LANSING —A Muslim woman was injured during a possible hate crime that occurred near East Lansing Saturday, July 19. The incident, which led to the woman being hospitalized, occurred in a shopping mall parking lot in Okemos at approximately 1 p.m. 

A witness reported that two men and a woman surrounded the 26-year-old woman in the Meridian Mall and attempted to pull her veil off, knocking her to the ground in the process. The victim was with her daughter, who is under 5 years of age. 

The alleged assailants also reportedly shouted expletives at the woman during the incident and then ran off. The victim is from Saudi Arabia and does not speak much English. She was wearing the traditional Islamic loose garment called the abaya, which is a robe-like dress. Her face was covered with the niqab, a face veil covering all but the eyes. 

The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) is calling on law enforcement authorities and public officials to investigate the alleged attack as a possible hate crime. So far no arrests have been made in connection with the case.  

“We urge state, local and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this troubling incident and to make every effort to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. “We urge public officials to speak out against the anti-Muslim hate that can lead to such attacks.”   

Walid said that in addition to being hospitalized after the incident, the victim also complained of chest pain and numbness in her left arm, which is now in a cast. 

Thasin Sardar, a Muslim American community activist in the greater Lansing area said that as of Tuesday the victim was still hospitalized. 

“She is still in psychological shock and her husband is traumatized as well,” Sardar said. “The husband says he wants to move back to Saudi Arabia because of it.” 

The victim’s husband is a doctoral student at Michigan State University and is expected to take an exam soon to earn his Ph.D. 

Walid said it has been two years since a hate crime occurred in the area. The last incident involved the desecration of a Qur’an in Lansing. 

“These types of incidents are not that common there,” he said. “We don’t know exactly what they shouted at her during the attack, but the f-word was used repeatedly.” 

Sardar said it is important to note that the perpetrators do not represent the greater Lansing community, which has been welcoming to American Muslims. 

“We have a lot of international students and this is not representative of the entire community as a whole.” 

The incident comes less than a month after the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Michigan announced it was handling a case involving a landlord who was attacked and harassed by other tenants for housing Arab foreign students in a apartment complex based in Grand Rapids.  

According to both Walid and Sardar, educating the public about Islam and Muslims is crucial to helping prevent similar incidents from taking place. Sardar plans on holding a forum in the next few months to provide the community with education about both topics.