Kanji, A. (2014, February 16). Death by hijab? The morbid obsession with Muslim women’s clothing. Rabble. https://rabble.ca/anti-racism/death-hijab-morbid-obsession-muslim-womens-clothing/ 

The incident of Naima Rharouity, a woman who died as her scarf got stuck in an elevator in Montreal, received Islamophobic comments from the media. Rather than focusing on the tragedy of the event, media outlets focused on the hijab as a risk. Muslim women are seen as victims of the hijab. As a result, the hijab is associated with pity and fear. The risk of the hijab was further discussed during the debate surrounding Quebec’s proposed Charter of Values which bans government employees from wearing conspicuous religious symbols to work within the discourse of the Charter, the hijab is represented as a symbol of oppression and reproducing the notion of Islam-hijab-death. The constant rhetoric to save Muslim women is dehumanizing and impacts Muslim women.

The Teaching Against Islamophobia resources were developed with funding support from the Law Foundation of BC, and the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies at SFU.