Rye Playland officials were clear about their ban on hijabs and other “headgear” to leaders of the Muslim American Society, but the message never made it onto a flyer promoting the event.
A string of emails obtained by The Journal News between Playland Event coordinator Adam Harvey and MAS New York president Hatem Gawaly included questions about the head scarves Muslim women wear.
“I need to get more details please about whether a burka/hijab constitutes as a head gear,” Gawaly wrote to Harvey on July 19. “There will be a lot of commotion about this.”
Harvey responded on July 23: “The head gear RULES are there for safety and they will not change them even for a big group. I am sorry about this.”
The next day, Gawaly wrote back: “OK, thanks. Will have to deal with it later.”
When MAS released its flyer advertising a special “Eid-Al-Fitr Trip to Playland,” there was no mention of hijabs being banned on certain rides. Humayun Haq, who saw a proof of the flyer before it was published, shared his concern about the lapse in an Aug. 20 email sent to more than two dozen other people — including Gawaly and the MAS Youth Center.
“I thought we were going to put a disclaimer on the flyer (according to Hatem) for handicapped accessibility and hijab (headgear) not permitted on all the rides so people can be aware of it and/or check Playland’s website to see what rides they can go on.""Please add this because we would get community backlash and I don’t want us to be on the receiving end,” he wrote.