Muslims living in the United States faced more discrimination, harassment and violence last year than in previous years, according to an Islamic advocacy group.
A study, called Guilt by Association, released Tuesday by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, reported 602 alleged incidents nationally, a 15-percent increase from the previous year. Employment discrimination, verbal harassment, failure to accommodate religious practices and passenger profiling in airports were among the incidents reported.
The council's 2001-02 report cited 525 complaints. The 2000-01 report had 366 incidents.
Michigan ranked sixth in terms of reported cases with 42, said Mohamed Nimer, research director for the council and author of the study.
Most of Michigan's cases dealt with workplace discrimination, harassment and cases of detention or surveillance by government officials.
Nimer said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks might have played a role in harassment and violent incidents toward Muslims.
"The problem is that there are elements in society that believe Islam is the proper enemy of the west," Nimer said. "(The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks) were everything that they needed to provide truth that their fears came true."
Twelve incidents were reported from college campuses, ranging from harassment to violence, according to Nimer.
Fareeha Shuttari, president of the MSU Muslim Student Association, said she overheard anti-Arab and Muslim sentiments in some of her classes after the terrorist attacks, but overall people on campus are very open-minded.
"Campus is known as an educated, open-minded atmosphere," said Shuttari, a nutritional science senior. "Being on a college campus is probably the safest place to be."
Rosina Hassoun, adjunct professor of anthropology and integrative arts and humanities, said research shows many hate crimes are underreported.
"I have a feeling that discrimination being increased by 15 percent is probably a low estimate," Hassoun said.
She added that what usually gets reported are the more serious crimes.
Hassoun said history has shown that any time a significant event happens in the Middle East, there is an increase of hate crimes against Muslims or Arabs.
But Shuttari said MSU and American society have made great strides since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Awareness is improving but there is still discrimination," Shuttari said. "We're making a special point to make sure that we're just as American as everyone else."
