Two Muslim women get a personal call from Obama

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As has been reported two Muslim women were not allowed to accompany the men they were with to sit behind Obama at the rally in Detroit. The men who had been asked to sit behind Obama were told the women could not be seated on the stage because it wasn't good for them to be seen on TV or associated with Obama because of their traditional head scarves, or hijab that they were wearing.

Thursday Sen. Obama called the two women and apologized to them.

The two women, Shimaa Abdelfadeel of Ann Arbor and Hebba Aref of Bloomfield Hills had attended the rally in Detroit on Monday.

In a statement released on Thursday Obama said,

"I reached out to Ms. Aref and Ms. Abdelfadeel this afternoon. I spoke with Ms. Abdelfadeel, and expressed my deepest apologies for the incident that occurred with volunteers at the event in Detroit. The actions of these volunteers were unacceptable and in no way reflect any policy of my campaign."

Obama added

,"I take deepest offense to and will continue to fight against discrimination against people of any religious group or background. Our campaign is about bringing people together, and I'm grateful that Ms. Abdelfadeel accepted our apology and I hope Ms. Aref and any who were offended accept my apology as well."

Both women did accept the apology and said they still supported him.

In a statement on Thursday Aref and Abdelfadeel said, "

Senator Obama has called us each to personally convey his deepest apologies and acknowledge that this was inexcusable."

They also said,

"We both immensely appreciate the senator's phone call and his commitment to remedy this issue. "We commend him for displaying qualities befitting an effective president."

The women had received phone calls from Obama's aides who had called them earlier.

Dawud Walid of the Council on American Islamic Relations, had talked to the women and they were hoping for a personal call from Sen. Obama. They wanted him to make it clear that he would not tolerate this type of behaviour.

They also want Obama to speak out on the prejudice against Muslims.

The women had said,

"Volunteers informed us that we were not allowed to sit in that area due to the hijab, the head scarf that each of us was wearing. "This incident was unfortunate and extremely disappointing."

On Tuesday when Obama was at Wayne County Community College in Taylor Michigan, he was photographed by The Detroit News with a woman wearing hijab.