Subway commuters defend Muslim women

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Amaira Hasan, 25, says she is not just proud to be Muslim but also a New Yorker. She was overwhelmed to see how New Yorkers of all backgrounds came to the defense of two Muslim women on the subway this week.

We have seen it on social media and even on television these last couple of days: people speaking out against the Muslim community in the wake of the Orlando terror attack.

On Monday morning, Hasan experienced it for herself on the F train. She says that a man got on the train in Jackson Heights and began berating two women wearing hijabs. He called them foreign terrorists and that they don't belong here, according to Hasan.

She took to social media to explain what had happened and her post went viral. It read in part: "The entire train erupted in anger. A black man, a Romanian, a gay man, a bunch of Asians, and a score of others came to their defense demanding that this man leave these women alone and get off this train."

She said that other people started chiming in saying, "This is New York City and this is the most diverse place in the world and there is no place for this kind of rhetoric here."  The man ended up getting off the train.

Hasan says this hit home for her, since she is Muslim. She says in light of all the bad happening around us, there is still so much good and so much love.

Wednesday morning, she took to her Facebook page this time to thank all those who had a word of kindness and wrote: "To those that don't believe New Yorkers would stick up for their own, or shut down hate or bigotry, sorry, but, you don't know my New York."

Hasan says she actually stood up to say something to the man but everyone else had already jumped in.