Australian Muslim Fashion Designer Sends Headscarves to Anti-Islamic Senator as a Peace Offering

Saturday, December 10, 2016

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson makes her maiden speech in the Senate in Canberra, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

A Muslim fashion designer has written a powerful open letter to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, urging her to change the way she speaks about minorities in Australia.

Azahn Munas, director of the fashion label MOGA, has sent some of his bold headscarves to the controversial Australian senator Pauline Hanson after he felt a “rise in inflammatory rhetoric made against minorities” by right wing political parties to garner public support.

The scarves, which can be worn by Muslim women as a hijab or non-Muslim women as a fashion accessory, were sent as an olive branch to the One Nation leader as a symbol of multicultural solidarity.

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Senator Hanson is no stranger to controversy and earlier this week said she would “continue to push for a ban on Muslim immigration” and urged the public to revisit her party’s policies. Those policies include calling for an inquiry to determine if Islam is a religion or political ideology, stop further Muslim immigration and the intake of Muslim refugees and banning the Burqa and Niqab in public places.

In a powerful open letter released on Facebook, Azahn urges Hanson to consider the impact her comments about Muslims and minorities is having on young Australians. “Being a female senator qualifies you to be a great role model for young girls across our country,” he writes. “Using your political platform, however, to publicly call for a ban on Muslim immigration into Australia, sends a powerful message of inferiority to the women of this faith.”

Azahn tells MVSLIM that he was motivated to express his opinion after seeing how Muslims were being targeted across America in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s presidential win.

He hopes this kind of discrimination will never gain as much traction in Australia as they have in the US. Senator Hanson is a big supporter of Donald Trump and even publicly endorsed his election victory on Twitter. Azahn ends his impassioned letter by saying, “At the end of the day it’s 2016 and every person, regardless of their religion, should feel accepted by a society that wants them to succeed.”

“I would hate to think that someone would not want you in Australia because you are a Christian, or have white skin, or fierce red hair.” Azahn says he will not be offended if the scarves are returned.
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This article was written by Tanim Karr.

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