Excerpt:
Afzal al-Siddiq, president of the Islamic Center of Waco, has one request of people who are trying to piece together the puzzle of the Fort Hood shootings:
Don't blame Islam for this.
After news broke that Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people and wounding 43 at the Army post, may have used his Islamic faith as a pretext for the attack, Siddiq and other local Muslims braced themselves.
"We've been very fortunate in Waco," Siddiq told the Tribune-Herald the day of the attack. "But there's always a backlash."
So far, according to several members of the Central Texas Muslim community, that hasn't happened yet. Although many say they have read and heard some anti-Islamic comments, it's been nothing like after the Sept. 11 attacks, when thieves stole a donation box from Siddiq's mosque and filled his mailbox with hate mail.