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The Detroit News

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign apologized Wednesday after volunteers asked two Muslim women not to stand or sit behind the candidate at a rally in Detroit this week out of concerns about the appearance of traditional Muslim dress in published and broadcast visuals of the events.

The incident is one of a series involving the use of Islam as a symbol throughout the presidential campaign, and Obama has been dogged by false assertions that he is Muslim.

“This is of course not the policy of the campaign,” spokesman Bill Burton said. “It is offensive and counter to Obama’s commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run. We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers.” Obama’s campaign also pointed to a number of published and broadcast images that include women in hijab, a traditional Muslim head scarf intended to signify and promote modesty, as part of the faith.

But, Sharif Aref of Bloomfield Township, a law student at the University of Detroit-Mercy, said the incident occurred when he and friends attending the rally Monday night at Joe Louis Arena were invited to stand behind Obama on the stage

“We said OK, but that we had to bring my sister with us,” Aref said. “But, when we told the woman that my sister had a head scarf, she was immediately denied and we were told she was not allowed to come sit there.”

About an hour before the event, Aref said, a friend, Shimaa Abdelfadeel, who works at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in an office that encourages diversity, called from outside Joe Louis Arena to say she also was approached by an Obama volunteer and told she could stand behind the candidate, but only if she removed her scarf.

Abdelfadeel’s experience was reported Wednesday morning on Politico.com.