Reacting to incidents of Islamophobia
compiled by Mutma'inaa
 
 
Islamophobic hate crimes are committed when someone vandalises your property, uses violence against you, verbal abuse, name-calling or threatens you with violence because of who you are - a Muslim.


If you believe you have been the victim of an anti-Muslim hate crime or discrimination, you should:
  1. If you are in danger, call 999 or 911 immediately.  Be prepared to give your details, such as address.
  2. Report the incident to your local police station and any other relevant authority. Ask that the incident be treated as a hate crime. Ask witnesses to give you their name and contact information.  Remember the facts - of WHO, WHEN and WHERE.
  3. Make a note of the names and contact information of any witnesses.
  4. Document the incident as soon as you can, or else you will forget details. Write down exactly what was said and/or done by the offender.  The police will require the time, place, physical description of the attacker, and other similar details.  Ask someone to photograph your injuries if you have any, and write down as many details as you can. If you receive harassing notes or messages on your answering machine, save them. If someone is harassing you on the phone, keep a log of the calls.
  5. Act quickly. Each incident must be dealt with when it happens, not when most convenient.
  6. If you decide that you do not want to inform the police, for any reason, then please do consider it and give it some thought.  Place your trust in Allah, and talk it over with someone you trust. Decide on the appropriate action to be taken.  It is likely that the offender may be arrested and/or charged if it is a clear offence.
  7. Consider working with your loacl community to tackle and work against Islamophobic incidents, have coalition building and partnerships with the community.  Consider issuing a statement from community leaders, starting a letter writing campaign, organising a protest, etc. You can help organise education and training programs to try and ensure that similar incidents don't occur again insha'Allah.
  8. Inform appropriate Muslim organisations no matter how small or trivial it may seem.  Some organisations are;
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