Earlier this week, Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools made a shocking announcement where a policy will see Muslim girls who wear the hijab to primary school, questioned why they wear it by Ofsted Inspectors. The reasons will be reflected in the school’s final reports.

We interviewed Nadine El-Enany who is the Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Race and Law @CentreRaceLaw and Editor of @Wildcatzine

She began a thread on the whole move and has encouraged people to use the hashtag #HandsOffMuslimKids which has taken off across Social. She is also planning other action around the move.

How do you think society (including Muslims) can push back on such policies?

It is important for Muslims to feel able to speak out against injustice where they see it and experience it. This is not easy in a climate of anti-Muslim racism which is exacerbated by state policies, such as Prevent, which target Muslims and construct them as a suspect. For Muslims to draw attention to themselves can be dangerous in a climate in which they are easy targets for criticism and abuse.

This is why solidarity initiatives are so important. Muslims and others can come together collectively to oppose policies and decisions like that of Ofsted questioning Muslim children wearing the hijab in schools.

Those who are not themselves experiencing injustice and oppression and who can speak out against the targeting, stigmatisation and victimisation of Muslims should do so. So often the media projects an image of Muslims which feeds into racialised stereotypes, which makes it difficult for Muslims to push back and to have their voices heard. It is important to find ways of doing this as much as possible, including through creating our own media and campaigns such as #HandsOffMuslimKids in order to circulate a different, more representative message than that of mainstream media.

Those working in institutions, such as teachers in schools and universities, that are being tasked with implementing policies which discriminate against Muslims should speak out against this and demand they be consulted on such policies and decisions.

What message would you give to young girls who wear hijab?

I am in awe of the strength and resilience of women and young girls in Britain, and in Europe and Northern states more widely, who wear the hijab in a climate that is growing increasingly hostile to displays of Muslim faith. They know much more than me about how to survive and excel in a context where they are at risk of abuse, violence, judgement and suspicion. Muslim women and children have a lot to say and teach others, if only people and the state would listen to them rather than constantly silencing them, speaking for them, and deciding what is best for them.

What message does this send to Muslim Women?

Muslim women who wear the hijab are already especially vulnerable to attack in a climate in which Islamophobia/anti-Muslim racism is pervasive. The message the Ofsted decision sends to Muslim women is that the way they choose to dress and the decisions they make in raising their children are subject to a level of scrutiny different to that applied to non-Muslim parents. The message is that they and their children are not deserving of equal treatment by the state and its agencies. The message is that the state deems harassment of Muslim women and children legitimate. The message is that they cannot trust the state and its agencies to treat them and their children fairly. The Ofsted decision reduces the hijab to a symbol of sexualisation and ignores other interpretations ranging from a display of faith to a symbol of empowerment and resistance. It ignores the fact that Muslim women and children wear the hijab for a variety of reasons. Further, constructing women who wear the hijab as being either sexualised or repressed is reductive of the hijab and Muslim women and racist in its reproduction of colonial and Orientalist tropes about them.

Time for a #HandsOffMuslimKids campaign in light of this and multiple other instances of the targeting of Muslim children under #Prevent and other racist policies implemented by the state and its agencies https://t.co/xYAXOJeASt

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) November 20, 2017

Remember this?https://t.co/bX2Bvbt7Gl #HandsOffMuslimKids

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) November 20, 2017

Amanda Spielman of @Ofstednews says equality concerns are behind this, so why is she advocating inspectors targeting Muslim girls, cornering and interrogating them? Institutional racism and pervasive anti-Muslim racism is behind this #HandsOffMuslimKids

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) November 20, 2017

Remember Firdaws Hashim, the brilliant schoolchild who excelled in everything she did? It wasn't her hijab that held her back, it was the state that left her to die in the #GrenfellTower fire https://t.co/OF2KJ09XZZ

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) November 20, 2017

What is everyone else saying?

https://www.facebook.com/suhaiymah/videos/1491754464227384/

https://twitter.com/ibnsabeel/status/932705075130195968

https://twitter.com/shahad78six/status/932709638113517570

https://twitter.com/AzTheBaz/status/932708236683284481

Yes, British state, if you care so much about Muslim girls, forget about their hijabs for a moment and stop bombing, drowning and burning them #HandsOffMuslimKids https://t.co/5nThfKnmqU

— Nadine El-Enany (@NadineElEnany) November 20, 2017

Got a flight to catch so no time to write a blog post but here’s a hurriedly scribbled “poem” reflecting my thoughts on ofsted deciding to police hijab at primary schools… #HandsOffMuslimKids https://t.co/7v0W2lvQPn

— Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan (@thebrownhijabi) November 20, 2017

Ofsted need to spend their time dealing with failing schools not interrogating 4 year old girls#HandsOffMuslimKids pic.twitter.com/DKhe8AtS61

— Organised_Chao5 (@Organised_Chao5) November 20, 2017

https://twitter.com/mrjammyjamjar3/status/932744511968694273

Whenever they want to attack muslims they always start with ‘women’ and the ‘hijab’ #HandsOffMuslimKids

— Junaid Dar (@MrJunaidDar) November 20, 2017