Recently, it has become obvious that Muslims in America face an increasingly large amount of discrimination and struggles. I am sure you have heard about the political side of this (Donald Trump, terrorism, violence). I am going to introduce a slightly different side, still related to general islamophobia and discrimination. This is a story about yet another unfair barrier Muslims face.
Amaiya Zafar is a 15 year old Muslim girl living in America. Besides the pre existing hurdles that she already has to jump over simply because she is a Muslim growing up in America, Amaiya (not unlike other young girls) has found a sport she loves. What does this have to do with barriers that Muslims face? The sport Amaiya loves is amateur boxing. She is devoted to her religion just as much as she is devoted to her passion for boxing. This means that she chooses to wear a hijab. When boxing, Amaiya wears her hijab under her boxing head gear. She also wears a long sleeve shirt and leggings under her boxing uniform. This is okay for practice, but international rules governing boxing don’t allow hijabs to be worn in competitions. They also don’t allow arms or legs below the knee to be covered. This means that Amaiya is unable to compete in the sport she loves because she follows the rules of her religion. This isn’t the first time that a Muslim has had to fight for their right to respect their religion while still being able to participate in the sport they fell in love with. Last year, FIFA lifted their ban on players wearing religious head coverings during games.
Keep in mind that Amaiya is also a young girl participating in amateaur boxing, which comes with its own struggles to overcome. She is also only 5’1 and 106 pounds, which is another shortcoming in the world of boxing. Amaiya has a lot of disadvantages, but that hasn’t stopped her. She is empowered and motivated. She has challenged the international boxing rules that go against her religion. Michael Martino, the boxing organization’s interim executive director, said “We have 30,000 amateaur boxers in the United States. So if you make allowances for one religious group, what if another comes in and says we have a different type of uniform to wear? You have to draw a line some place.” I can only think that if Amaiya religion was any other religion, then she wouldn’t have to work so hard to get the rules to consider changing. With all of the news and political talk regarding Muslims and the high amounts of islamophobia going on right now, it seems unlikely to me that the rules will be changing soon. Why must Muslims make a choice between being strong in their faith or being strong in their life? Why do I get the feeling that if Amaiya was Catholic then the story would be different? Hopefully one day, sports rules will open up to be accepting of all religions. Hopefully one day, Muslims will be able to compete in their chosen sport without having to compromise any part of themselves.
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