INDIANAPOLIS — Just days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, Fatima Warsame was at the Indiana Interchurch, located at the edge of the Christian Theological Seminary campus, explaining how her Muslim faith shapes the decisions she’s makes.
Her hair covered with a hajib — a head scarf by some Muslim women — Warsame spoke of how she came to Indiana as a little girl with her family after they fled war-torn Somalia 20 years ago, and how that lead her to her current life: As a 23-year-old Indiana University student pursuing a masters in epidemiology with plans for a career in public health. During the holy month of Ramadan while she was fasting sunrise to sunset, Warsame had begun organizing a dinner with friends, Muslim and non-Muslim, to raise money for emergency relief efforts in her native land, where the worst drought in 60 years is causing mass starvation.
“I’m fortunate to have the life I’ve been given,” Warsame told dinner guests. “But with this good fortune comes the responsibility to give back.”
The message was echoed by Jaylani Hussein, a Minnesotan in his 20s who attended the dinner. He works for the American Relief Agency for the Horn of Africa, a humanitarian organization working with the U.S. government to get aid to Somalia and other East African countries.
“My faith is what makes me tick,” Hussein said.
In the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Muslims in Indiana and around the U.S. have found themselves having to explain their faith.
Many feel their religion was redefined by the al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked the planes used to kill thousands that day. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden later claimed the attacks were committed in the name of Islam.
“People couldn’t separate us from Osama bin Laden,” said Hussein.
He and others have been working to change that, reaching out whenever and wherever they can to talk about what they believe are the true tenets of their faith. It hasn’t been easy.
A new poll released last week by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Muslim Americans (55 percent) believe it’s become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. The poll also found that a sizable minority of Muslims have experienced specific instances of mistreatment or discrimination in the past year.
“It seems like it’s gotten more difficult recently,” said Lubabah Abdullah, the executive director of the Muslim Alliance of Indiana, an organization formed after 9/11 to promote understanding of Islam in the U.S.
A much publicized fight over a proposed Islamic community center and mosque located blocks from the site of World Trade Center attack may have prompted a rise anti-Islamic sentiment. The Pew study reported there have been similar controversies over the location of mosques in at least two dozen U.S. cities in recent years.
But the poll also found that despite the pressures brought to bear on Muslims in the U.S., which make up about 1 percent of the population, those Muslims aren’t feeling increasingly alienated or angered.
If anything, they may be stepping up their efforts to reach out and defy the stereotypes they fear non-Muslims in the U.S. may have of them, Abdullah said. Abdullah may be a case in point: She’s a lawyer who works with non-Muslims to provide legal assistance to the poor.
At the annual Governor’s Iftar Dinner at the Indiana Statehouse in late August, Abdullah, talked about the medical clinic her organization started to help low-income families, in addition to food pantries the organization supports. All are open to non-Muslims. “As Muslims, we’re taught you’re not a believer if your neighbor is hungry,” she said.
The Pew study found that Muslims in the U.S. are much like their non-Muslim neighbors, becoming increasingly mainstream, middle-class and moderate. A large majority of Muslim Americans reject extremism, and like their neighbors, worry about the possible rise of Islamic extremism, both here and abroad, the poll found.
Gregory Smith, who directed the Pew survey said one of the most striking findings for him was how many Muslims in the U.S. reported how friendly and supportive their neighbors have been. He said 4 out of 10 people surveyed said non-Muslims had intentionally reached out to them recently.
The survey also found that even though a majority of American Muslims say it’s been more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S., a majority of American Muslims — two-thirds of those surveyed — also say life is much better for Muslims in the U.S. than in most Muslim countries.
That’s significant, Smith said, because it reflects how Muslims in the U.S. are becoming increasingly accepted and assimilated. “Despite the challenges and barriers felt by Muslims in the U.S., there is also a flip side of that,” Smith said. “Many report positive experiences ... They’re quite happy with their lives in the U.S.”
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