Ok so i’ll give you the full rundown of what happened…
So i’m outside the bus stop on my road, quietly waiting for the bus, as you do, and the bus comes along and it’s really really packed up.
So I get on the bus and walk to the back and stand near the rear sliding doors, where I normally stand and i start to read my book. Now, standing beside me is a Muslim woman who was wearing a Burqa (the long dress which only shows the eyes) and she is reading the Quran- pretty normal right? I think nothing of it and continue to read my book. (Now please please please bear in mind that I am by NO MEANS stereotypical towards Muslims at all and I do treat everyone the same 😀 )
Ok so i continue reading my book, oblivious to the world, and I look up and see that this woman has moved opposite me. Normal. So i continue to read. Six minutes later, I look around, finally looking at her and she is looking DIRECTLY in my face, with a really weird possessed face on..I stared at her back with a ‘Umm..can I help you?’ face and continue reading my book. I then start to hear her loudly reciting verses from the Quran and flipping the pages every 2 seconds. At this point, i’m so engrossed with my book, I hardly pay attention to it. I look up again and she is still staring at me! At this point I begin to feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable and move to a vacant seat at the back of the bus.
She follows me to the back of the bus whilst staring at me.
Now i’m not one to make a scene so i just keep my mouth shut and continue to look for something to distract my attention. I catch the attention of another passenger on the bus and she gives me the ‘Girrrrl! Why is this woman staring at you? She’s a bit weird isn’t she’ sympathy look and I smile as a reply.
Anyhoo I look up again and she is staring and me, her eyes as wide as saucers, as if in a trance and again she begins to recite words from the Quran and pray aloud.
Now, after the sucicide bombings that happened on the buses and trains in London a while ago, I would say that i’ve become a bit more….vigilant when on public transport and in all those incidents, It was said that the bombers would recite phrases from the Quran and then say a certain phrase (which i’ve forgotten) before they set the bomb off, so the way in which this woman was praying aloud kinda made a me a TAD uncomfortable..and it didn’t help that she was behaving weirdly and STARING AT ME in the FACE.
I tried to keep calm but something inside me told me to ‘GET THE HELL OFF THE BUS’ so I got off at the next stop and walked to the shopping centre.
Guys has this ever happened to you?!
I kinda felt really guilty for doing that because i’m not judgemental or stereotypical at ALL but something about the way she was behaving just really irked me deep down. 🙁
This happened to me last year when I was on the Northern Line and there was a man sweating and fidgeting on the train carriage I was on, he started speaking aloud in Arabic and EVERYONE on the carriage was scared shitless.
Was I being paranoid? Or Vigilant?
Was I in the Wrong?
Steph xxXxx