I was right. Finding stories each week was simple.

However, over the course of the quarter, I realized my approach to the beat was skewed and a little bit naïve.

I began the quarter aware of the inaccurate stigmas attached to the community. But, after a couple of posts about hijab bans and Muslims running for office, and talking with local Muslim Americans, I started to see just how unfair and unjust the misconceptions are. While the Muslim community is inaccurately perceived as a threat to security, their security and civil liberties are compromised in a very real way.

Running for office is an American right, but it’s a struggle for a Muslim American to get elected.

“This is for the first time ever we have effort coming out of the Muslim community to run for local offices,” said Rema Ahmad, executive director of Project Mobilize, a non-profit organization that sponsored the candidates. “In the past the Muslim American community has been jaded.”

Jaded because the Muslim community is aware of the stigmas unfairly attached to them. And rather than getting angry, the community works to change peoples’ perceptions of Muslims. They do it by running for office and working within the laws.

Since the controversial Park51 Muslim community center was planned to be constructed near Ground Zero, many mosques and centers like it have struggled to get building permits.

To combat the discrimination, Muslim organizations around Chicago held a zoning summit to inform Muslims of their rights and to teach them how to work with the opposition.

Faiyaz Hussain, a volunteer for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, one of the zoning summit organizations, explained the summit was a chance to explain zoning laws to Muslims. And, rather than fighting the opposition, he said it’s best to just inform the community and correct any inaccurate perceptions they have of Muslims and Islam.

“The purpose of the summit was to tell Muslims, ‘Look lets not assume the worst,’” Hussain said. “Start having open houses, and before you go into a location start doing discussions with neighbors and say we’re looking to build.”

To me, this kind of understanding is astounding. It would be easy, and in my opinion justified, for members of the Muslim community to be outraged by discrimination and file lawsuits.

Instead, Muslim organizations combat discrimination and misconceptions with education. Correcting the stigmas with facts and confronting prejudice with patience. It’s commendable given the injustices done to Muslim Americans, and Muslims around the world, in our post-9/11 society.

Still, the suspicions some, including in our government, have of Muslims impacts the community. That became especially clear when I did my final post about Muslims being suspicious of newcomers at Mosques, often worrying they are FBI agents posing as Muslims.

“I know my parents would have never, ever suspected anything of a anyone at the mosque before 9/11,” said Gulu Saiyed, a graduate student at Northwestern University and Muslim American.

The reality, that is too often ignored, is: It’s only perception of Muslims that changed ten years ago, not the Muslim community itself.

Question: What is Sharia Law and how closely is it followed by Muslims?

Answer: Although there is no universally agreed upon definition of Sharia Law, the simplest way to describe it is the religious law created by three sources: the Quran (the holy book for Muslims), the Sunna (a compilation of the prophet Muhammad’s sayings and actions as recorded by various scholars), and a vast body of jurisprudence (case law) that developed in the 1400 years that Muslims have existed.  It can be likened to Judaic law in that it is voluminous and complex.  It is not uniformed – in other words, there is not one universally accepted idea of what constitutes Sharia law because it’s based on interpretation of sources (mainly the Quran and Sunna), in addition to the custom and practice of the adherents in the society doing the interpreting.  Some Muslims follow it more closely than others.  For a practicing Muslim, Sharia law affects day to day decisions that can range from entering into business transactions, getting married, or praying, eating and fasting.

Question: Why are people proposing the laws against it?  Is it misunderstanding?

Answer: People are proposing laws against it because they mistakenly believe that Sharia law would be 1) antithetical to American values (they associate it with honor killings, for example); and 2) because they think it would threaten the Constitution.  I say “mistakenly believe” out of courtesy.  I do think that some proponents of the anti-Sharia legislation we are seeing know that Sharia law is not a threat but see such legislation as an opportunity to earn brownie points from conservative voters by appearing to be “protectors” of our liberty in the face of the “threat of Islam and Muslims.”

Question: How many states have tried to propose such a law? Any success yet?

Answer: I’m not sure of the exact number of states that have proposed anti-Sharia legislation.  I know of Oklahoma, Tennessee and Florida for sure, but have heard that there were others.  It has only been passed in one place: Oklahoma, but fortunately a federal court judge imposed an order prohibiting the state from enforcing it because it violated the First Amendment.

