The Council on American Islamic Relations, the largest advocacy organization for Muslims, processed 1, 522 reports of civil rights abuses in 2004 -- a 49 percent increase from the year before. In a press release, the Washington-based body said these figures mark "the highest number of Muslim civil rights cases ever reported in our 11 year history."

The states with the worst records are ironically also those with some of the best universities: New York, Arizona, Virginia, Texas, and California were named as the states with the most reported incidents to CAIR.

What worries me more than these reports is the language continuing to be used by people in authority. Recently, President George W. Bush described the war against terror as a "war against Islamic fascism," a term that drew a sharp retort from the president of the largest Muslim group in North America.

"I'm convinced that it is not only inaccurate, but unhelpful. If our major concern is security, security of this country, this is a term that has very bad resonance in the Muslim majority world and makes us feel uncomfortable here," said Ingrid Mattson, the newly elected president of the Islamic Society of North America.

Mattson's concerns are worthwhile for in recent years, Muslims across the country have found themselves battling incendiary language. At a panel held at the University of California in March, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder of the conservative Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, described Islam as an "evil religion" and said that all Muslims hate America.

In September, at a high school in Maryland a teacher allegedly lost her temper after she overheard students utter an Islamic greeting of peace. Charging documents allege the teacher shouted: "Islam doesn't mean peace, it means killing everyone for peace," and: "Because of you, our families died in New York!"

If it isn't school teachers, it's religious leaders. On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, a church in Florida displayed a sign most Muslims considered to be insulting. "Muslims can convert to Christianity here" read the sign posted in front of the Congregational Church on Laurel Road.

The invitation angered many and prompted Ahmed Badier, director of the Tampa chapter for CAIR, to say: "If church leaders are really interested in saving people, they would find much less offensive ways to do it. Religious leaders are adding fuel to the fire. It's a shame."

In 2003, Badier opposed a Jacksonville minister who had posted a sign stating that the Prophet Muhammed advocated violence.

Despite a mushrooming of inter-faith activities around the country, it seems Islamophobia has only worsened in the last few years.

In 2001, while lower Manhattan was smothered in smoke, President Bush and a sprinkling of congressmen visited mosques to promise Muslims that they were safe in America. Five years later, some elected officials are joining the anti-Muslim lobby to garner support from their constituents. Earlier this month, Redding Mayor Ken Murray was reported as saying Shiite Muslims believe they "are duty-bound by religious law to lie, cheat, steal, kill all who do not worship their version of Allah."

"Folks, they're not like us," he told those who attended a vigil on the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

The mayor later apologized for his remarks.

What have American Muslims done when confronted with such ignorance and hatred? Many have stayed silent, shunning media interviews and contact with non-Muslims. Every time I walk down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn with my reporter's notebook, doors are constantly slammed in my face.

Others have turned into activists, leaving high-paying jobs to join organizations like the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the American League of Muslims, and the American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice.

A few have picked up arms like the Muslim who burst into a Seattle synagogue in July, shooting all in sight. After declaring: "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," he pulled the trigger, killing one and wounding five.

And I've adopted the Muslim beat, in the hope that churning out stories about the six million Muslims who have made America their home will make a difference.

The writer is a NYC-based journalist currently working on a book about Islam in America to be published by Beacon Press in 2008.