Travelling in Hijab: Responding to Anti-Muslim Harassment
A journey should give you something to look forward to: a visit to family, a new city, a few days away from work. Worry about being singled out for wearing hijab can sit alongside that excitement. It deserves a useful response, without letting someone else's prejudice become the organising principle of your trip.
If harassment happens, you do not have to defend your faith, educate a stranger or produce a perfect account before asking for help. Your immediate needs might be very ordinary: someone to stand beside you, a member of staff to call the police, a private place to replace your scarf, or a safe way to reach your accommodation.
If you are in immediate danger, contact the emergency services where you are. In the UK, call 999. The reporting contacts in this guide are UK examples. When you travel abroad, use the destination's emergency number and local procedures.
Prepare a few useful contacts before departure
Begin with current advice for the places on your actual route, including an overnight stop or connection. Use the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's country guidance to check the conditions for your trip, alongside information from the destination's authorities. Look closely at any clothing restriction or rule for entering a public building that concerns you. A social-media account of one person's holiday cannot establish what the rules will be on yours.
Keep a small offline note containing the local emergency number, accommodation address, your transport provider's contact details and someone you trust. If you are a British national travelling abroad, add the relevant British embassy or consulate. Other nationals should check their own country's consular arrangements. Make sure you can find the note without needing to search through a long booking email.
Ask practical questions when a booking leaves something unclear. Is reception staffed when you arrive? Who can help if a problem occurs during an organised excursion? Where should passengers report misconduct on a particular service? These answers give you a starting point if you need assistance; they do not guarantee that an incident will never happen.
With a travel companion, agree how you would ask each other for help. One person might contact staff while the other stays beside the person being targeted. If you are travelling alone, knowing where to approach staff can serve the same practical purpose. Neither travelling alone nor wearing a particular scarf makes you responsible for another person's behaviour.
During an incident, make the next few minutes easier
If someone directs abuse at you, your first decision is what will help you get through the immediate situation. You may be able to move towards staff, join a group of passengers or enter an open, staffed premises. Choose an option that fits what you can actually see around you. Do not leave a populated carriage for an isolated platform simply because someone has made you feel unwelcome.
A short request can be easier than explaining the whole exchange. For example: “That person is following me and making comments about my religion. Please stay with me while we get help.” If you approach a shop worker, driver or station employee, say what you need them to do. You can explain the background once you have support.
You are allowed to disengage. Silence does not mean agreement, and leaving is not a failure to stand up for yourself. Equally, you do not need to criticise yourself afterwards for speaking, freezing or finding that words would not come. A threatening encounter is not a debate with a correct performance.
If a covering has been pulled or disturbed, ask for whatever practical assistance you want. That might be a private space, a companion holding up a coat or time to contact someone. A helper should ask before touching you or adjusting your clothing. If you are injured, seek appropriate medical help; getting a photograph or keeping to the itinerary can wait.
Do not follow a person to discover where they go, and do not remain close to them just to obtain footage. Evidence can be useful later, but collecting it should not become another reason you feel compelled to stay in an unsafe situation.
Describe what happened, even when you are unsure of the label
A question about your scarf, a hostile remark and a threat are different experiences. Context matters: the words used, whether someone blocks your way, whether the behaviour continues after you try to leave, and whether there is physical contact. A glance on its own does not establish another person's motive. You can still change seats or seek company because you feel uncomfortable.
When asking for help, describe the behaviour you observed. If a person referred to Islam, your hijab or your perceived background, include that detail. If you believe you were targeted because you are Muslim, explain why. You do not need to turn your account into a legal argument or decide the eventual charge yourself.
Keep the incident and its effect together. “He stood in front of the exit and said this” tells a listener something different from “I felt upset.” Both may be part of your experience. Explaining what prevented you from continuing your journey helps staff understand the assistance you need now.
An official procedure may also leave you with a concern about how you were treated. Ask for the procedure to be explained and, when appropriate, for a supervisor. Record the conduct that concerns you separately from the existence of the check. Amani's guide to niqab, airport security and identity checks covers the different types of airport check and privacy requests in more detail.
Know which UK reporting route you are using
GOV.UK identifies offences motivated by hostility towards religion or belief among hate crimes. Its reporting guidance distinguishes an emergency from a report made after the immediate danger has passed. British Transport Police provides a separate text route for non-emergency incidents on the rail network.
| Situation | UK contact |
|---|---|
| A crime is happening now, or someone is in immediate danger | Call 999. |
| A non-emergency police report | Call 101 or use the relevant police force's reporting service. |
| A non-emergency incident on Britain's rail network | Text British Transport Police on 61016. Give the incident, location and time. |
British Transport Police explicitly says that 61016 is not an emergency substitute for 999: a text may not arrive in time. It also says the number cannot receive photographs, video or audio. If you have a recording, tell the officer or report handler and ask how to provide it.
On a train, details such as the service's departure time, direction of travel, next station and carriage location can help identify where you are. Give what you know; do not delay an urgent call while trying to discover a vehicle number. If phone reception is unavailable, approach staff or use an available help point.
After making a report, ask for its reference and how to follow up. Keep the name of the organisation receiving it. A message to a train company's customer-service team and a police report may create separate records, even when they describe the same event.
