Maria Nagle
The Pantagraph
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's call for barring Muslims from entering the United States sent a chill through Dr. Faisal Ahmed of Bloomington, whose mother still lives in Pakistan.
"She wants to visit her grandchildren, and she could be traveling here and living with us at some point," said the child psychiatrist who was among Muslims who spoke to The Pantagraph on Tuesday at the Islamic Center of Bloomington/Normal.
Trump said he would allow Muslims who are U.S. citizens to leave and return from international travel, but all others would be banned. That would include Ahmed, who wants to become a U.S. citizen, and his mother.
"It's going to be a catastrophe for most of the Muslims because it's a personal freedom here to see our loved ones and take care of our mothers and fathers when they are sick and old," said Ahmed.
"It's sad because it's dehumanizing a particular religion, which is against the U.S. Constitution," he added.
Muslims haven't experienced a backlash from anyone in Bloomington-Normal, noted Mohammed Zaman, president of Masjid Ibrahim, a mosque in Bloomington.
"In my 15 years here I haven't really seen any hatred in Bloomington-Normal," said Zaman, an information-technology consultant who moved from Bahrain to the United States shortly before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We are much more worried about our kids than ourselves right now," said Zaman. "They are the ones who are really facing these challenges.
"We know what is going on and we can answer the questions, but the kids are going to be really confused, and of course, scared a little bit."
Ahmed said he was relieved to see the swift, widespread condemnation of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric.
"But what (Trump) did manage to attain with this kind of rhetoric is to instill fear in people's minds, both at home and abroad," said Ahmed. "That plays out in what this mad group of people, ISIS, is trying to instill in people: fear."
Reiterating a message on ICBN's website, Ahmed said terrorists claiming to believe in Islam are distorting the true spirit of the religion.
"The Quran states: 'He who kills one person kills all humanity,'" he said.
There are 1.5 billion followers of Islam, and "only a small fraction is doing something bad," said IT consultant Jamal Mohamed of Normal, who moved from India in 2004. "The majority doesn't do that."
Zaman and Ahmed added that they fear that acceptance could change if anti-Muslim rhetoric intensifies.
Zaman's 17-year-old son, Mohammed, a graduate of Normal Community High School, said many of his friends told him that "Mr. Trump took it too far, and I also agreed with them."
He added: "We do not represent anything that has been going on. We know that we are following our path of Islam in the most sincere way possible."
The shootings in Aurora, Colo., and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were committed by people considered to be social outsiders, and Ahmed said the same is true of radicalized Muslims.
"They don't fit in," said Ahmed. "One of the things I really want to convey is that all these people who have done very terrible things are really alone and aloof and aren't connected to the Islamic community. They have a failed ideology and a divisive ideology that turns brothers against against brothers and people against people."
Trump's statement on Monday came a day after President Barack Obama urged Americans in a televised address not to associate terrorism with all Muslims. Obama warned extremism in some communities is "a real problem that Muslims must confront without excuse."
The men are planning to form a committee to work with law enforcement to ensure safety for local Muslims and the community as a whole.
While they have talked about forming such a committee in the past, "it is a need of the time," said Ahmed.