Arab man says car dealership worker told him: 'You're Muslim? End of discussion'

DEARBORN, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Arab-American Civil Rights League filed a suit against Big Jay's Auto Sales in Shelby Township on behalf of a customer who says he was discriminated against for his faith.

"'Oh you're a Muslim? End of conversation,'"  were the alleged words spoken to Eyhab Aljabaly, that led to the lawsuit.

The backstory:

Aljabaly and his attorneys spoke Thursday about the incident which he says happened in March when he was trying to sell a car.

"I hope no other person has to deal with this ever again," he said.

Aljabaly says through text messages on Facebook Marketplace he spoke with an employee of the car seller. He says it went fine until they tried to arrange a meetup with his mechanic.

"As soon as I told her that, she said in the text messages that she was going to come strapped with her cousins or something like that which was very hostile," Aljabaly claims. "I did not know how to reply to that."

Aljabaly says he brought up his faith during the conversation.

"(I said) 'I don’t want you to think that you will ever be scammed, I’m Muslim and we don’t do those type of things. That’s what our religion teaches us,'" he said. "She doubled down and replied with, 'Oh you’re Muslim? End of conversation.'"

Aljabaly says he went to management who seemed to take the allegations seriously — at first.

"A couple days later they totally changed their tone," he said. "They still have her working there. The owner and the manager, they did not want to help not one bit, or even look into this. they just pushed me away."

The other side:

FOX 2 went to Jay’s Auto to ask about the allegations and the lawsuit. The owner, Jeff, said they don't discriminate and that he’s Arab-American himself.

The owner said if Aljabaly provides proof of the messages, he would terminate the accused employee.

Eyhab Aljabaly.