In Search of 'Truth over Fear'

October 24, 2007

Author: Matt Gunderson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/21/in_search_of_truth_over_fear/

Anti-Islamic sentiment in the country swelled in the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But for Mary Lahaj, Muslim chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, those energies had been taking root on US soil for decades prior.

She remembers the telephone calls that came flooding into mosques around Boston after airplane hijackings first began in 1985. Some callers politely asked for speakers to come for talks, hoping to deepen their knowledge about Islam. Others called to make negative remarks about the religion.

Islam "went from anonymous to terrorist," said Lahaj.