Muslim Woman Denied Entry To Nightclub After Refusing To Remove Hijab

Yaneli Hernandez
Nov 2 · 3 min read

As of late (October 29, 2019), a story broke out regarding an act of discrimination directed towards Soaliha Iqbal. Iqbal, a muslim women, was refused entrance into an estamblishment after refraining from relinquishing her Hijab. Iqbal felt humiliated and was upset she fell victim to racism. She had never experienced such bigotry from a nightclub in her life before. However, according to the nightclub, the whole affair was an immense misunderstanding. The post displays two separate photos, one of a woman wearing a hijab and another image of the establishment she tried to enter. Nevertheless, after further examination it has become transparent that it’s another instance of fake news circulating the internet, the news was altered for entertainment purposes.

Pictured is the police officers who came to settle down the altercation.

After searching up “Soaliha Iqbal being denied entrance into a nightclub”, various sources appeared deeming the claim as false. As the story makes its way across the web, many sites have confused/modified the type of establishment “The Paragon Hotel” is, stating that it is a nightclub when it was in fact just a restaurant. The venue was changed to intensify the story.

The image displays the restaurant Iqbal was hoping to enjoy eating at.
Above is the apology Paragon sent to Soaliha Iqbal.

The claim of racism can be refuted with little information. The establishment claims they did nothing wrong. The following is a portion of the apology given to Soaliha Iqbal. “As this was [the bouncer’s] first shift on the venue, he no doubt wanted to impress the venue management with his professionalism and attention to detail in carrying out his duties and responsibilities diligently. ‘Due to this diligence when checking you (sic) ID and trying to ensure he had facial recognition, he asked you to remove you (sic) hijab interpreting it as only a head scarf”. In addition, to this, ‘Daily Mail Uk’ is more well grounded then the ‘Metro News… but Not News As You Know It”.

The internet can be a valuable source used to obtain access to importnat information individuals desire to learn, however, not every site releases reliable information for narcissistic reasons. It is significant when reading stories to investigate the source’s credibility, searching for indications that the report isn’t legitimate will determine whether a source is dependable.

Works Cited

Mahood, Basit. “Muslim Woman Denied Entry To Nightclub After Refusing To Remove Hijab”. Metro News… But Not As You Know It. Tuesday, 29 October, 2019.https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/29/muslim-woman-denied-entry-nightclub-refusing-remove-hijab-11008228/

Zaczek, Zoe and Stevens, Kylie. “Take that off, what is it?’ Muslim reveller, 21, claims bouncers at a popular Sydney pub told her she must REMOVE her hijab to enter while her white friends could walk straight in — before police told her to move on”. Daily Mail UK. 28 October, 2019. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7620359/Muslim-woman-claims-bouncer-popular-Sydney-pub-told-hijab-off.html

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