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Muslims worried by tirade after film
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.05.2006

The verbal abuse of three young Muslim women in Scottsdale by a couple who had just seen "United 93" is stirring concern among the Arizona Islamic community that the film will reignite furor at their faith.

"Generally, what we try to do is turn a negative into a positive, so if there's a good initiative to take to educate people to show we're not responsible for violence or terrorism, that's what we will be looking at doing," said Bushra Khan, office manager of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Arizona chapter, based in Phoenix. About 60,000 Muslims live in Arizona — about 8,000 of them in the Tucson area.

Khan, 24, was one of the three young women who say they were shopping at the Desert Ridge Marketplace in Scottsdale on April 29 — all of them wearing burqas, or head scarves — when they were approached by a middle-aged couple who asked if they were Muslim.

Khan said she always welcomes inquiries about her faith and was happy to tell the couple yes. But what happened next was a shock, she said.