While Tuesday's Eid ul-Adha was a festival day of fun and frolic, Muslims in Hawai'i were willing to talk about hot-button issues, especially in a political climate where racial profiling and delays in immigration have become commonplace.

Three months ago, Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawai'i, was on the return leg of a business trip to China when he was pulled aside at the airport and had his passport put in what he called, with disdain, "the red folder."

"It seems that from everything that we see, the melting pot of Hawai'i stops at the airport," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind, Muslims and people with Islamic names are being profiled."

He said he was asked to wait in a separate area, where he wasn't allowed to use his cell phone to alert anyone of the delay.

"Granted, with me, (the representative) must've called the FBI or somebody, because the supervisor came down and said we just have to ask some questions. (The representative) asked the same questions the other person asked a half-hour before."

A recent guest speaker at the mosque, a Muslim man from Australia who has been coming to Hawai'i for Ramadan for the last five years, was also delayed at the airport, Ouansafi said, as have other members of the mosque.

"People are still debating whether racial profiling is good to have. I say, it's already begun," Ouansafi said. "It's just crazy. When Muslim soldiers coming back from fighting are treated like that. ... Ridiculous."

Others, however, had a different response.

"I don't mind being profiled," said Saleem Ahmed, an author and the founder of Believers All Network who was searched at the airport not long ago. "Afterward, the guy apologized, and I said, 'No, thank you.' "

He's also heard about authorities eavesdropping at mosques.

"There are some evil people hiding within religious communities," Ahmed said. "Only people who have something to hide are against it. If I was in Pakistan, chances are every American would be rounded up. The only way Muslims (here) can create a positive (impression) is to do what the Japanese did after World War II."

Ouansafi noted that the imam, Ismael ElSheikh, has been waiting for his citizenship.

"(Officials are) not telling him what's going on," he said. "Normally it takes six to eight months. It's taking over a year and a half."

But for Anas Nasr of Ala Moana, a construction management consultant, the theme for the day was more about finding the good.

"We're thinking about unity, representing the right and true side of the Islamic faith, and setting a good example for how Muslims contribute to the welfare of society and the prosperity of the community in which we live," Nasr said.