New York, New York - Nearly 25-years since the events of September 11, 2001, Muslim New Yorkers are slowly starting to reclaim their city after years of severe Islamophobia.

Asad Dandia was eight when he watched the September 11, 2001 attacks on television. It wasn't until afterward that he recognized its true effect on his community – years of Islamophobia, fueled by anger, suspicion, and worse.

At 19, Dandia experienced a police informant posing as a friend to infiltrate his family home, part of a now-disgraced surveillance effort purportedly seeking to detect Islamic extremism.

Today, though, the 33-year-old historian finds a New York transformed: One with its first Muslim mayor, public prayers in Times Square, and new mosques rising across the city.

"Twenty-five years after 9/11, we mourn and we grieve what happened, and at the same time, we recognize that I am not responsible for what happened," he told AFP.

"I don't deserve to be targeted for what happened, and I am as much of a New Yorker as anybody else in that respect," said Dandia, who leads walking tours centered on the city's Muslim communities.

Islamophobia surged in the United States after the 2001 attacks, Muslims reporting increased public assaults and harassment, and some deciding not to wear visual markers in a bit to conceal their religion and protect their safety.

Meanwhile, US authorities monitored Muslims by requiring thousands of men and boys to register with the government.

Decades later, New York will soon boast the largest mosque in the state. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has become the new face of American leftist politics.

"I've seen the growth of our institutional power, but also the recognition by other New Yorkers who are not Muslim that we are all part of this city together," Dandia said.

"I think that's really valuable because, you know, Rome was not built overnight, and it was not built by one person or one group of people. It was built by the community."