Because the War on Terror does not engage with a specific nation but instead with a region defined as Islamic, Muslim women who wear the hijab are also marked as being from a part of the world that is associated with terror instead of a specific nation. As a result, they are subjected to being watched, yelled at, and in some cases, even aggressively approached. Even though Irum was not told to go back to a specific country, she was told she does not belong in her own country. This statement highlights the "us" and "them" that is constructed in order to signal who is to be watched and who belongs. A Muslim identity situates someone as the "them" that does not belong here, even though it's not specified where the Muslim belongs.

XREF: Connects to Orientalism and other work on how broad enemy categories ('terrorist', 'Islamic region') substitute for specific nation-state targeting, producing diffuse suspicion.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 258