This groundbreaking survey and report on Washington state Muslims by CAIR-WA comes at a critical time in the context of political shifts and events taking place on the national stage that are informing the realities of Muslim-Americans across the country. Notably, this survey is the first of its kind in the state, and a historic study of Washington Muslims, as it uplifts the voices, experiences, priorities, and diversity of the community, and because the legalization of Islamophobia in the US mostly takes place at the state, rather than the federal level.
What’s more, this study is immensely needed as it not only addresses a critical research gap by providing an accurate and robust understanding of Washington’s Muslim population, but it also serves as a platform for Muslims to speak for themselves, to share their insights, their struggles, to assess their sense of belonging, as well as to provide the hard facts needed to challenge policies that impact Muslims, and to champion strategies that combat bigotry and rising Islamophobia in the United States.
This report therefore offers a wealth of data reflecting who Washington’s Muslims are, what their experiences are with discrimination, their feelings of safety and security, as well as their political and civic engagement and what policy issues are most important to them. Notably, 70% of survey respondents are registered voters and the majority vote frequently when there are elections, and they identified Palestine, civil rights, racial justice, education, foreign affairs, and immigration as priority policy issues.
The survey is also timely as it offers a window of perspective into the Muslim-American experience leading up to the 2024 presidential election, and as we can see, the presidential campaign is illuminating the deep polarization of US politics and society, to the extent that our democratic norms and freedoms could very well be at stake. Since September 11th, 2001, whether Democrats or Republicans are in office, Islamophobic policies have been central to all US administrations, to not only scapegoat and situate Muslims as the other, but to justify the expansion and consolidation of executive powers in the name of national security. Thus, the second wave of Islamophobia in the United States was already well established by the time former President Donald Trump took office. However, having Trump in the running for re-election raises very legitimate concerns for Muslim-Americans across the country since throughout his presidency, Muslim-Americans were scapegoated and singled out by Islamophobic policies, and even today we see how Islamophobic rhetoric and narratives are being leveraged by the US political right to target progressive politics and to undermine democratic norms and constitutional freedoms. What’s more, Muslim-Americans are reporting a surge in Islamophobia, anti-Muslim violence, and hate.
According to CAIR’s 2024 Civil Rights Report, in 2023 CAIR received over 8,000 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents, documenting the highest number of complaints in the organization’s 30-year history.
According to CAIR’s 2024 Civil Rights Report, in 2023 CAIR received over 8,000 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents, documenting the highest number of complaints in the organization’s 30-year history. CAIR-WA’s survey findings speak to this directly as roughly a quarter of respondents heard biased remarks targeted at themselves a few times a month or even more frequently, and within the past year, over half (52%) of respondents felt that their freedom of speech and expression had been limited or outright denied. Shockingly, 91% of Washington Muslims experienced some form of discrimination or bias that can be associated with Islamophobia, while 68% of Muslim-Americans reported personally experiencing Islamophobia in the Othering & Belonging Institute’s 2021 national survey.
Surveying Washington Muslims is notably significant as Washington is one of 20 US state legislatures that have enacted anti-Muslim bills into state policy. Washington has introduced five anti-Muslim bills from 2013 – 2015 (HB 1392, 2013; SB 6118, 2014; SB 5192, 2015; HB 1246, 2015) and enacted one bill into law in 2015, SB 5498. 233 anti-Muslim bills, otherwise known as anti-Sharia bills, have been introduced in state houses across the US starting in 2010, and refer to a model act that uses anti-foreign law language as a smokescreen to prohibit and discriminate against the use of Sharia in state courts. The most direct legal implications of this legislation is that it bars courts from enforcing individual contracts that call for the application of foreign law, including Sharia. Anti-Sharia legislation therefore infringes on the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which prohibits laws restricting establishment of religion), and on an individual’s right to freedom of contract, preventing wills, marriage contracts, business contracts, etc., that were written in accordance to Sharia from being enforced. The main intent of these laws is to strip Muslims of their legal rights as afforded by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and to further proliferate a culture of fear and intolerance towards Muslim-Americans and Muslim communities.
What’s more, in drawing connections between global and local events, as the Israeli war on Gaza rages on, the survey findings show that since October 7, 2023, 39% of respondents reported experiencing heightened discrimination, clearly exemplifying how the violence and oppression taking place in Gaza is having a profound effect on people in the US, and how such events directly affect the Muslim-American population surveyed in the state of Washington.
The impact of the CAIR-WA Muslim Survey cannot be overstated, as it serves as the initial blueprint for an essential tool and resource that can be refined, expanded upon, and conducted by CAIR-WA and other CAIR chapters to showcase the rich diversity and contributions of Muslim-Americans, as well as to quantify the impacts of discrimination and othering that affect the US Muslim community at large. The findings and recommendations resulting from this survey help to shift the narrative around who Washington’s Muslims are, to address the issues of discrimination that they face, and to leverage their voices, demands for justice, equality, and belonging, as well as to hold our political institutions and politicians accountable, and to protect democratic norms and principles in order to create a fair and inclusive US society for all.
Elsadig Elsheikh is the Global Justice Program Director at the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
Basima Sisemore is the Global Justice Program Senior Researcher, at the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
CAIR Washington is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization and does not endorse or oppose political candidates or parties. Views expressed in guest essays are the views of the authors.