Muslim woman befriends terrified passenger who saw her text the word 'Allah'

After realising that her reaction was unacceptable, Beverley apologised to Jiva Akbor several times

A Muslim woman took to Facebook to describe her encounter with a woman who was too terrified to sit beside her on a plane after she texted the world 'Allah'.

Jiva Akbor's post touched thousands on social media as Akbor described how she befriended a woman who complained to the air hostesses about her text message. The post received over 9,000 likes on Facebook and was shared over 8,000 times.



Akbor, a young British-Muslim from Greater Manchester said a woman who was on the flight to Spain with her 11-year-old son rapidly left her seat and returned 'literally shaking' with two air hostesses.

"She stood there, with a look of fright on her face. I was confused. For a split second I though she had some health issue or something and about to have a panic attack," Akbor wrote.
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"At that moment she looked at me and said, ‘I saw you write a text message and you wrote Allah on it’." Upon hearing this, Akbor's 'heart stopped'.

She further wrote that her mind was immediately flooded with recent incidents in which Muslim passengers were judged and removed and heckled from flights. However, in her post she praised the air hostesses for their calm attitude, who, instead of saying anything to Akbor, told the frightened woman, "You are free to leave the flight if you wish."



PHOTO: FACEBOOK

Rather than enjoying the response by the air hostesses, Akbor felt bad for the woman and chose to explain to her why she wrote that message. "It’s just an Arabic word that means God, you have nothing to worry about," Akbor told the woman.

"It took her a few more moments, looking me square in the eye, whilst I fumbled telling her how the message was written send well wishes to my colleagues who had a theft today."

It took a while but the two women soon got into a conversation and discussed every possible topic. The woman also told Akbor that 'she herself was a woman of religion too – Roman Catholic'.

"After about 15 minutes of conversation I could feel her calming down and starting to accept what I was telling her. I rubbed her arm and told her I am not a threat to her."



"Before too long I could see remorse in her tone, I think she was shocked at her own reaction and the realisation of what she had thought of me was setting in." The woman confessed that her reaction was as a result of what the media had shown her.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK

Akbor and her new friend, Beverley discussed everything including Bexit, the exchange rate, Pokemon Go, mosques, churches and their parents.

Not only did Beverley constantly apologise to Akbor for her behaviour earlier, she also gifted the Muslim woman her favourite perfume bottle which had a star on its lid.



Concluding her post, Akbor described the event as 'one of the most interesting and most memorable flights' of her life. "I made a friend called Beverley who made a mistake and acknowledged it," she went on to write.

"I know today was special for us both and many lessons learnt on both sides. We hugged, exchanged numbers and will definitely keep in touch. I know not all similar situations are as peachy and ‘happily ever after’ for many, many Muslims in the world right now. But I have all the love in the world for Beverley and pray we can only basque in the beautiful moments shared today."