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Area muslims feel misunderstood. Date published: 4/27/2003
ONE MAN was shoved as he got on a commuter train at Fredericksburg, and called "desert nig- ger." Another man heard a knock on his door, and was surprised when the FBI walked into his living room. Although these people don't know one another, they have one thing in common: Islam. Roughly 250 traditional Islam, or Sunni, families now live in the Fredericksburg area, and they have more in common than their religion. They also share a feeling of being misunderstood. And that feeling has been magnified, first by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and more recently by the Iraq war. "We've been trying to educate people about Islamic culture and to create a pillar of trust, but since 9/11 and the Iraqi war, all that was built has been destroyed," said Nader Muhsin, a Palestinian businessman who lives in Stafford County. "Now we have to rebuild," he said. Muhammad Fahforee, who was born in Iran and teaches Islamic history at Mary Washington College, said misunderstandings about Islam are widespread, and incidents against Islamic people are the result of it. "It's a shame. People should not be blamed by what governments do," he said. Some of the area's Islamic residents, who were initially from the Middle East, Pakistan and India, claim they have been insulted on the street, received hate e-mails, watched customers drift away and even received visits from the FBI. "Ever since 9/11, and then again during the war with Iraq, people have been staring at me," said Gotham Sethi, a lobbyist living in Stafford, who was born in northern India. "At first, I thought it was because I'm so darned handsome and people were finally noticing." He said he realized his good looks were not the source of the attention when one day, "Someone came up to me on the VRE, shoved me and referred to me as 'desert nigger.'" Abdul Hakim Johnson, a U.S.-born Muslim, who is the head of the Islamic Center of Fredericksburg on Harrison Road, said he received a visit from the FBI right before the war.
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