VISTA -- Local Muslims say that while increased coverage of the Muslim community has driven up membership and interest in the five years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, more needs to be done to combat discrimination and misunderstanding.

"We are still suffering from what some people think … we are still being labeled and harassed by the authorities," said Samih Aboutalib, the president of Vista's Masjed Al-ittihad mosque.

Aboutalib joined some 200 Muslims for prayers Friday afternoon at the North County mosque. Several dozen knelt outside on carpets and listened to prayers over a loudspeaker, unable to squeeze into the main building.

"Every month, there are more people," he said, noting that as awareness of Islam spreads, the size of the congregation swells accordingly. The mosque's membership, now about 300, is more than double what it was five years ago.

The greater San Diego County Muslim community has grown as well, with as many as 80,000 members today, said Edgar Hopida, spokesman for the San Diego branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Still, the popularity of the religion among new converts and Muslims reconnecting with their homeland roots has not ended discrimination or the growth of misconceptions.

Hopida said the government and media's use of terms like "Islamic Fascists" and "Islamic fundamentalist" casts a bad light on the muslim community as a whole.

"They may have been Muslims that committed the crime, but that does not mean that all Muslims are criminals," he said. That's what "the rhetoric implies," Hopida added.

Jamil Faiq, a 19-year-old San Marcos resident who attends Cal State San Marcos, said that coverage of the community -- both good and bad -- has brought out a number of people who are eager to learn more and want to better understand Islam.

"It has helped us with people who are willing to go the distance to learn," said Faiq. But "it's still a struggle. I feel like I have to try twice as hard to show them the positive side of Islam."

A recent Gallup poll shows that when asked to "honestly" assess themselves, four in 10 Americans have some prejudice against Muslims. The same number of respondents also said that they favor stricter security measures for Muslims than for other U.S. citizens, including carrying special identification and undergoing more intensive security checks at airports.

Negative feelings toward Muslims, however, reduced significantly when the respondent personally knew a Muslim. For instance, almost a quarter of those who said they know someone of that faith favored a special identification, while 50 percent of respondents who didn't know a Muslim supported a separate identification.

The differences in responses, many said, are the result of how the religion and community are portrayed by the media and the government.

"They are using Muslims as the source of the fear," Aboutalib said.

He added that discrimination and harassment, as with more intensive security checks at airports, come in waves. As public support of the war on terrorism wanes, the number of reports and references to Muslims as fundamentalists increases, making them the enemy, he said.

For Zainav Molla, an Escondido resident, one of the most frustrating aspects of the varying perceptions of Islam and Muslims is when it interferes with her family's travel plans.

Last year, Molla's 4-year-old daughter was tagged at an airport security check point and had to go into a room alone, for a private screening.

"It's just because of our names," she said. "It's unnecessary screening."

It's not all negative, however.

Molla noted that she is happy to see how many new people are talking about Islam and thinking about the Muslim perspective -- something that would never have happened five years ago, she said.

Carlsbad resident, Bassam Mustafa, who also attends Vista's mosque, said increased coverage of the community has given Muslims the opportunity to harness the attention paid to Islam to educate people about the religion.

"It's up to us to teach, to talk about it in a positive way," Mustafa said, "to enlighten people and to inform them about what being a Muslim is all about."

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at schabner@nctimes.com or (760) 631-6604.