As parts of the nation face heightened anti-Muslim sentiments, Frederick County generally is not seeing such rhetoric or action, according to Muslim leaders and others in the county.
A column in The Washington Post published online July 4 reported that a woman directed anti-Muslim comments at a couple who were looking at a house with a realtor in a Frederick neighborhood.
Local leaders in and outside the Muslim community, however, describe a different atmosphere in the county.
Dr. Syed Haque, president of the Frederick County Muslim Council, said that in the last five years or so, the Muslim community has formed strong, positive relationships with religious leaders and local government officials. It is a great achievement, he said, that politicians and religious leaders treat members of the Muslim community, who comprise a relatively small portion of the county population, as equals.
He estimated there are about 1,500 Muslims in the county, which has a total population of about 245,000.
Haque said he has not heard of any problems in the county involving anti-Muslim sentiment. He had not previously heard about the incident reported in The Washington Post column.
“I have no complaints,” he said.
‘Completely outraged’
Fernando Herboso, president of the Maxus Realty Group, told The Frederick News-Post this week that he shared his story with The Washington Post because he wanted people to see that racism and bigotry hurts families. He emphasized, however, that he once lived in Frederick County and loves the community. The incident could have happened anywhere, he said.
His brother Carlos Herboso had been showing the couple the neighborhood amenities, he said, when a woman made the anti-Muslim comments. The woman in the couple was wearing a veil, he said, but he doesn’t know if they were Muslim. Herboso said he was “completely outraged” by the incident and the fact that the couple were met with comments that deterred them from buying a house in the community.
Herboso sees a connection between such incidents and the current political climate, he said, particularly rhetoric from presidential candidate Donald Trump. He wrote a post on a national real estate agent online forum that included his thoughts on the political tie and was aimed at helping other real estate agents figure out how to respond and protect clients during such incidents, he said.
He sees some people having the wrong mentality, he said, professing pride in and love for the U.S. but not loving some of its people.
A community rallies
In a rare occurrence in her neighborhood, Spring Ridge resident Preeti Tandon said, a boy recently made anti-Muslim comments to her 11-year-old daughter.
Tandon – whose family practices a religion other than Islam – said she wasn’t present, but her daughter and a friend later said that while they were at the community pool a boy told Tandon’s daughter to “get out,” calling her a Muslim.
Tandon and her husband decided to share what happened on a Facebook page for the Spring Ridge community to get others’ reactions and seek advice, she said. Many residents responded to the June 26 post saying they were sorry the incident happened, some suggesting she ask that camera footage from the pool be checked to identify the boy.
Other neighbors responded through avenues other than Facebook, also offering their support, Tandon said.
Tandon and her husband asked a property manager to talk to the boy’s parents and tell them that his comments were wrong and inappropriate. The manager spoke to the mother, who was apologetic and said she would talk to her son, Tandon said.
For Tandon, the comments her daughter faced were a first in the community. Her neighbors are more than neighbors – they’re good friends who hang out and enjoy community potlucks together.
“It’s just like an extended family,” she said.
A need for conversation
As a precautionary measure, Haque said, he asked police to visit the Islamic Society of Frederick masjid during the month of Ramadan, which ended last week. Police made frequent stops at the worship center on Key Parkway, he said, a response that demonstrates the helpful and friendly attitude of Frederick city and county governments toward the Muslim community.
For Haque, after events such as the shootings at San Bernardino, California, and Orlando – in which people who identified as Muslim carried out acts of violence – there is more pressure to spread a message emphasizing the truth of Islamic teachings and what Muslims believe.
Imam Bilal Malik, religious leader of the Islamic Society of Frederick, said that, while people around the U.S. are being targeted for being Muslim – particularly in the current election cycle – he does not see that happening in Frederick County. He described area residents as “more as one family, one community,” and pointed to a vigil he attended in Frederick after the shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
“I was really surprised with the outcome, with the number of people joining and how every community with all denominations were together, and to be honest I was feeling proud to be part of [the] Frederick community,” he said.
Malik sees a need for more conversation between Muslims and non-Muslims in the county, he said. The Muslim community should do more outreach and teach their neighbors about Islam, he said. For both Muslims and non-Muslims, a lack of knowledge about each other can lead to fear, he said.
Islamic teachings are clear about the sanctity of human life, Malik said, both in times of peace and war. Islam teaches love, harmony and peace, he said. Groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are “out of Islam” and pull verses from the Quran out of context, he said.
Malik previously served as imam for a mosque in Sanford, Florida, about 30 miles north of Orlando. He spoke with members of the Muslim community there about how to respond to the recent nightclub shooting, he said, encouraging them to show support to their community and attend rallies to share that Islam condemns killing people.
“You have to tell, and with your presence, that, ‘I oppose that, I am against it,’” he said he told them.
A ‘warm and welcoming’ county
Zainab Chaudry, Maryland outreach manager for the Council on American Islamic Relations, said that, given the prevalence of Islamophobia around the country, the Frederick incident reported in The Washington Post wasn’t shocking, but is “extremely disappointing and upsetting.” CAIR issued a statement condemning the incident.
She thinks an increase in reports of anti-Muslim sentiment over the past year or so is partially tied to the current election cycle. Other factors include how the media have reported on attacks in which an individual or group identifies as Muslim, incorrectly portraying such attacks as being in some way representative of Islam, she said.
Chaudry said she doesn’t know if the increase in reports means that there are truly more incidents or that more people are coming forward.
Maryland has seen other incidents in which Muslims were targeted, she said. In Prince George’s County, a teacher told Muslim students that they were terrorists. A mosque in Baltimore received three threats over a couple of months, one that was serious enough to warrant a SWAT team search of the property.
The Frederick County community, however, is “relatively warm and welcoming and tolerant,” she said, and she was surprised that the recent reported incident happened in Frederick. To her knowledge, she said, there has not been a trend of such incidents in the county.
“We encourage people to report these kinds of incidents, to come forward,” she said.
Miles Ward, director of the Frederick County Human Relations Department, said county residents have been “welcoming and generous and accepting” to members of the Muslim community. The department has not received any complaints about anti-Muslim sentiment, he said. He had not heard Herboso’s account, saying such incidents are disappointing.
“But I don’t think it happens very much,” he said.
Common ground
Frederick County consists of “a lot of good people” who listen to each other even when they disagree, Ward said. Residents have included prominent civil rights leaders such as Lord Nickens, he said, and he has seen African-American and white religious leaders come together to find common ground.
The county established a Human Rights Commission to create an environment in which people could discuss such serious issues, Ward said. The commission members are paying attention and going out into the community to talk to people.
Frederick Police Chief Ed Hargis also said he had not heard about the reported incident in the city.
“I’m not aware of any complaints or issues brought up involving those types of comments,” he said.
When police officers checked in during Ramadan, Hargis said, those visits not only meant that police had a visible present at the masjid, but also provided opportunities for conversations between the officers and members of the Muslim community that can build trust.
“Those little conversations go a long way in the way end,” he said.
Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner said she believes occurrences like the one reported in The Post are uncommon in the county.
“Muslim leaders have shared that they feel welcomed by the Frederick community,” she said in an emailed statement.
“At the candlelight vigil for the Orlando shooting victims, where Muslim leaders were among the speakers, the crowd of more than 1,000 people clearly supported the solidarity with the Muslim community.”