Muslim man reaches out to thank young Sydney woman who stuck up for him and his wife as they were being racially abused on a train

Stacey Eden, 23, jumped to the defence of Hafeez Ahmed Bhatti and his wife, who remains unnamed, after an older woman appeared to begin “bullying” the couple on a Sydney Airport Line train at about 1.40pm on Wednesday.

Ms Eden began filming on her mobile phone before rushing the couple’s defence with a fierce rant of her own. Mr Bhatti sad that he had been shocked by the alleged xenophobic incident: “She (the woman) asked my wife why she was wearing a scarf when it was hot outside. When my wife answered her I thought the woman was asking to be friendly,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

An image of Stacey Eden from her Facebook page

“Then she started saying Muslims like us are trying to conquer Australia and behead everyone here. We were absolutely shocked.”

He also said that the woman told the couple that all Muslims should be kicked out of Australia. His wife was apparently so shaken up after the incident that she questioned whether it was worth staying in the country.

“This sort of thing has happened before," he said. "But you try and ignore it and the ignorant people behind it; there are lots of very good people in Australia and only a few bad ones.

“God bless Stacey Eden who supported us.”

In the video Ms Eden tells the woman to “have some respect” after she had allegedly branded “all Muslims Isis supporters” and insulted the fact that Mr Bhatti’s wife was wearing a headscarf.

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“She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her,” Eden rebuts.

She eventually tells the now clearly affronted woman: “You’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything, simple.”

She told Daily Mail Australia: “I missed my stop because I wanted to stay on and make sure that things were OK."

Speaking on his Facebook page following the event, Mr Bhatti said: “Once again, victim of racism by an old Christian lady.”

Later down in the comments thread he writes: “I was in the train to catch my flight and she (the woman) targeted my wife and commenting on her. However, one of young Australian lady (sic) was arguing with her that she should stop racism.”