Question: Are anti-Sharia laws a violation of freedom of religion?

Answer: I think anti-Sharia laws are a violation of the First Amendment.  Because Sharia law governs the day to day religious practices of Muslims, prohibiting it is by definition a constriction of religious liberty.  To be sure, there are instances in which religious liberty must give way to national interests – when it is an especially important (compelling) issue for the government, and there is no other way the government can address the issue except to constrict the religious liberty of a group.  However, the anti-Sharia laws that have been proposed do not address any compelling government issues.  No Muslim has ever gone into a U.S. court and asked that the court allow him/her to do something under Sharia law that is antithetical to our nation’s values.  And even if someone did, for some odd reason, do so, the Constitution has a built-in defense to that in the Supremacy Clause – no law is more supreme than the Constitution.  So there is no reason, other than discrimination, to enact anti-Sharia laws in our states.

All the suspicion of the Muslim community has actually caused the community to become suspicious of outsiders.

“My family tends to be suspicious of single newcomers at mosques,” said Gulu Saiyed, a graduate student at Northwestern University and a Muslim. “Families are always welcomed and befriended, but people worry that single men are FBI agents.”

And it isn’t just Saiyed’s family that is hesitant to trust newcomers. Saiyed herself attended a new mosque and felt that others were uneasy around her.

“When I went to Friday prayer at a mosque in Chicago this year, I wasn’t greeted with the usual salaams and kisses to the cheeks,” Saiyed said. “No one at the mosque in Chicago acknowledged me at all.”

But it hasn’t always been that way. Saiyed says before 9/11, members of many mosques reacted positively to newcomers.

“Everyone is of course welcome to pray at a mosque, but while it had usually been common to get to know newcomers, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case anymore,” she said. “I know my parents would have never, ever suspected anything of anyone at the mosque before 9/11.”

Saiyed says it’s not that Muslims think the FBI is coming to get them, but they do often feel targeted by unwarranted investigations.

“But as news came out that innocent Muslims were being arrested around the country and with the PATRIOT Act in full force, it kind of made everyone worried,” she said.

Christina Abraham, the Civil Rights Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago, says she knows of instances where FBI agents have been present in mosques.

“In one situation, the informant was reported to the FBI by the congregants because they thought he was dangerous and was espousing extremist rhetoric,” said Abraham. “Only later did they find out he was actually placed there by the FBI.”

It’s not just FBI agents in mosques that Muslims are wary of. The FBI can, and often does, request to speak with Muslims, even if there is no clear reason or threat.

Abraham says she does not advice any person, under any circumstance to speak without an attorney present; even if they have nothing to hide. She says that she tells people they have three choices: speak without representation (which she does not recommend), speak with representation or decline to speak.

“More often than not, people do decide to talk to the FBI and we represent them in those meetings,” Abraham said.

Saiyed says it’s not that Muslims have an issue with the FBI investigating potential threats. Instead, it’s the meritless investigations of the community, which are becoming increasingly frequent.

“I don’t think the Muslim community has an issue with the FBI following leads and weeding out terrorists anywhere,” Saiyed said. “But people with no terrorist ties were arrested and jailed for no reason, and that creates fear and suspicion.”

According to Saiyed, the often misguided suspicion of the Muslim community is damaging what it once meant to be a Muslim American.

“I think one of the best things about being Muslim in the U.S. is that we have the chance to meet, pray next to and be friends with Muslims from every corner of the world,” Saiyed said. “It’s sad that in the name of protecting our country, we manage to destroy things that make us who we are.”

What will happen to the body? Will post-mortem pictures be released? Will Al-Qaeda retaliate or crumble?

While we still don’t know the exact status of Al-Qaeda, we do know there will not be pictures and the body was buried at sea, according to U.S. officials.

And as many Americans celebrate his death, there is reason to question the decision to cast his body out to sea.

Some officials claim the decision came in an effort to adhere to Islamic practice.

“There is a requirement in Islamic law that an individual be buried within 24 hours,” said John Brennan, a counterterrorism advisor at a news conference. “There were certain steps that had to be taken because of the nature of the operation. We wanted to make sure we were able to do that in the time period allotted for it.”

