: The Muslims are Coming! The Muslims are Coming!

Earlier this month, a group of Muslims caused a minor panic by praying in a store outside of Boston. Taking off their shoes and chanting “loudly in Arabic,” they left before store managers called police at the request of customers, who noticed their fatigue jackets (ok, now that’s weird). The incident sparked a debate about religious awareness and 9/11 safeguards. Some shoppers said the public prayers are unnerving without explanation. Muslims noted that they are required to pray wherever they are (private property notwithstanding, I suppose). ”It’s not a problem for me to pray,” one Muslim said. ”It’s how people perceive what I’m doing. I don’t want to scare them, either.” But the following week, more residents were scared when a group of Turkish men went to local schools asking questions with maps in hand. ”We’re not looking at it as anything other than something legitimate,” a police officer said. ”But we would like to talk to them, yes.”

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.