A social post claiming that Raffia Arshad as the first hijab wearing judge in the USA is being widely circulated. The post shares an anecdote from Arshad’s life, wherein despite her family’s advice, how she attended an interview with hijab and went onto become the first hijab-waring judge in USA. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Raffia Arshad is the first hijab-wearing judge in USA.
Fact: Raffia Arshad is the first hijab-wearing judge in the UK and not the USA. In 2020, Arshad has become the first deputy district judge to wear a hijab after she was appointed to the Midlands circuit, UK. The anecdote about her attending an interview with hijab as against her family’s advice is true. She herself shared the story on a Facebook page and other media interviews. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Raffia Arshad is the first hijab-wearing judge in the UK, not the USA. As per news reports in 2020, Arshad, a member of St Mary’s Chambers in Nottingham, became the first deputy district judge to wear a hijab after she was appointed to the Midlands circuit, UK. Several news agencies have reported that she is the first hijab-wearing judge in UK (here & here).
On the other hand, the viral story about her attending an interview with hijab as against her family’s advice is true. She took to Facebook sharing an anecdote of how she took the risk of attending an interview in hijab as against her family’s advice, and later in life went on to become the first hijab-wearing judge.
She even shared the hijab anecdote in media interviews. Following her appointment as a judge, this went viral on social media platforms, however, few users misrepresented her as the first hijab-wearing judge in USA, as in the case of this viral post, which is not true.
To sum it up, Raffia Arshad went on to become the first hijab-wearing judge in the UK, not the US.
