Ali Naqvi, a Muslim man from the Princeton area, said he's never faced Islamophobia before this year.
PRINCETON - It was the sound of a lock clicking that frightened Ali Naqvi the most.
As he stood in a small, cramped bathroom in a Princeton restaurant in late summer, Naqvi looked up at the face of a hulking man whom he once considered a friend. It was the face of a man who once smiled sweetly and offered a ride when Naqvi lost the key to his car. The face of a man who said Naqvi should drop by a Christmas party he was holding.
Now, Naqvi said, the relationship was far from that. The man had barged in through the restaurant bathroom just after Naqvi, locking the door. He'd positioned himself in front, closing off the only exit Naqvi had, and he'd reached out one hand to clasp Naqvi's buttoned shirt.
"I will bury you," the man said. "I will bury you and your people."
Months later, Naqvi, sitting outside a small cafe on the other end of town, recalled the moment that he says was one of the most terrifying of his life.
But it wasn't the most surprising.
Naqvi, a Muslim, whose parents emigrated from Pakistan before he was born, said he's never faced Islamophobia before this year. His father had clutched tightly to the "American dream," coming to the states with "a suitcase and $200," and quickly finding his way as a pharmacist, Naqvi said. His mother followed soon after.
Ali Naqvi, on the far left, is a trustee on the Foundation for Ethic Understanding. (Photo, provided by Naqvi) They grew up outside of Princeton and, virtually untouched by racism, Naqvi moved through the world, taking a position as an intern for the White House at a young age, getting an apartment in Manhattan in his 30's, becoming a trustee on the New York-based Foundation for Ethic Understanding, and finally finding his place as an entrepreneur.
With thick hair and tailored suits, Naqvi fits well into the idea of the American dream. He enjoys good cigars and his gold-lined watch falls just below the cuff of his shirtsleeve when he gestures.
He found a place among the business and self-made men of Princeton.
"I pride myself on always having diplomatic relationships," Naqvi said.
But this year those relationships began to change.
On Friday, CNN published an article on the number of attacks, threats and cases of harassment at mosques in the United States this year. The article claimed there have been 63 incidents at mosques across the country since the beginning of January, nearly three times as many as the year before.
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Just last month the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) published a similar study, detailing recent cases of intimidation, threats and violence against Muslims and places of worship since the Islamic State attacks on Paris in mid-November.
"CAIR attributes this spike in anti-Muslim incidents to the Paris attacks and to the mainstreaming of Islamophobia by political candidates and lawmakers in the run-up to the 2016 general election," CAIR stated on their website.
For Naqvi, his experiences with Islamophobia started earlier this year.
It was April, Naqvi said, just months after two men attacked the offices of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris and killed 11 people in a move that was praised by the Islamic State. The news was always playing on the TV.
This was especially true, Naqvi said, in a small cigar shop he and his friends used to frequent.
Naqvi said he had been going there for years, mingling with everyone from businessmen to his childhood friends to retired cops.
But the conversation began to take a turn in the spring when Naqvi said, he entered the shop and was met with looks of disgust from people he'd considered friends.
Naqvi said he was told him later that some of his former friends who were patrons at the shop - whom Naqvi called Larry and Carl - had been claiming Naqvi was an Islamic State supporter.
It was a rumor that Naqvi laughed off in the moment.
"It's crazy," Naqvi said later, half smiling. But the more he thought about it, Naqvi said, the more disgusted he became. He added that the Islamic State is known to attack Shia Muslims.
"I am a Shia Muslim.... It bothers me," Naqvi said, "Now you're making a very serious accusation."
Naqvi's lawyer, Usman Shaikh of the U.S. Law Group, said he sent one of the men a Cease and Desist letter on Naqvi's behalf.
"These false statements were of an Islamophobic characteristic and had the same hateful rhetoric and tone as recent statements made by public figures which have been globally scrutinized and condemned," Shaikh wrote in an email Friday.
Despite the letter, Naqvi said the accusations against him grew throughout the following months.
They culminated in a moment in August when Naqvi said he was at a local restaurant, Mistral. He said he went into a bathroom there and was quickly followed by one of the men, Carl, who locked the door behind him.
"I was afraid he was going to seriously hurt me," Naqvi said, remembering how Carl stood between him and the door, grabbed his shirt and accused him again of being an Islamic State supporter. Eventually, Naqvi said, Carl forced him from the bathroom.
In a police report of the incident, the man Naqvi identifies as Carl, denied the claim, saying that he accidentally went into the bathroom and, seeing that Naqvi was inside, quickly left.
Police did not file charges or take any further action following the report.
But for Naqvi, the moment stands out as one indicative of a larger issue of Islamophobia.
Months after the incident, Naqvi looks back at the moment that he says, "broke my heart."
"For the first time in my life, in 35 years, I feel that people look at me differently," he said, "Even the greatest country in the world there can be hatred."
Ali Naqvi with Vice President Al Gore. (Photo, provided by Naqvi) The problem of Islamophobia is not only one that Naqvi faces. In the weeks following the Islamic State attacks on Paris and Beirut as well as the San Bernardino attack this month that police believe was inspired by the Islamic State, others in the local Muslim community have felt the effects.
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Mohammed Esseghir, a leader at the Islamic Circle of Mercer County said Friday that he has not personally faced Islamophobia in recent months but that he knows some women in the community have become increasingly scared of walking outside with a Hijab, the traditional veil worn by Muslim women.
His colleague, Ahmar Shakir said the same and added that younger children in the community and in the local Islamic School in Monmouth Junction are nervous.
"They are scared," Shakir said Thursday of the growth of Islamophobia, adding that both the school and the Islamic Circle are considering increasing security. "The kids are concerned about it. We are talking about it more."
Esseghir said the Muslim community has increasingly been told to speak out against the attacks in Paris, Beirut and San Bernardino.
"The community has to answer. The community has to apologize... These types of questions are not asked of others," he said. Shakir echoed his words and added that the Islamic State targets more Muslims than non-Muslims.
"We always speak out against these violent acts," he said. "But we should not have to defend against these crazy things."
Part of the problem, Esseghir said, is that some people associate all Muslims and Islam at large, with the Islamic State.
"To come from the top and just chop it off and label it with bigotry, this is not America."
But while cases of violence against Muslims grow across the country, the men said they have seen a positive outcome from Islamophobia.
In Shakir's immediate circle of friends and coworkers, he said he has been met, not with fear or hatred, but support.
Following statements made by presidential candidate Donald Trump last week, calling to ban all Muslims coming into the United States, Shakir said his coworkers reached out. Esseghir agreed.
"My manager pulled me aside a few weeks ago. He said 'I need to make sure you are comfortable,'" Esseghir said, "It's very supportive. We talk. There's nobody who points fingers."
It's the flipside of Islamophobia, Shakir explained. While national dialogue grows surrounding Islam and violence against Muslims, many are trying to educate themselves.
"Now people are talking more about what Islam truly is about," Shakir said. "Now that these silly things are being said about us... Now people are listening."
And as more people listen, the doors of the Muslim community and the Islamic Circle mosque will remain open to everyone - whether or not they identify as Muslim, Shakir's colleague Selim Sheikh, said.
"This is our land. We are here."
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.