In Response to a Hate Crime, Muslim Women in London Are Handing Out Roses

With waves of Islamophobic acts occurring around the globe, a group of Muslim women in London distributed roses to prove that love always trumps hate.

On Monday, a man reportedly stabbed a bystander and shouted, “I want to kill Muslims,” at the Forest Hill train station. The victim is in serious, but not life-threatening, condition.

Iysha Arun, a local Muslim woman, announced on Twitter that she would respond to the hateful act by handing out roses on Wednesday at the same train station.

https://twitter.com/iyshaarun/status/808791139696476160

“We practice a religion that believes a smile is an act of charity, so we wanted to build upon that belief and engage with a community that has suffered over the past few days,” Arun told Your Daily Dish. “We wanted to show the community that we, as Muslims, aren’t who the attacker thought we were. Our main aim was to strive to do our best to break negative stereotypes that unfortunately some media channels have created.”

Joining Arun to hand out flowers at the train station were volunteers with the Dialogue Society and the Mevlana Rumi Mosque.

Faith in 2016 restored at Forest Hill station pic.twitter.com/wsc0MbXmO3

— Adam Campbell (@acinthepack) December 14, 2016

Recipients of the flowers thanked the volunteers in person and on social media.

https://twitter.com/MaggieCWilliams/status/808953506585513984

“We gave out roses to spread peace,” 23-year-old Gulistan Arslan told the News Shopper. “We got a really good response, people were saying it is a shame that this has become necessary, some people were crying.”

Arun said that the reaction their group received was heartwarming.

“The highlight of the day for me was when our stand collapsed as the weight of the roses and a man came and said that we were spreading too much love that even the table couldn’t stand it,” she told Your Daily Dish. “He then helped us pick the roses up and re-arrange the stand again. It has been a lovely experience engaging with the community on a personal level. I would definitely do it all over again! ”

After the successful event, she thanked everyone on her Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/iyshaarun/status/809005393326247936