Columnist Grace Eberly interviewed Cynthia Cox de Boutinkhar, a Muslim woman who recently had a viral interaction with a protester.
Two weekends ago, the “Global Rally for Humanity,” a grassroots Facebook campaign, organized nearly 30 anti-Islam protests nationwide. Most rallies were canceled in the days leading up to the event. One woman from Lancaster, Ohio, missed the memo.
A video posted online documents the atypical protest.
On the morning of Oct. 10, “Annie” showed up at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin with two homemade, double-sided signs in hand. On one canvas, an eyeball spilled a bloodied teardrop over Mecca. It wasn't long before “Annie” was using the signs to hide her face.
For more than 40 minutes, “Annie” berated the counter-protesters (Muslims and non-Muslims) who far outnumbered her. Islam, she insisted, is not a religion; such an esteemed term cannot be used to describe a “mass murderer who starts a gang.”
Several times, she is invited inside the mosque for breakfast. She says, “Make my bacon extra crispy.”
Eventually, about 44 minutes into the protest, “Annie” made eye contact with Cynthia, a Muslim woman who regularly prays at Noor. Cynthia asked, “Can I hug you?” And then, in a moment that no one could have anticipated, the two women embraced.
“Annie” finally agreed to go inside the mosque. As they walked through the parking lot together, “Annie” jokingly asked, “What if I catch on fire (when I walk in)?” Cynthia replied, “We have lots of bottled water if you do.”
“Annie” and Cynthia walked into the building, where they were met with applause. “Annie’s” signs were slack at her sides, the prejudiced words upside-down and unintelligible.
Cynthia took “Annie” on a two-hour tour of Noor. They took selfies. They conversed with an Islamic scholar. At the end of their time together, “Annie” was given an English copy of the Qur’an which she promised to read. “Annie” apologized. She left without her signs.
I came across this story last week while browsing online. I followed a trail of links until I ended up on Cynthia’s personal Facebook page. I decided, on a whim, to send her a message. She replied.
Noor is located approximately 90 miles away from Athens. But it turns out that we are a lot closer to this story than I had originally realized. Cynthia Cox de Boutinkhar, the Muslim woman who initiated “the hug seen around the world,” graduated from Ohio University in 1985. Coincidentally, she had planned to attend the Homecoming game that Saturday afternoon. She had packed a hoodie and jeans in the back of her car. She even contemplated leaving the protest early to meet friends down in Athens. It’s the hug that almost never was.
In the past two weeks, Cynthia has done interviews with CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Al Jazeera. She has turned down requests for comments from Bill O’Reilly and Fox News. The story has been picked up by MTV, Inside Edition, and The Washington Post. The hug has been reported in England, France, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Russia, New Zealand and Australia. On Tuesday evening, Cynthia and I talked on the phone for nearly three hours. She told me that our interview would be her last.
The hug, Cynthia said, has taken on a life of its own, and she’s not sure that she likes the direction it’s headed: “It’s not about me. It’s about acceptance.”
In the aftermath of the media frenzy, “Annie” finally replied to Cynthia’s messages. According to Cynthia, “Annie” said the only reason she went into the mosque was because God told her to, because she needed to cleanse the mosque of Satan. Cynthia asked “Annie” if she had read the Qur’an that Noor had given her. “Annie’s” answer breaks my heart: “No. I threw it in the barn with the pigs.”
I am hopeful that these later developments will not detract in any way from the beauty and transformative power of the initial encounter — an encounter which began with vitriolic hate and ended with laughter and a hug.
I told Cynthia that our campus is not immune to the dangers of ignorant, ill-informed Islamophobia. Last week, a young Muslim student who wears hijab told me that, on several occasions, drunken passersby on Court Street have asked her if she’s hiding a bomb. I begged Cynthia for advice. How do we repair these wounds and move forward as a community?
Cynthia told me that people are only afraid of what they don’t know. And so, Cynthia encourages non-Muslims to respectfully ask thoughtful questions of their Muslim peers. “We aren’t cloistered nuns,” she said. “We haven’t taken a vow of silence.”
Sometimes Cynthia wears hijab; sometimes she doesn’t. She told me that when she isn’t wearing a scarf in public, she smiles and people usually smile back. But, when she’s walking through the grocery store with the scarf wrapped around her curly, black hair, she smiles and people avert their gaze — they’ll suddenly start looking for spinach. Cynthia knows you aren’t buying spinach.
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Cynthia told me, “Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) said that the simplest and easiest form of charity is a smile.” And so, she encourages all of us — Muslim and non-Muslim — to make eye contact, to engage and to smile.
So, Bobcats, start hugging. And if you can’t do that, at least look up.
Grace Eberly is a senior studying world religions and biology.What do you think of the Muslim woman and the protester’s story? Email her at ge713313@ohio.edu.
