In less than a week, Oregon has seen a botched bomb plot in downtown Portland Pioneer Square by a suspect Mohamed Mohamud who is Muslim and a retaliation arson of a Corvallis mosque that the suspect attended. In light of the tragic events and national spotlight Oregon Faith Report has collected some of the recent Muslim voices to share their views and fears regarding both the bomb plot suspect Mohamed Mohamud and the mosque arson:
“Muslims are more concerned with how they’re portrayed in the media than how their fellow American treats them. If you get a chance to meet somebody in person, you can show them who you really are, you can have a conversation. People have been really good to us in Eugene, but in the media, we end up having to constantly defend ourselves, to define ourselves in terms of what we’re not, instead of what we are.”
Anwar Adi
Eugene Muslim
Eugene Register Guard
“We have been receiving emails on the web saying we’re terrorists and we should be taken care of and so on and so forth.”
Shahriar Ahmed
Bilal Mosque of Beaverton.
KGW-TV Portland
“I know that some brothers and sisters are now staying inside their homes for fear of retaliation. And it’s really a sad time for us.”
Jesse Abdul Raheem Day,
Portland Islamic Center
OPB
“It is sad in our lifetime, in the 21st century, where we see something like this happening. And I wonder what… Is it people are just really ignorant, or they just don’t know what they’re doing? And it’s very sad to see this.”
Kamal Ararso
Muslim Student Association.
KEZI
“I’ve prayed for my family and friends, because obviously if someone was deliberate enough to do this, what’s to stop them from coming to our homes and our schools? I’m afraid for my children getting harassed from their teachers, maybe from their friends.”
Mohamed Alyagouri
Member of Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center
Eugene Register Guard
“If the allegations against the person in Portland are true, then he’s acting against the teachings of Islam, religions, cultures, and what we believe as Americans.”
Islamic Peace Center Statement
Phoenix, Oregon
KDRV-TV Oregon
“This (act) is not Corvallis,This is a community tragedy, not just a mosque tragedy. I’m not used to seeing these things in this small town.”
Mohamed Alyajouri
Member of Salman Al-Farisi Islamic Center
Corvallis Gazette-Times
“He’s not alone, but that is the exact type of mentality that we are trying to stand against, Christian, Muslim, Jew, and reasonable people, globally.”
Shahriar Ahmed
Bilal Mosque of Beaverton.
KGW-TV Portland
“The key is to judge the Muslim community by its actions, not by a few extremists.”
Arsalan Bukhari,
Executive Director
Washington’s Council on American-Islamic Relations
NW Cable News
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