Islamophobia: This Needs to Stop

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It’s really heartbreaking to see Muslims justifying themselves every time a terrorist attack occurs. What happened in Brussels was inhuman. Killing people should not be this easy, but we live in a world where it happens frequently. At least 40 people died on 22nd march because of a suicide attack at the Brussels main airport.

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source: www.wfuv.org

Twin blasts hit the Zaventem airport at 7:00, and another explosion struck Maelbeek metro station near EU headquarters an hour later. And the result was that once again, we Muslims were called terrorists.

 

Islam and Muslims are often seen as equivalent to terrorism and fundamentalism. Islam is probably the least understood religion of the world, today. These misunderstandings are primarily based on common misconceptions regarding facts, and ignorance.

o-TWITTER-570source: HuffingtonPost

The involvement of some so- called Muslims in the act of terrorism does not justify categorizing an entire faith and the people who choose to follow it, as terrorists. Eric Rudolph, who is serving life without parole for a long list of terrorist attacks committed in the name of Christianity, did not seem to cause everyone to claim Christians as terrorists? Why, when an extremist is involved in horrifying activities, it is considered to be a fault of the religion  of millions of peaceful people. And what of the Buddhist who killed so many Muslims? Where were these people, who were so quick to start the hashtag, #KillAllMuslims, when this was happening.

How Misunderstandings arise

Quoting verses of Quran is a favored strategy of the supporter of this misconception. There are many verses that state the opposite. For example:

Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors“, (Quran 2:190).

tumblr_nhtvwbGtRd1qbz6fko1_500source: google

The second point they will make is that Jihad means killing all non-Muslims. In Arabic, jihad means struggling and persevering. Jihad is not the proclamation of war against non-Muslims. Jihad is not a violent concept.
There are many types of jihad, one of them being an armed struggle, which non-Muslims considered the only type of jihad. Although, according to Islam the greatest jihad is “Jihad-ul-nafs”, which means struggling against oneself. Military jihad is merely a type of jihad, and is very rare.

tumblr_moi6fmh6pc1rhu2gao1_1280source: google

Aside from this point, suicide is haram in Islam. You are not allowed to kill yourself, no matter what the cause is. So the logic follows, suicide bombing is haram. Not only are you taking your own life, but you are killing innocent people.

 

The people who state extremists are killing others in the way of their deen and to please Allah.

They are wrong.

They possibly have their own agendas or political means, because Islam teaches anything but violence.
Many have tried and failed to make them understand Islam and its contents, and perhaps I will be one of them. It is better than doing nothing.

I pray that one day, we will live in a world that is free from racism and Islamophobia.

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