Muslims find Bay Area lean toward tolerance, though many experience 9/11 backlash

SAN FRANCISCO—Despite racial incidents they have experienced since the September 11 attacks, Muslims in Bay Area, San Francisco, feel it the best place in the country to live, an American newspaper reported on Friday, September 10.

The San Francisco Chronicle shed a light on advances Muslim residents as a community enjoying the prevailing atmosphere of tolerance and social openness.

“The Bay Area, overall, is one of the best places to be in the country, but that doesn’t mean the Bay Area doesn’t have its bigots,” said Souleiman Ghali, president of the Islamic Society of San Francisco as saying.

Kelly Walker, a San Francisco Muslim also said she has not been targeted for her Islamic way of dressing.

“It is about being treated with equal respect. I don’t get treated as an object.”

Yet, there is another side for the story on Muslims working to raise the profile of the Muslim community in the area.

Hisham Ibrahim, a production manager at the Silicon Valley software company Intuit said he hasn’t experienced anti-Muslim sentiments in the area.

The Bay Area Muslims have at least seven Islamic-oriented schools in which Arabic, Quranic studies and Muslim history are studied.

“All of the teachers incorporate Islamic studies into their curriculum,” says Faheem Shuaibe, a mosque’s imam who is also a school director.

Adapting

Still, Muslims complain of job discrimination or being unfairly targeted by law enforcement, they were able to adapt.

Some others said they have changed their daily habits, including how they dress or say in public just to avoid any possible harassment.

“I was on a bus and some kids got on, and they started calling me a terrorist,” said Yasmin, a South Bay journalist.” “They asked if I was going to blow up the bus.”

“Now, I don’t wear a long, flowing head scarf. I wear it in a bun, so it looks more like a wrap or a fashion statement. That allows me to blend in a little more.”

Over the past 20 years, the size of Muslim population in the Bay Area has been increasing to reach 300,000- 500,000.

However, the American paper also stresses how Muslims are still stick with their Islamic identity, through - for one - having Islamic names and lifestyle.

They have also opened many Muslim-oriented restaurants and food establishments in the area.