An Australian woman on a train in Sydney recently jumped to the defence of a Muslim couple when a fellow passenger used a barrage of hurtful words against them.

Stacy Eden first realised what was happening when the one woman leant over and touched the Muslim lady’s scarf. “The lady next to me was saying things like ‘all the people that were dying were because of the Muslims in the world and look what’s happening overseas’”, says Eden. The woman then continued with the question “Read the newspapers, why are you following this religion for, why do you wear things like that so you can marry a man who’s going to go marry a 6-year-old?”.

This lady that was sitting across from me wearing a scarf, she was minding her own business, she never said anything out of line, she never even spoke. That’s why I decided to say something because it just made me really angry and upset.

Thankfully, she started recording everything on her camera. She responded to the woman, saying “She wears it for herself, she wears it because she wants to be modest with her body okay? Not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her”.

Eden stayed on the train until the Muslim couple disembarked to make sure they did not receive any further harassment.

She also posted the video to her Facebook page, with the below words:

The video has been seen more than 400 000 times and has attracted hundreds of comments. Hafeez Ahmed Bhatti, who is reportedly the victim’s husband, even commented, saying “This video was not made by me. That is what happened to us on a Sydney train, God bless Stacey Eden she supported us”.

The 2% Muslim minority in Australia have really felt the brunt of it after the hostage situation in Sydney in December.

[Source: The BBC and The Huffington Post]