USA: Muslim Americans still suffer from 9/11 backlash

"You will come here and you will save a life. It doesn't matter who you're giving blood, who it's going to. But you just know it's going to a human being, and it's not (just) going to a Muslim, a Jew, Christian or any other faith or belief."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: WHP-TV | CBS-21
By Ben Russell | September 5, 2011

As America prepares to mark the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a new survey shows that airplanes are not the only thing the terrorists hijacked.

A Pew Research Center survey shows that Muslim Americans are still dealing with the backlash of anti-Muslim fervor following the attacks.

43% of the people polled report falling victim to harassment due to their religion. 6% of the respondents said the harassment became physical, to the point of threats or actual attacks.


"Obviously there have been some situations where an individual may have been asked a difficult question," said Mubashir Mumtaz, MD, a Harrisburg surgeon who is also a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. "For example, I was once stopped at the border and asked which terrorist convention I was coming home from," Dr. Mumtaz said.

"What happened on 9/11 was very horrific, and the people that did that heinous act... they hijacked our religion, the religion of Islam as well," said Saima Mumtaz, spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's women's auxiliary, who is also Dr. Mumtaz's wife.

That, in part, is why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is sponsoring a "Muslims for Life" blood drive, scheduled to take place Sunday, September 11. The goal is to collect 10,000 bags of blood from its 71 chapters nationwide. That amount of blood would be able to help save the lives of 30,000 people.

The "Muslims for Life" blood drive will run from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sunday at the Hadee Mosque, 245 Division Street, Harrisburg.

"You will come here and you will save a life," Saima Mumtaz told CBS 21 News. "It doesn't matter who you're giving blood, who it's going to. But you just know it's going to a human being, and it's not (just) going to a Muslim, a Jew, Christian or any other faith or belief."

  -- Email: benrussell@cbs21.com

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