If the incident happens abroad
Use the emergency services in the country where you are. The FCDO advises that, in most countries, a crime needs to be reported to local police before departure if you want an investigation. Do not assume that waiting until you return home will leave the same options available. If you are uncertain about reporting or need language support, seek help promptly.
For British nationals, an embassy or consulate can help explain local processes and find information about lawyers, interpreters or medical services. It cannot investigate the crime, gather evidence or determine the outcome of a case. If you travelled with a tour operator, contact it about practical assistance as well.
Tell the person assisting you when you are due to leave. Ask how you can receive updates afterwards, whether any documents need translation and what records you should retain. If an insurer may need information about expenses or an incident, contact it and ask about its requirements. Keep relevant receipts and reports.
A destination's treatment of religious hostility may use different legal terms from those used at home. Describe the conduct clearly and ask a qualified local adviser about the applicable rules. Avoid relying on a claim that a particular country is either completely safe for hijab wearers or uniformly hostile. Neither description can explain your individual circumstances.
Make a record once you have somewhere to pause
You do not need an elaborate evidence folder. Start with a note of the place, date and approximate time, followed by what you directly saw or heard. Mark a quotation as exact only if you remember it that way. Otherwise, describe it as your recollection of the meaning. Add what happened next: whom you approached, what they did and whether you had to change your plans.
For a journey, retain the booking or ticket that identifies the service. If someone witnessed the incident and is willing to help, ask whether they would give their details to the organisation investigating it. Let them record their own account. Trying to make everyone's memory identical can obscure what each person actually observed.
If you think a station, vehicle or premises has relevant CCTV, tell the police or responsible organisation promptly and identify the time and location. Ask them about preserving it. You do not have to obtain the footage yourself, and you should not assume it will remain available indefinitely.
Keep original messages or recordings that you already have somewhere secure. If you need to make an edited copy for your own notes, retain the original too. Avoid posting a stranger's identity or accusing someone publicly on the basis of a resemblance. Public attention can expose your own location and draw other people into an incident before the facts are established.
Ask a transport provider or venue for a specific response
Once the immediate situation is over, you may want the organisation responsible for the setting to address what happened. A complaint can concern an employee's conduct, the response to a request for help, or a practical failure such as being left without information after an incident.
Begin with enough detail to find the booking or service, then describe the concern. Explain what you want reviewed: the staff response, the handling of a report, access to assistance or the way a decision was communicated. If you are seeking reimbursement for a documented cost, identify that separately. A complaint does not automatically establish an entitlement to compensation.
For example, you could write: “I asked for assistance at [place and time] after another passenger repeatedly directed anti-Muslim comments at me. Please review how my request was handled, tell me what information you need and explain how I can follow up.” This is a suggested starting point, not a statement about a reported case.
There is no need to write a long public account before sending a private complaint. You can ask for a written reply and decide later whether it answers the issue. Where you need advice about legal rights or deadlines, use a qualified adviser in the relevant country rather than relying on a customer-service promise.
Support is a separate choice from making a complaint
You might want someone to listen before deciding what to do next. Tell MAMA accepts reports of anti-Muslim incidents and offers support; its service information says that police involvement is not a condition of reporting to it. Ask how your information will be handled and what assistance is available for your circumstances.
Victim Support offers free, confidential help for people affected by crime in England and Wales. Its Supportline is 08 08 16 89 111, and it also provides online contact options. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own victim-support organisations. If you are abroad, check the local service's remit and language provision.
Practical help can be modest and still valuable. A friend might sit with you while you make a call, help reorganise a missed connection or read a reply when you do not feel ready to open it. Tell them what would help rather than feeling obliged to relive every detail. You can also ask them not to share the account more widely.
If the experience continues to affect your sleep, daily life or willingness to go out, speak to an appropriate health professional or support service. You do not have to decide that it was “serious enough” by comparing it with someone else's experience.
If you are the companion or bystander
Offer assistance to the person being targeted without taking control of her choices. A quiet “Would you like me to stay here?” may be more useful than a loud argument with the person causing the problem. If there is immediate danger, contact emergency services; otherwise, getting staff involved may be the most useful contribution you can make.
Where it is safe, offer a concrete option: accompanying her to reception, helping identify the train service or waiting while she calls a friend. Do not touch her scarf or photograph her without asking. If you witnessed something, make your own accurate note and explain how you can be contacted.
Let her decide whether she wants conversation afterwards. Avoid demanding an explanation of hijab, suggesting a different outfit would have prevented the incident, or insisting that she report publicly to help others. Support should reduce the number of demands being made on her.
Keep the rest of the journey yours
You may want to continue with the day's plans, change them or go somewhere familiar. None of those choices measures your confidence or commitment to wearing hijab. Discuss what would make the next stage manageable, including practical changes to transport or company, without treating another person's hostility as your fault.
If you later want to support wider change, choose an action you can sustain. You might give a transport provider precise feedback about the assistance passengers need, support a local anti-hate organisation or ask an event organiser how staff respond to harassment. You do not owe that work as the price of being taken seriously.
The useful outcome is having options: someone to approach, a way to report, a record you can use and support that respects your decisions. Those preparations can sit quietly alongside the things you actually travelled to enjoy.
Sources and scope: UK contact details and service descriptions were checked on 23 October 2026 against GOV.UK, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, British Transport Police, Tell MAMA and Victim Support. Reporting arrangements and legal procedures elsewhere require destination-specific information. The example requests are original illustrations, not quotations from an incident.