U.S. Muslims face bias, extremism from within

Muslims in America are now battling for religious freedom and personal safety on two fronts: prejudice from without and extremism from within.

How well they — and we — address both challenges will shape the contours of freedom and security for all Americans in the difficult years ahead.

On the first front, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a report last week indicating a 25 percent increase in complaints of anti-Muslim bias from 2005 to 2006. The incidents range from attacks on mosques to discrimination in the workplace and schools.

To put a human face on the statistics, consider the story of Osama Al-Naijar, as reported by Reuters this month. According to a legal complaint filed by his family, Osama suffered years of harassment from teachers and students at his New York City school — apparently triggered by his name and religion.

Things got so bad that last summer, 15-year-old Osama attempted suicide. In December he legally changed his name to "Sammy," hoping to avert more abuse.

Although the severity of Osama's plight may be rare among Muslim students in America, it illustrates the dangers of rising Islamophobia — defined as a blanket condemnation of Islam that paints all Muslims as potential terrorists.

Since 9/11, a small but vociferous number of Americans -— including some irresponsible religious leaders — have used the "war on terrorism" as an opportunity to demonize Islam.

In truth, however, the vast majority of American Muslims reject the appropriation of Islam by extremists and oppose terrorism with the same vehemence as do other Americans. According to a poll published by the Pew Research Center on May 23, when Muslims in the United States were asked whether suicide bombing and other forms of terrorism that target civilians can ever be justified "to defend Islam from its enemies," 78 percent answered "never."

The same poll, however, signaled danger on a second front, the potential for extremism to emerge from among American Muslims: One percent of respondents said terrorist tactics "often" can be justified, and 7 percent said "sometimes."

Although these percentages are probably no higher than the number of people who support extremist attacks on abortion doctors or endorse such racist groups as the Christian Identity movement, any level of support for terrorism is cause for alarm.