Muslims in America: Have you felt under suspicion?

(Jahi Chikwendiu - WASHINGTON POST) Continuing our series of stories on Muslims in America, we turn our attention to the sometimes tense relationship between law enforcement and Muslims. Today’s story by Jerry Markon follows a FBI agent in the Boston field office as he reaches out to Muslims while also scrutinizing extremeists within the community. Last week, Michelle Boorstein wrote about Iqbal Unus, a U.S. Islamic leader who struggled to put post-9/11 raids behind him.

On Faith invited a group of Muslim readers to respond to Boorstein’s story by answering a few questions on faith and suspicion. Below is what two readers had to say. We will post more responses to On Faith as they come in. Share your story at the bottom of this post.

Thasin Sardar of East Lansing, MI wrote that he felt that Muslims were on the whole being treated fairly by law enforcement: “Despite all the talk about racial profiling or rather the call for it by certain segments, there is little evidence of it actually being practiced.” But he did cite a “sense of disappointment in the community” because “on the one end we are seeking to go out of the way to make everyone feel welcomed at our places of worship and on the other hand law enforcement wants to treat some in the community with suspicion.”

Patrick Lawrence of Ft. Washington , MD said he had never been personally the object of suspicion because of his faith:

... I do not wear my religion ‘on my sleeve. Over the years, I rarely have shown any outward examples of my religion, so I do not usually catch much flack for being a Muslim. Not because I am trying to hide it on any level, but because it is nobody’s business what my religion is, and it is none of my business how another man relates to God.

On Faith invites Muslim readers to answer the questions about Islam and America below: