How Muslim won over passenger who was scared to sit next to her on plane
A MUSLIM plane passenger struck up an unlikely friendship with a woman who was too frightened to sit next to her because she had typed the word ‘Allah’ in a text message.
Jiva Akbor, 27, was flying from Glasgow to Malaga when the other passenger raised concerns with an air hostess about the message, which was partly written in Arabic.
The mother, known only as Beverley, was offered a chance to leave the flight with her 11year-old son, but Miss Akbor defused the situation by explaining that ‘Allah’ means ‘God’ in Arabic. The pair then started talking and by the end of the flight had become friends.
After arriving in Spain, Miss Akbor wrote about the journey in a Facebook post that has been ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ by more than 7,500 people.
Miss Akbor had been texting friends in an Islamic group, Quran Revolution, offering sympathy after their car was broken into.
Part of her message read: ‘May Allah make the day easy for you all!’ Discussing the moment she was confronted by the worried mother, Miss Akbor wrote: ‘I looked at her face and she was in sheer panic, clearly flustered
‘Look of fright on her face’
and didn’t get into the seat immediately. Then I heard one of the air hostesses say, “You can take your seat ma’am”. But she stood there, with a look of fright on her face.
‘I was confused. I thought she had some health issue or something and was about to have a panic attack. At that moment she looked at me and said, “I saw you write a text message and you wrote Allah on it”.’
Miss Akbor noticed the woman was close to tears and began to explain the misunderstanding. ‘I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,’ she wrote. ‘This lady was actually scared to sit next to me on this flight.’
Soon after, she added, the woman seemed remorseful. ‘I think she was shocked at her reaction and the realisation of what she had thought of me was setting in.’
The incident happened while the plane was grounded for about 40 minutes. For the rest of the flight on the budget airline Jet2, the pair got to know each other. Beverley even took a bottle of her favourite perfume from her bag and gave it to Miss Akbor as a gift. She ends her account by writing: ‘Today I had one of the most interesting and most memorable flights of my life. I made a friend called Beverley who made a mistake and acknowledged it. I met a lady who is deep down inside a wonderful human and showed me that the fear-mongering carried out in this world by the powers-that-be can make an ordinary person have the most shocking of reactions.’
After the plane landed, Beverly sent Miss Akbor a message saying she was ‘a true inspiration and a lovely person’.
They have been sending each other texts in Spain and hope to stay in touch.