Frederick, Maryland is an open and accepting community; it’s a place where interreligious faith groups have deep bonds. At least that’s how President Khalil Elshazly describes it.

But for the president of the Islamic Society of Frederick, things have felt dramatically different since the October 7th Hamas militant attack on Israel.

“It’s an uneasy feeling,” said Elshazly, who also serves as a substitute imam at the mosque. “It's like the same atmosphere after 9/11 all over again for Muslim community. It's not a good feeling.”

A report released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) found a surge in anti-Muslim hate bias incidents between October 7th and October 23rd. Broken down by state, Maryland saw more than triple the amount of incidents in that time span than in the whole month of September.

Two weeks ago, a woman was reportedly harassed by two men waving Israeli flags on the stairs coming into the Frederick mosque.

The congregants at Elshazly’s mosque are dealing with constant fears, he said. Some do have family in Gaza, for whom they wait anxiously for news. In Maryland, they now fear for themselves too. Elshazly said people have reported to him other experiences that have caused them fear, worry, and increased daily anxiety.

“[There are a] Few ladies that wear headscarves in particular, they get harassed, they get called names. You know, they get cut off… driving. People wave at them, give them the finger,” he said.

The mosque in Frederick has increased private armed-security and even installed a community watch system; they’ll take turns keeping watch during prayers or services.

The hate in some places has become deadly. On October 14th, six-year old Palestinian boy named Wadea Al Fayoume was stabbed to death in Chicago by the family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba. Fayoume’s mother, Hanaan Shahin was also stabbed dozens of times.

Elshazly believes leaders like President Biden are largely responsible for inflaming rhetoric that has made Muslim Americans more targeted. In the days after the October 7th attack, Biden repeated a claim that Hamas decapitated infants that was later proven unsubstantiated.

“Statements like this make brother hate his brother and sister hate her sister,” said Elshazly. “People act irresponsibly. They say the wrong things. They repeat lies and because they repeat lies, innocent people die.”

Zainab Chaudry is the Maryland director of CAIR. In the whole month of September, they received 23 reports of anti-Muslim hate incidents. Between October 7 and 23rd, they received 89.

“This includes hateful comments posted on social media, threats of being doxed, and requests for assistance to respond to biased one sided statements from employers and from school officials,” said Chaudry, who believes the numbers are an undercount.

The numbers are largely self-reported, coming from religious leaders and Muslim Student Associations, she explained.

College campuses have been particularly contentious. Students and faculty across the country have been penalized for speaking about their beliefs.

Iesha, whose name has been changed for safety, goes to Johns Hopkins University. As a Muslim woman who veils, she’s experienced threats and harassment since October 7th and said she feels undervalued by the administration.

She said she understands President Ronald J. Daniels can’t or won't put out a statement on Palestine. Iesha claimed that in the last few weeks Daniels has visited the campus Hillel, a chapter of the international Jewish campus organization, but hasn’t spent time with Muslim or Arab students. “[He] could have come visit the Muslim Student Association too.”

She claims the university even suppressed a prayer vigil in support of people in Palestine. A spokesperson from Johns Hopkins could not verify that claim.

“Since October 7, university leaders and personnel in student affairs, public safety, international services, and diversity and inclusion have been in daily communication with student groups and with individual students, staff, and faculty colleagues to discuss these issues, with a primary focus on all the different ways we can help our community feel supported and safe. President Daniels and Provost Jayawardhana among others, have met with students and student groups across the university, including Muslim and Jewish students and student government leaders,” wrote Megan Christin, the university’s strategic communications director, in a statement sent to WYPR.

Christin also added that the university has sent out statements reminding students of mental and emotional supportservices that can be used in light of distress over the current events.

Her recent time at university has been jarring for Iesha, considering her experience elsewhere in Baltimore, a city she’s described as the most accepting place she’s ever lived.

“In Baltimore, if I went out, people would just stop me on the street to say, Salaam, which is the Muslim greeting, or to tell me that my hijab looks nice.”

And while vitriolic social media statements may urge Americans to take sides on the overseas war in Israel and Gaza, the reality is that Arab and Jewish Americans are increasingly targeted. An online tracker from the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish rights foundation, shows five reported antisemitic incidents in Maryland between October 7 and 23rd, but a nearly 400% increase across the country. The group has tracked an increase in the state in antisemitism for years, with incidents nearly doubling between 2021 and 2022.

Rabbi Daniel Burg is the senior rabbi at Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill, where they’ve been increasing security since the 2018 Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh.

“We have installed a number of hardscape solutions, cameras and bollards and things like that. So also protect the physical plans and anybody who might come into our physical space.”

The synagogue is an anchor institution in a neighborhood that is majority Black and historically Jewish; they want to balance the safety of anyone who comes in the building with creating a welcoming environment, Burg said.

“A lot of the work we do around security and safety is actually just engaging our neighbors and being in relationship with them, we don't have any fear of our neighbors at all.”

Burg’s congregation he says has been lucky not to have been the target of any hate since October 7th, but the last few weeks he said have still been the most difficult in his 20-year rabbinic career.

But like Elshazly in Frederick, he urges government leaders and civilians alike to be careful with coded language and spreading false information that leads to stereotyping and danger for Jewish and Muslim people alike.

Correction: This piece has been edited to reflect the correct name of CAIR— Council on American-Islamic Relations and Anti-Defamation League. A sentiment expressed by President Elshazly has also been clarified. He feels statements made by President Biden have specifically made Muslim-Americans more targeted for Islamophobic attacks.
Update 10/30/2023: This piece has been updated with comments and response from Johns Hopkins University.