For Muslims, Ramadan is a joyful time to fast, pray and break bread with family and community — but this year the Islamic holy month has been clouded by worry.
Families are grappling with a widening war in the Middle East, ramped-up immigration enforcement and hate speech that has spiked since the United States launched military strikes in Iran two weeks ago.
In the first six days of war, there was a “sharp spike” in hate speech on the social media platform X, according to the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, which monitors extremist content online.
The center recorded more than 25,000 anti-Muslim posts originating the United States that spread 11-fold through reposts. It included comments comparing Muslims to rats and vermin or calling for them to be placed in internment camps, the center noted in its March 9 report.
“Last year, we saw it with [New York City Mayor Zohran] Mamdani’s campaign,” said Raqib Naik, the center’s executive director. “He became a center of attention for far-right groups. Now, with Iran, it’s the same thing, the repetition of the narrative that Muslims don’t belong here, that they have dual loyalty, that they should be deported and denaturalized.”