And while burial within 24 hours is in compliance with Islamic code, disposing of a body at sea may violate the code, known as Sharia law.

“I believe in Muslim tradition, we only bury one at sea if they die at sea,” said Mahmood Dahri, a Muslim who studied religion at Loyola.

Dahri says that if a Muslim dies on a journey, there is justification in throwing the body overboard to avoid decomposition. Muslims believe Allah can find a soul, even in the depths of the ocean, in that case.

However, it may be that burial at sea was simply easiest.

U.S. officials also say the decision was made, in part, because no country was willing to take custody of the body. Another obvious reason is that this way there is no grave or burial site that bin Laden supporters can turn in to a memorial.

“I think, more than anything, it was just easier and safer to get rid of the body in a place no one could visit,” Dahri said. “And truthfully, with the exception of bin Laden’s people, I doubt many Muslims will raise much of an issue with it.”

And Dahri may be right. Many Muslim Americans were quick to commend the mission that resulted in bin Laden’s death.

“We are relieved that justice has not been denied even if it has been delayed,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director for the Center for American Islamic Relations-Chicago’s. “This goes to show that the way to fight terror is through good intelligence, and surgical operations, and not military surges abroad, or the choking of civil liberties at home.”

In fact, many are not concerned with the burial of bin Laden’s body. Instead, they are hopeful that the death of bin Laden will end some of the misconceptions people have had about Muslims since the attacks on Sept 11.

“We are relieved that the person who caused so much pain and suffering to so many innocent people, and who caused so much misunderstanding of Islam, is gone,” said Amina Sharif, communications director for CAIR-Chicago.

Dahri agrees that the end of bin Laden could mean the end of at least some negative associations people have with Islam.

“Do I think people will completely understand our religion now? No,” he said. “But, I do think that the fact that everyone, Christians, Muslims, whoever, can unite in his defeat, it might help.”

“I was eight and I was on a terrorist list,” Malek said. “My brother [who was 10 at the time] and I both were.”

As an Iranian American, Malek has, at times, found a conflict between the way she identifies herself and the way she is identified by others.

“Yes, I’m Iranian, I speak Farsi and, yes, I’m technically Muslim,” Malek said.

Malek says “technically” because she doesn’t practice the religion in the way most familiar to those non-Muslim Americans.

“I was never raised with you go to the mosque or pray five times a day,” said Malek. “To me, being Muslim is the values my parents instilled in us rather than going to Mosque.”

Values like respecting your elders and adhering to the wishes of your father.

“Family is everything,” Malek said. “Anything my Dad says is right.”

Another thing Malek believes sets her apart from the American notion of what Muslim is, she does not wear a hijab.

“I don’t even own one,” Malek said. “The way that most people understand practicing Muslims isn’t the way it was before 1979 [the year of the Iranian Revolution] when my parents were there [in Iran]. For example, you could drink, it was fine.”

The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution, began in 1978. Pre-revolution Iran was a monarchy ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In January of 1979 the Shah fled Iran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took power. Shortly after, Iran became an Islamic Republic.

“After the revolution, Iran became the Islamic state that people think of today,” said Kelia Preza, an Iranian who’s family fled before the revolution. “1979 is when Iran became that stereotype of Muslims.”

Another misconception both Preza and Malek say many people have of them is that they’re Arab.

“I’m Persian. That’s how I identify myself,” said Malek who speaks Farsi, the most widely spoken Persian language.

Preza agrees.

“I’m no more Arab than someone from like Germany,” Preza said. “It’s a completely different identity.”

It’s a common misconception in the United States, that all Middle Easterners are Arab and that they speak Arabic.

However, most Iranians are Persian, a name used interchangeably in pre-revolution Iran.

In contrast, Arab refers to those who speak Arabic, and is independent from a religious identity.

For Malek, identifying herself as Persian is the most accurate description of her ancestry.

“Saying I’m Persian means, to me, that I’m from Iran,” Malek said. “I don’t say I’m Muslim because I know what that means to people, it has such a negative stigma and I’m not the kind of Muslim that comes to most people’s minds.”

Despite owning her Persian identity, Malek has never been to Iran and instead grew up in Minnesota where she had very few Iranian friends her age. Now, most of her friends and her boyfriend are not Iranian, a fact that Malek doesn’t really even think about.

