COLUMBUS – Sixteen-year-old Noor Alexandria Abukaram simply wanted to run.
And on Oct. 19, 2019, she ran fast. The Sylvania Northview runner finished her 5K competition with a personal record for the season: 22 minutes and 22 seconds.
That made what happened next even more devastating. Abukaram was disqualified from the race because she was wearing her hijab, a religious veil worn by Muslim women.
Ohio High School Athletic Association rules required athletes to obtain a waiver to wear clothing for religious practices and her coach hadn t obtained a waiver. Cross country was a means for me to leave my troubles behind, but this felt like the complete opposite, she told lawmakers in May. Full of emotions, I wanted to hide away in my room and let the time pass.
Feb. 15, 2021
In September, when a referee told 14-year-old Najah Aqeel that she couldn’t compete in a junior varsity volleyball game because she was wearing a hijab, she was crushed.
“I was crying. I was sad and upset and angry,” recalled Najah, a high school freshman at Valor College Prep in Nashville.
The referee cited a rule established by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the body that governs most high school sports across the country noting that student athletes wearing “hair devices” more than three inches wide needed to secure prior approval from their state athletic association to compete. For athletes such as Najah, the rule meant they had to secure permission to compete while wearing their hijabs, the head coverings worn in public by some Muslim girls and women.