25 years after 9/11, Muslim Americans hold power but still face suspicion
From surveillance and detention to rise of Muslim mayors and members of Congress, generation reflects on quarter-century of fear and resilience
NEW YORK (MNTV) — Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Muslim Americans have become a visible and politically influential part of American life — yet suspicion, discrimination, and anti-Muslim rhetoric remain deeply entrenched, according to community members who lived through the era.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found 43 percent of U.S. adults believe Muslims are less patriotic than other Americans, and 42 percent say Muslims have a negative impact on the country, with some respondents explicitly linking their views to 9/11 — a measure of how the attacks still shape perceptions of millions who had no connection to them.
Yet the political landscape has transformed: New York City has its first Muslim mayor in Zohran Mamdani, who represented the city at the Ground Zero ceremony; Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan; and Muslim Americans are increasingly present in Congress and local government.
Moustafa Bayoumi, a Brooklyn College professor whose 2008 book documented young Arab Americans after 9/11, recalled “a sense of siege” as thousands of Arab and South Asian men faced government sweeps, detention, and deportation, mandatory registration, and secret NYPD surveillance of mosques and neighborhoods.
Communities responded by organizing and challenging abuses in court, he said, building a stronger political footing — even as he expects anti-Muslim rhetoric to intensify before the 2026 midterms.
Razan Bayan, a Notre Dame doctoral student born after the attacks, said the new generation of Muslim politicians are “very confident in their Muslim identity… and their critique of U.S. foreign policy” — but noted some of the most personal Islamophobia she faced came from people with liberal politics.
Others described the era’s contradictions through their own lives.
Yasmin Dwedar, who as a hijab-wearing teenager had children pull off her headscarf and pelt her with snowballs after 9/11, went on to become a lawyer; Mamdani’s win, she said, was felt far beyond New York — “every Muslim person felt that win.”
Baher Azmy of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who has represented Abu Ghraib survivors and is involved in the case of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, warned that peaceful critics of Israeli war crimes are increasingly cast as terrorist sympathizers, but saw a generational shift: younger Muslims “are citizens who understand their constitutional rights” and have built networks to defend them. US history, he cautioned, “is not the sort of linear progress towards freedom.”
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
