A Muslim woman claims she's being booted off city buses because of the way she dresses.

Maria Louis, of Hollis, Queens, says she has twice been kicked off buses by MTA and NYPD personnel – the agencies she's suing in Brookyn federal court – after people berated her for her religious garb. Her clothing, which she calls a "bolka," is a "long, flowing black garment that covers her completely – including a mesh section over her eyes that allows her to see," the suit says.

The first incident happened April 3 in Jamaica, when a passenger yelled at her and the driver refused to move until she got off, the suit says. The next month, she claims, a passenger hit her in the face after another lectured her, and police forced her to get off the bus.

New York Post, 27 December 2012

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A Queens man was stabbed repeatedly outside a mosque by a would-be killer who shouted anti-Muslim comments, police said.

The victim, identified by friends as Bashar Mohammod, 57, was attacked from behind while opening the Masjid Al-Saaliheen mosque for prayer around 4:45 a.m., police said.

The attacker, described as a Hispanic man in his 40s, stabbed Mohammod repeatedly while shouting anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim slurs.

The victim might have lost a finger in the attack, said a friend, Mohammad Omar, who visited Mohammod at Queens General Hospital where he was treated and released. "The person told him that he doesn't like Muslims," said  Omar. "That person was trying to kill him."

Fellow worshippers described the victim, originally from Afghanistan, as a devout Muslim who often led morning prayer at the Kissena Blvd. mosque. "He prays five times a day. He's a very good guy." said fellow worshipper Dawood Mashriqi. "He's an early bird."

Investigators had the mosque cordoned off late Sunday afternoon even as worshippers made their way to prayer.

No arrests have been made.

New York Daily News, 18 November 2012

See also New York Magazine, 18 November 2012

And "CAIR asks FBI to probe apparent bias attack on NY Muslim", CAIR press release, 18 November 2012

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Striking back against an anti-jihad advertisement in the subways widely perceived as anti-Muslim, two religious groups – one Jewish, one Christian – are taking out subway ads of their own to urge tolerance.

Rabbis for Human Rights – North Americaand the group Sojourners, led by the Christian author and social-justice advocate Jim Wallis, are unveiling their campaigns on Monday. Their ads will be placed near the anti-jihad ads in the same Manhattan subway stations, leaders of both groups said and transit officials confirmed. The groups said their campaigns were coincidental.

The ad by Rabbis for Human Rights turns the language of the earlier ad, placed by a pro-Israel group, on its head. The original ad says, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad." The ad by Rabbis for Human Rights says, "In the choice between love and hate, choose love. Help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors."

"We wanted to make it clear that it is in response to the anti-Islam ad," said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, whose members include rabbis from all streams of Judaism.

The Sojourners ad simply says, "Love your Muslim neighbors."

Another Christian group, United Methodist Women, an affiliate of the United Methodist Church, has placed similar ads in the same 10 Manhattan stations where the anti-jihad appears. The ads, which went up on Wednesday, say, "Hate speech is not civilized. Support peace in word and deed."

One of the Methodist group’s ads, in Times Square station, is posted right next to one of the anti-jihad ads.

City Room, 4 October 2012

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"The above ads are appearing at Metro-North stations in New York. A continuation of Islamophobic activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller's AFDI/SIOA racist and anti-Muslim/Islam advertisement campaign. In light of recent hate attacks, 8 over a period of 11 days, and another possible attack yesterday, the attempted firebombing of a Muslim family's home in Panama City, Florida, can we not consider such advertisements to be an incitement to violence?"

Loonwatch poses the question.

Update:  See "Islamophobic billboard at Metro-North station causes outrage one month after pro-Palestinian billboard", Huffington Post, 17 August 2012

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A homeless man slashed three Mott Haven workers with glass shards in 9/11-fueled hate crimes against Muslims, police sources said yesterday. Alejandro Gonzalez, 19, claimed he was "fighting terrorism" when he attacked three Middle Eastern men in two stores, sources said.

The first assault took place at 9:30 p.m. on June 6, when Gonzalez confronted Adam Zandan in a bodega on Courtlandt Avenue and cut the victim's face, court documents allege. A day later, the attacker walked into a pizza parlor on East 158th Street and sliced Salem Salim across the forehead, then slashed Bilal Alsayedi on the right arm as Alsayedi came to Salim's aid, the documents state.

The victims were treated for non-life-threatening wounds. Gonzalez was arrested on June 8.

New York Post, 22 June 2012

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Muslim and Sikh transit workers will be allowed to wear religious head coverings while on the job under a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Wednesday. The agreement ended a winding legal case propelled by the Sept. 11 attacks.

The authority faced a series of lawsuits, including one from the United States Justice Department, in the years that followed the attack; the suits claimed that the authority was selectively enforcing policies on head coverings worn by Muslim and Sikh employees and that it had transferred workers to nonpublic positions if they refused to remove the coverings or attach the authority's logos to them.

Under the new policy, any religious headgear will be permitted as long as it is blue, the color of the authority's logo, said Adam Lisberg, the authority's chief spokesman.

In a statement, the Justice Department said the authority would pay a total of $184,500 to eight current or former employees who had been "denied religious accommodations" under the old policy.

Amardeep Singh, the programs director of the Sikh Coalition, which filed two of the lawsuits in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the resolution closed a "disturbing chapter" in the Sikh community's history in the city. "There was a feeling in the community that Sikhs and Muslims have been collectively punished in some way for the events of 9/11," Mr. Singh said.

New York Times, 30 May 2012

See also AFP, 30 May 2012

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