Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2013-10-30   

The only sin a 10-year-old Muslim boy committed onboard a MTA city bus was praying in Arabic to help him find his MetroCard.

Sadyia Khalique from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) New York told Radio Islam, the disturbing incident occurred when the young boy was boarding the B-39 bus on his way home from school in Sheepshead Bay.

“So as he was getting on the bus, he was trying to look for his pass, his MetroCard and he couldn’t find it,” said Khalique.

“He was just saying Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem (In the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful) and right after he said it, he found the pass.”

Khalique said that while the little boy read the prayer, the bus driver took notice and became angered and flustered.

“He right away shouted, and called the boy a ‘terrorist’ and after saying that, he kicked the boy off the bus; he bashed him off the bus and the little boy was left waiting for another bus.”

Khalique said the boy was only two days away from turning 11-years-old. “He was such a young boy and to know that discrimination happens. Of course he was a victim of it, but now he knows what it feels like to be a victim of hate and Islamophobia in America,”

Khalique explained the young boy was angered, but very smart by informing his parents right away and wanted them to inform the police and any officials to let them know what happened to him.

“Because he felt like his own privacy and his own identity was being attacked.”

Khalique said a lawsuit has been filed by the parents lawyer Hyder Naqvi and they are hoping they can get justice for the dastardly act.

Although not an entirely isolated case, Khalique says that Islamophobia has been targeting people of all ages; all Muslims. “Just this Fall CAIR released their report on Islamophobia called ‘Legislating Fear – Islamophobia and its impact on the United States’.
 
“One of the statistics they revealed was that close to $120 million of the revenue that was accumulated by the groups that are involved in Islamophobia networks, there was a large number, but Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) it empowers us to do more and to combat Islamophobia,” said Khalique.

Khalique says that CAIR tries to persuade officials, legislators and people in high positions to understand that Islamophobia does not just affect Muslims, but affects everyone.

“Hate crime or discrimination happens to so many different types of people and the worst is when it happens to young innocent children…So we are calling on are our officials, calling on people in higher places to let them know that Islamophobia is a big issue,” said Khalique.

“It's affecting our daily lives and affecting the lives of Americans and its something we don’t want in our vocabulary…If anything we want the truth to come out about the work that Muslims do and how Islam is a religion of peace.”

(Twitter: @Faizie143 )