“Maybe that would be weird if I were in Iran,” Malek said. “But the Iranian and Muslim community where I grew up [Rochester, MN] was lacking. It’s the way I was brought up; I was raised here, not Iran.”

The Islamic Community center, sometimes called the “Ground Zero mosque,” though it’s not technically a mosque, has overcome opposition from groups unhappy with it’s two-block proximity to Ground Zero.

The controversy came despite the fact that Muslim Americans were also killed on 9/11 and many families of 9/11 victims support Park51. Not to mention Park51 isn’t even visible from Ground Zero.

While many of those opposing the project claim it is the location of Park51 that the objection, it is not an isolated incident. The reality is around the country Islamic organizations face an uphill struggle when constructing religious buildings.

In Naperville, IL the Irshad Learning Center applied for a zoning permit to turn an old building, which they own, into a mosque and Islamic school. The permit was denied without explanation and Council on Islamic-American Relations-Chicago filed a complaint.

The Irshad Learning Center faced opposition from groups like Act! for America that protested outside the meeting where the board ruled against a permit for the ILC.

As a result of the use of zoning laws to curb the construction of religious institutions, CAIR-Chicago and other groups, joined together to host a zoning summit.

“It was what I call an A-Z look at everything surrounding zoning laws, the historical importance of property rights and establishing freedom of religion and houses of worship,” said Faiyaz Hussain, a volunteer for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, one of the host organizations.

The summit, held April 23, was geared toward informing members of the Muslim community about their rights and how to legally obtain zoning permits. The idea is to avoid having to take legal action like in the ILC case.

“The purpose of the summit was to tell Muslims, ‘Look lets not assume the worst,’” Hussain said. “Let’s work within the zoning laws and address real issues and legal action is a last resort.”

Hussain said he believes that it’s ignorance and not necessarily bigotry that is causing people to object to the construction of mosques and Islamic centers.

“When you see a mosque go up in your neighborhood, and you don’t know what it’s about, you feel more alarmed,” Hussain said.

At the summit, in addition to zoning laws, speakers discussed ways to inform members of the community where the building will be, about the Islamic faith.

“Start having open houses,” Hussain said, “and before you go into a location start doing discussions with neighbors and say we’re looking to build.”

And while the advice given at the summit may prevent future zoning issues, the fight for the Irshad Learning Center continues. At the end of March District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer denied DuPage County’s request to dismiss the suit brought on behalf of the learning center.

“The ILC met all of the requirements pursuant to the County’s zoning ordinance. Judge Pallmeyer’s decision acknowledges that the ILC presents legitimate arguments that its rights were violated,” said Kevin Vodak, CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney, on the CAIR site.

Hussain said the Irshad Learning Center is hopefully not an indication of the fight all Islamic centers will have. And, events like the summit will hopefully equip those looking to build mosques with the tools needed to avoid  a legal battle.

“Anything we can do to make the process streamline and create good will in the community,” Hussain said, “is what we’re looking to do.”

The burqa and niqab are traditionally worn by Muslim women and cover the entire body, including the hands and face. The only thing visible is the eyes.

The hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, is still allowed.

The burqa-barring law was passed in October but enforcement was delayed by six months in order for awareness about the ban to spread.

At a European Union meeting French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the ban defends “two fundamental principles: the principle of secularism and the principle of equality between man and woman.”

Posters in France publicizing the ban say, “The Republic lives with its face uncovered.”

In France and around the world, people are protesting the new French law. Outside Notre Dame in Paris women continued to wear their burqas. A few protesters were arrested, though French officials say they were arrested for illegally protesting, not for wearing the prohibited garments.

Even in Chicago, the ban has people speaking out including Fatima, a student at the University of Chicago and member of MODA, a student organization that focuses on fashion.

“In a country of romance and fashion, one item of clothing has recently been restricted: the burqa,” Fatima wrote in a blog post.

Fatima, a practicing Muslim, does not wear the burqa or niqab but does wear the hijab.

“I wear the headscarf because I believe it is my religious obligation as a Muslim,” Fatima said. “Wearing the niqab or burqa is understood not to be a religious obligation (due to its lack of command in the Quran or Islam), many Muslim women make a personal choice to wear it.”

