by Nisa Islam Muhammad
Staff Writer

(FinalCall.com)--The Council on American Islamic Concerns has lodged complaints about an incident in which a 17-year-old Muslim female was allegedly forced to publicly remove her religiously mandated headscarf, or hijab, by gun-wielding security personnel at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

Since Sept. 11, CAIR has received a dozen complaints about Muslim women forced to remove headscarves in public at airports, instead of being escorted to a private area and searched by a female guard.

CAIR wants an investigation of the incident and an apology from the BWI Airport Authority, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Globe Aviation Services, the firm hired to screen passengers at the concourse, and whose personnel were involved in the alleged incident.

"Northwest Airlines is discussing the issue with Delta Airlines, the carrier responsible for security at that concourse. We�re also investigating the matter with BWI Airport," said Kurt Ebenhoch, Northwest Airline�s senior manager for media relations. Calls to the security firm and BWI Authority were not returned at Final Call presstime.

"No guys are supposed to see my hair until my husband sees it when I get married," Enaas Sansour of Virginia explained, "It was very humiliating with all those people staring at me like I did something wrong."

A nun, also religiously covered from head to toe, immediately preceded Ms. Sansour through the security checkpoint, CAIR said. Neither of them set off the metal detectors, yet Ms. Sansour says she was singled out for public humiliation. They didn�t do anything to the nun, Ms. Sansour told reporters.

Muslims across America are outraged at this latest violation of civil liberties by panic-stricken law enforcement officials blatantly using racial and religious profiling.

National M.G.T. Captain A�ishah Muhammad, of the Nation of Islam, explained the common insult Muslims feel about such incidents. "For us, this was equivalent to demanding that we lift up our dress. We hold our bodies private and sacred. This is a violation of who we are as Muslim women," she said.

"The concept of modesty in America is very different from the concept of modesty in Islam," added Tayyibah Taylor, editor of Azizah magazine, a new publication for Muslim women.

"Americans have different standards for dressing modestly that vary from place to place. But for a Muslim woman, her modesty is consistent. She always covers her body except for her face and hands. Her body is not for public consumption," Ms. Taylor said.

Ms. Sansour is a high school student at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia where she is taught the finer points of being a Muslim woman. One of those points is the value of modesty and preserving her virtue until she is married. While traveling with her family en route to San Francisco, Ms. Sansour says she went through a Delta Airlines section of BWI airport Dec. 18. After she cleared a security checkpoint, a Globe Security guard shouted, "Hey! You need to take that off," referring to her headscarf, according to Ms. Sansour.

She responded by asking, "Why do I have to take off my head cover?" Then, she added, camouflage-clad soldiers, armed with M-16 rifles, surrounded her. Ms. Sansour said she became terrified and removed her headscarf immediately. A Muslim airport employee saw what was happening and told the guard it was wrong to force the young woman to remove her headscarf in public, CAIR said. Ms. Sansour said that she did not object to the security demands to remove her headscarf because she was frightened.

"I can�t begin to tell you how I would feel if someone asked me to disrobe like that," said Aliyah Beshir, director of Image Makers, a public relations firm.

"This was no different than asking me to remove my shirt or pants. My hijab is my modesty and my protection. It identifies me as a Muslim woman," said Ms. Beshir.

CAIR�s civil rights department has received more than 170 reports of airport profiling of Muslims or those who are perceived to be Middle Eastern since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"This incident reaffirms the need for additional training on policies and procedures that will improve airport security without violating civil liberties and religious rights," said Hodan Hassan, CAIR�s civil rights coordinator. She added that CAIR provides such training for corporations nationwide.