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Muslim Woman Goes Viral For Smiling Off Haters
Her post was liked more than 281,000 times.
D.G. Sciortino
04.25.19

The world is in a tricky position right now where we are constantly bombarded with information that aims to sway our emotions into promoting certain causes or, in worse case scenarios, hating certain races, cultures, or religions.

Basically, we have media and politicians who are constantly trying to divide and distract us with illusions of why we can’t or shouldn’t just get along and act civilly amongst each other.

It’s kind of a freaking mess if you believe the things you see and read in the media. But, more often than not when actual humans approach each other in our neighborhoods or in life, we often treat each other with dignity and respect.

Owaiz Dadabhoy
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Owaiz Dadabhoy

But that’s not what some anti-Muslim protestors had in mind when they decided to protest at the Islamic Circle of North America convention.

Thankfully, in America, we have the incredibly important right to peacefully protest.

However, Twitter users Owaiz Dadabhoy and Shaymaa Ismaa’eel said the anti-Muslim protesters weren’t being very civil during their protest.

ShaymaaDarling
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ShaymaaDarling

Dababhoy describes the protestors as “Bigots with loudspeakers harassing Muslims verbally without stop since yesterday.”

Most people were very upset and didn’t know how to embrace their presence. Some teens were getting upset, trying to approach the men,” Ismaa’eel told BuzzFeed.

It takes great restraint not to react in anger when being screamed at by people who hate you based on their preconceived notions about your religion.

ShaymaaDarling
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ShaymaaDarling

Instead of reacting in anger Ismaa’eel had a different approach. She decided she would take some pictures smiling and making funny faces across the street from the protesters.

“I asked the police officer if I could stand at the curb in front of the men. The officer said ‘no’, and in that moment I felt like the biggest rebel,” she said. “I smiled so hard in the picture and the man [started] directing his speech toward me. Silly things like ‘your face should be covered.;”

There’s one photo of her smiling, another of her sticking out her tongue crouching and making a peace sign, and another is what appears to be her pointing back at protesters with a less than enthusiastic face.

ShaymaaDarling
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ShaymaaDarling

“On April 21st I smiled in the face of bigotry and walked away feeling the greatest form of accomplishment,” her photo caption read.

That photo ended up going viral and was retweeted more than 76,000 and liked more than 280,000 times. Ismaa’eel said she was shocked that the photo went viral.

afroSHIRL
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afroSHIRL

“I didn’t expect more than my usual 120 likes,” she said.

Many people on the internet appaulded her efforts to make light of the situation even as people around her were angry and even hateful toward her.

“Future history books gone saucy,” wrote Twitter user afroSHIRL.

ayeBLOKE
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ayeBLOKE

Apparently a lot of others agreed. Tweet got 10,000 likes.

Waspapping_ said it was “hands down the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in the history of the internet.”

Another Twitter stated “Put this in somebody musuem.”

ShaymaaDarling
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ShaymaaDarling

Apparently there were others at the protest who had the same ideas as Ismaa’eel and took some smiling selfies with protestors.

Her post even inspired some pretty hilarious comments, gifs, and memes. Thankfully, Ismaa’eel said that the protestors didn’t ruin her good time at the convention.

shhhhabri
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shhhhabri

The positivity from this is very uplifting and it’s making me happy to know that the youth can see someone being unapologetic in the face of people who hate their religion,” she said.

You can check out her original post below.

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