In France, it doesn’t matter if a woman chooses to wear the face-concealing garment; it is now a punishable offense with a fine of 150 Euros (about $215).

“It saddens me,” Fatima said. For her, and many Muslim women, being able to wear clothing that express their beliefs is an essential right.

Rachid Nekkaz, a French activist, has been posting web videos protesting the ban. Nekkaz is encouraging women to continue to wear the burqa. And, in an effort to raise money to pay the fines of those women caught wearing burqas or niqabs, Nekkaz is selling one of his properties.

However, the activist says the fines will only be paid if the woman was wearing the burqa by choice. Nekkaz’s fund does not pay for the fines of those who force women to veil.

Anyone who forces a woman to wear a veil in France is subject to a much harsher fine of 30,000 Euros ($43,000) and potentially jail time.

But is prohibiting a woman from wearing the niqab any different than forcing a woman to wear it?

“Either way you’re infringing upon her rights,” said Akeesh Zakoski, a Muslim Chicagoan whose wife chooses not to wear the burqa. “I don’t believe our religion says they have to, but I don’t see why a government would say they can’t.”

However, not everyone thinks the new policy is a bad thing. The ban has the support of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Additionally, a study done by PEW, an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward public policy, found that about 82 percent of the French population supports the ban.

“It’s crazy to me that a modern country, I mean it’s France, would do that,” Zakoski said. “I don’t think it’s something that will catch on though. I mean, free speech, free religion. People here would never stand for it.”

Rola Othman and Lina Zayed were candidates for school board in Burbank and Itedal Shalabi was a candidate in North Palos.

While all three lost, Reema Ahmad, executive director of Project Mobilize, a non-profit organization that sponsored the candidates, says this is just the first step in integrating Muslims into the political process.

“It’s not just about saying Muslims are here,” Ahmad said. “It’s about saying we care about what’s going on and these [candidates] are people that want to give back to everybody, not just Muslims.”

To some, the knowledge that there are so few Muslims in elected offices was surprising.

“I had no idea there weren’t Muslims on school boards until I heard about this,” said Cyrus Abed, a 26 year-old Muslim American. “I can’t vote in those areas but I definitely support the idea of representing our community.”

The women are three of seven Muslim American candidates running for local offices. The other four are running for positions in park districts and on library boards.

All seven candidates are the product of Project Mobilize. The organization is geared toward engaging minority communities, specifically the Muslim American community.

“The goal of Project Mobilize is to develop the political potential that exists within the politically marginalized communities,” Ahmad said. “Right now we are operating within the Southwest suburbs of Chicago within the Muslim American and Arab American communities.”

Of the seven candidates, two were elected: Ahmed Aduib was elected to the Bridgeview Public Library board in an uncontested race and Nuha Hassan was elected as the Justice Park District Commissioner.

Project Mobilize not only promotes Muslim American candidates but also strives to get Muslim Americans to volunteer, vote and become involved in the political process.

“You now have people who are second and third generation and they know the process and their rights,” Ahmad said. “And for the first time, we have individuals running that are from the community and people know who they are, which is exciting.”

Historically, Muslim Americans have not turned out in high numbers to vote.

“I am politically active but I think many Muslims don’t feel like there is anything in the process for them,” Abed said. “Having candidates from our community will maybe get people to say, ‘Oh, this does matter to us.’”

Project Mobilize hopes to encourage Muslim Americans to go to the polls.

“We have people doing phone banks, going door to door,” Ahmad said. “We know turnout is expected to be low but we’re working hard to change that.”

The seven Muslim candidates on April 5 ballots are not the first this election season. In the Feb. 22 municipal race Ahmed Khan ran for alderman in the 50^th Ward. Khan was one of five candidates in a competitive race, which included long-time incumbent Bernard Stone.

“It made me wish I lived in that ward,” Abed said. “Voting for someone who knows what it’s like to be Muslim in Chicago, not something that happens much.”

Khan came in fourth with almost 6 percent of the vote. Despite the losing, Abed says it’s a step in the right direction for Muslim Americans.

“It’s our right to vote and I think people forget that it is also our right to run,” Abed said.