Islam Post 9/11: Islamophobia in Austin
11/30/2004 5:00 AM
By: Jitin Hingorani

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=125810

Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the
word "Islamophobia" was not part of American
vocabulary. Now, more than three years later, the fear
of Muslims or their potential link to terrorism has
permeated the American psyche.

Austin Muslim Nahid Khataw would have described
herself as shy and introverted in the past, but now
she considers herself outgoing, even an activist.

"I feel like I'm more confident now than I was
before," she said.

Khataw and her friends began spreading the word about
Islam to clarify misconceptions.

"I've done quite a bit, and I would like to see and go
to other places, and to other churches and synagogues
and teach them or just tell them about Islam. This is
my mission," Khataw said.

Khataw began her mission to teach people about Islam
after her son was harassed at school for being a
Muslim. She also decided to stop wearing the hijaab,
the traditional Muslim veil, to protect herself.

"I was scared. I heard so many cases that people were
being harassed because they were wearing hijaab.
Children were pulling the hijaab off and hurting them.
I thought it would be better for me and my family not
to wear it," she said.

The word hijaab literally means screen or partition.
Muslim women wear the veil to prevent the mingling of
opposite sexes, which could lead to pre-marital sex, a
sin according to the Quran.

But many modern Muslim women believe the hijaab is too
restrictive. They say after Sept. 11, 2001, wearing
the veil is like stamping the scarlet letter on your
chest.

"They would be portrayed as a terrorist if they're
wearing it – 'Muslims who wear a hijaab - they are
bad,'" Nahid said.

To negate those stereotypes, one Muslim woman, a
student at the University of Texas at Austin, embraced
the hijaab after the terrorist attacks.

Annia Raja said in a way, she is embracing her faith.

"It really has made me more self-aware, as far as when
I'm in public that I am representing Islam. And that I
need to do all that I can to really show people what
Islam really is. Through that, people are more invited
to ask me about it," she said.

Raja said the veil has liberated her and helped her
create a strong Muslim American identity on campus.

"I live with 11 other girls and I'm the only Muslim.
They all know, they'll see me praying - my roommate
will just walk in and see me praying. It's not a big
deal to her at all. I'll pray in random buildings on
the UT campus," she said.

Muslims from 65 countries attend the University of
Texas. Students say they don't stand out as much
because of the large international population.

"We have found that it's easier to be a Muslim and
easier to practice Islam faith in college cities, in
college towns like Austin, because people are more
open-minded," student Zafar Sadiq said.

However, Jim Harrington, of the Texas Civil Rights
Project, said he's seen many Muslims leave the country
because of Islamophobia.

"There is Islamophobia here in Austin. I don't think
there's any doubt about that. It's not that you can
point to concrete things like cross burnings in front
of the house, but it's sort of indirect words, sort of
indirect pressure, unwelcome suspicion, remarks that
make people feel very uncomfortable. When you put that
together with government policy, people would rather
go somewhere else, and that's a loss to us," he said.

Harrington said Islamophobia has manifested itself in
four ways:
racial profiling at airports
surveillance of Muslim students
hesitance to hire Muslims
police treatment and detention of Muslims

"Austin is not quite as liberal as everybody thinks it
is...we have an East/West divide in terms of race
right now, in terms of I-35 ...we've had that for
years...even if you are more progressive than other
parts of Texas, in that sense, it still doesn't mean
that everybody in that community is progressive,"
Harrington said.

In the past three years, Harrington said about a dozen
Muslims have come forward to report discrimination in
Austin. He also said these blatant incidents don't
represent the subtle Islamophobia that exists on a
daily basis.
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More links on Islamophobia at:
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/6443/Islamophobia/







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