There aren’t many people that leave the house during the day or at night that intend to get into a street fight. There are some that do but those people are few and far between as the average Joe has no intentions of getting into a physical altercation…EVER. Even more rare are the life threatening or life changing situations where a person may have to defend themselves because their life is quite literally at risk and there is one group of people in particular who when attacked literally are in danger of losing their life…Muslim women.

Chicago-based Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner Zaineb Abdulla made a self-defense video for women which address a situation where an attacker grabs their hijab. A hijab is a veil traditionally worn by Muslim women in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family which usually covers the head and chest. The term can further refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women that conform to a certain standard of modesty.

In any situation where an attacker is looking to impose his will on a victim there are a few key things that the attacker will look for to identify a susceptible victim. The first is timidity; he wants someone that he perceives as weak and susceptible to an attack. The next is seclusion; he is looking for someone that he can attack without drawing attention. The last and most important factor is the ability to control the victim; obviously the hijab unfortunately offers just that.

So let’s take a look at two ways in which you can defend yourself from an attacker who grabs your hijab.

How to defend yourself from a bigot grabbing your hijab.

How to defend yourself from a bigot grabbing your hijab from behind.

Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…