Eight years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Americans still wonder about Muslims and Arabs, "Why do they hate us?" This event has "fundamentally changed how the world perceives Arabs and how Arabs perceive the world," remarks Jillian C. York, journalist for Global Voices.

Although some Muslim countries have displayed an improvement in their opinion of the US, mainly due to the popular embrace of president Obama's latest speeches, notes editor in chief of Arab Insight Mohammed Elmenshawy for Global Arab Network, Muslims remain wary of US policies regarding the Arab world.

Likewise, Americans still adopt the "us vs. them" mentality, and negative perceptions prevail. Writer Alia Malek remarks, "'Muslim' and 'Arab' seem to be interchangeable terms in the minds of Americans while most Arabs in the United States are Christian, and the majority of Muslims are African Americans.”

According to a recent survey of religious attitudes conducted August 11-17 by the Pew Research Center among 2,010 adults, a majority of them being Christians, nearly 6 in 10 Americans or 58 percent feel that Muslims face discrimination. This is the highest reported rate followed by discrimination against Jews, Evangelical Christians, atheists, and Mormons.

The results concur with findings of a 2007 survey indicating that 1 in 4 Muslims has experienced discrimination, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

While two-third of participants reported that Islam is different from their own beliefs, the survey also showed that 38 percent of Americans believe that Islam, more than other religions, encourages violence.

This number has dropped from 45 percent in 2007, yet is still higher than it was in 2002 when only 25 percent of American held this view, according to the Pew Research Center.

However, as Americans learn more about Islam, they are more likely to view Muslims in a favorable manner, and are less likely to associate Islam with violence, reports the Detroit Free Press.

"Americans are a little bit more familiar and knowledgeable about Islam compared with 2001 and 2002" said Greg Smith, Pew Forum senior researcher, to NPR news. Findings from the survey show that more positive views and lower prejudice are associated with higher levels of familiarity with Muslims and Islam, explains Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Despite this slight increase in knowledge and awareness, about a fourth of Americans remain unfamiliar with the religion. Muslims are still seen as "the others". This, according to Hooper, explains “why we consistently see hostility towards the faith and its followers.”

Following the spotlight that Muslims receive on the yearly anniversary of the attacks, perhaps it is a good time to emphasize how Muslim Americans "fit into the national landscape" and resemble other Americans socially and economically, reports Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“We are like you. Islam is peaceful. Complex sociopolitical factors create lunatics who kill people. Please don't judge a billion people by a few bad apples,” says Moina Noor to The New York Times. In his speech to students in Egypt, President Obama pointed out that “since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. “

Obama added that Muslims have fought in American wars, served in the US government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at US universities, excelled in sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built some of the US tallest building and lit the Olympic Torch. Given this historical record, Noor calls for a better understanding and increased open-mindedness toward Islam.

Perhaps this new tolerance of Islam in the United States is best reflected at George Mason University in Virginia. Al-Arabiya reported that the University has allocated a prayer space for Muslim students to perform their religious rituals. Most students interviewed believed that Americans are "starting to change their negative perception of Islam", which they adopted following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.