June 1, 2017
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DENVER, COLORADO
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‘We’re just as normal as everybody else’ Despite rise in discrimination, Islamic community sees surge of support BY TOM SKELLEY TSKELLEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Sunlight streams through the stained glass at the Colorado Muslim Society’s mosque on Parker Road in southeast Denver on a warm May morning as Imam Shafi Abdulaziz addresses a field trip of seventh-graders from Mountain Ridge Middle School. He explains aspects of the Islamic faith — the names of the five daily prayers, why shoes aren’t allowed in the mosque, the reason some Muslim women wear head coverings. As he concludes, he tells the Highlands Ranch students that Islam is a religion of peace. Then he bids them farewell. “I pray for the healing of America,” he says. “I love you all.” ‘Fear of the unknown’ The field trip is part of the mosque’s outreach programs to educate communities about what Islam is — and what it isn’t. Iman Jodeh, the mosque’s spokeswoman who coordinates the programs, jokingly calls the presentations “Islam 101.” “I dispel a lot of myths,” she said. “I keep it simple but educate people.” Misconceptions about Islam, such as the subjuJodeh gation of women and desire for a holy war with people of other faiths, are constant topics for Jodeh. “Those views are nowhere in the religion,” she says, adding that reports of terrorism in the news amplify fear of the Islamic community.
Imam Shafi Abdulaziz addresses a group of students from Mountain Ridge Middle School during their field trip to the Masjid Abu Bakr, a mosque inside the Colorado Muslim Society building on Parker Road. Students from several area schoools tour the facility to learn about — and dispel myths about — the Islamic faith. TOM SKELLEY That fear has led to a rise in antiIslamic sentiment and hate crimes against Muslims across the United States and in the metro Denver community, law enforcement officials and community leaders say. In the metro area, mosques are receiving threatening phone calls. Members report their children being asked if they carry bombs to school in their backpacks. In February, someone threw a rock through a window at the Colorado Muslim Society mosque. The center recently began self-defense classes for female members. After the Orlando nightclub shooting last June, a gang of bikers rode its motorcycles from a local bar to the parking
lot of the Metro North Denver Islamic Center in Northglenn, revving engines and yelling slurs, according to Imam ShemsAdeen Ben-Masaud. Some of the men flipped their middle fingers at security cameras. Women in the group flashed their breasts. A few months ago, a self-appointed “neighborhood watch” group came to the center. They were invited inside and given tea and cookies, only to leave and make misleading, hateful Facebook posts. “There’s a lot of fear of the Islamic faith,” said Ben-Masaud, a native Coloradan born and raised in Aurora. “A lot of it comes from fear of the unknown.”
A noticeable uptick Local officials and community leaders blame much of the increase in anti-Islamic sentiment and incidents on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign rhetoric that broadly painted Muslims as violent extremists. Federal courts in Washington state and Hawaii are weighing the constitutionality of his controversial travel ban, an executive order that would bar citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Data backs up what Jodeh and others in the Islamic community are feeling, said Robert Troyer, acting U.S. Attorney SEE ISLAM, P2
THE BOTTOM LINE PERIODICAL
‘It’s still very early to tell what my role is going to be in this offense. So, I’m just committed to working hard right now and getting healthy.’ Jake Butt, Broncos rookie tight end| Page 6 INSIDE
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