Muslim Caller Tells Of Terrifying Near-Miss After Racist Tried To Run Him Over
26 March 2017, 13:11 | Updated: 26 March 2017, 13:15
This Muslim caller told Ian Payne a woman tried to run him, and his 5-year-old son, over, shouting "you terrorist, go home".
On his Saturday afternoon LBC show, Ian Payne spoke to Hassan in Ealing about a terrifying experience in which he, and his 5-year-old son, were nearly mowed down by an angry racist - all because he was wearing Islamic dress.
Hassan told Ian: "I born and raised in Ealing...I have a lot more in common with Liberal Democrats, than Islamists...we Muslims probably need to do a lot more to make sure that our children are not be radicalised.
"But, an experience I've just had a minute ago, makes me just wonder, maybe we, as a society, are contributing to the radicalisation of these young people."
Ian asked: "What happened?"
Hassan explained: "It's a Saturday afternoon...I'm taking my son to the park in the evening. But, I am wearing my Islamic dress. I've got my five-year-old son me with me.
He went on: "So as I tried to cross the road...there's this BMW car, and it speeds up, and I think 'woah, somebody is in a rush, let me move back a little bit'.
"So the car stops, because it is a T-Junction, so we try to go behind, and then she reverses back to us, nearly running my son over.
"So obviously, as you would do as a father, you take him out of the way. And I said 'what are you doing?' and she says 'oh you terrorist, go back home'.
"So, literally, attempted to kill my son, because what? I'm just a young man...who was born and bred in Ealing, educated in this country, who knows nothing other than this country, but because I'm wearing Islamic dress, and...I have Islamic looks, all of a sudden, you know, I'm some sort of terrorist that needs to be killed. Or my five-year-old son is a terrorist that needs to be killed?
Ian said: "So, because of this, can you understand why people join terrorist groups?"
Hassan: "I wouldn't say terrorist groups, but, if I was not an educated young man, who was not thinking right, I would have probably thought to myself 'I need to deal with this woman right now'.
"So you could imagine, if somebody feels that his life is under threat, he might go and listen to certain people. I mean, thank God, I know my religion well enough, to know what my religion is about.
"But, if a young guy, who's been in prison all his life, who's never seen anything good in life, not educated, experiences something similar to our experience now, then a hate preacher comes to him saying, 'oh, hold on, you are hated in this country...you're an outsider in this country, so why don't you act like it?'
Ian asked how Hassan's son reacted to the incident.
Hassan told Ian: "He said 'Daddy, what is wrong with this woman?"
He went on: "Obviously I didn't say 'oh somebody's trying to kill you because you're a Muslim'. I just said 'oh, we were in the middle of the road, so you have to be careful when you're crossing the road'.
"I can't explain it in another way. Imagine I said to him I said to him now 'oh, somebody just tried to kill you because you're Muslim', imagine how he would grow up.
"We've got young men, who are not educated, and then they get hate preachers who tell them 'hold on, you see what's happened there? That is because you're a Muslim, so why don't you start killing people, and that's where people get radicalised."
