thrown on the door of the Mosque.This act of discrimination has shocked many Muslims, including us. It has been heart-breaking for many Muslims to process and understand why inhumane acts are being caused towards the Muslim community. In Chicago’s downtown Islamic center, a couple of Hijabi volunteers had stood out in front of the Mosque giving out donuts and hugs to people who came up to them. They were inviting individuals to come in and experience a heartwarming environment of peace, love, and prayer. These actions have shown through love and compassion out in the open that stereotypes about Islam does not define the religion and are false accusations.

As Muslim students at Akins, we are speaking for everyone. Stereotypes are spread by those who discriminate against us.

Once rude comments were yelled across the hall about us and our religion.

Akins is a very friendly school, but there is always a few individuals who make us feel unwelcomed, the Hijab is our identity and being on American soil gives us the right to practice Islam. It has taught us to be kind to those who act cruel.

We sometimes wish we could do so much more for all students at Akins to have an amazing high school experience without bullying.

Islamic teachings have true stories of our prophet’s past and how he never hurt anyone even if he was thrown rocks at by the disbelievers to set an example for true Muslims to have faith in God to punish those who treat them unkindly. He said what is the difference between good and bad if those who are good do the same as those who do bad.