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This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)
Post 9/11, there’s been a lot of speculation on Islam, a lot has been written about Muslims, and above all, there have been a lot of fingers raised whether or not Islam is a peace-loving religion as widely claimed. Being a Muslim has more or less become a challenge for many ever since the twin towers in NYC were hit by the planes. Hijaabis have been stereotyped and have been victimized ever since then. Perhaps, the unfortunate event of 9/11 proved to be the introduction to Islam and Muslims to many, however, Islam or Muslims did not at all originated from there.
Muslims faced a major upsurge in terms of hate speech and discrimination, and while I sympathize with them wholeheartedly, I actually realized after having myself targeted for my faith how it really feels to be a victim of such scrutiny in its truest sense….And trust me it does shake you!!
On the 16th anniversary of the attacks, I recalled how when enrolled in a MOOC for English Composition got myself under faith-oriented blame game; embarked on a journey of honing my writing skills when one day like usual notification beep, my phone rang and upon logging in my eye fell open and my jaw dropped. Prior to this I only got to read about people being bullied for being a follower of Islam, having myself being accused of belonging to a terrorism-provoking religion made me realize what it really is to be targeted on account of my faith. The struggle after 9/11 has taken a new route from propagating a good image of Islam to detaching terrorism with Islam for the fine line between the two is now often blurred, and now I see myself standing for the latter than the former.
It all started when a fellow Non-Muslim writer presented her very well-crafted and rational piece for the weekly project and asked for my opinion on for it covered a major aspect of my religion, Hijaab. A normal casual discussion was going on when suddenly I was replied to my opinion with some hate speech accusing the followers of Islam with “low IQ” and “sick contrarian intellectuals”. A reply to that comment resulted in an even more vile accusation.
If I belong to a terrorist religion, what would one name the person who gunned down 3 innocent Muslims, namely, Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha to death in Chapel Hill Shooting in 2015? These barbaric killings were easily termed as “hate crime” and “parking rage crime”, had the situation been reversed, would it still be judged the same way as it was then?
Why Balayla Ahmed, a student at the University of Bridgeport who made national news when she reported being repetitively sexually assaulted by another student, was labeled as a terrorist? Does any Arab descent name give the liberty to term someone as a terrorist? Why have Muslim or Arab names been increasingly used as a synonym for the word terrorist?
Through this, my intention is not all to bash the accusatory or to write heaps regarding “Quran Sharif should not be banned or my religion above all or to belittle any other religion”, but instead simply to convey my message that judging anyone or any religion through a set scale is utterly baseless. For me, every religion and every belief are sacred. As an individual and as a Muslim, I just want to clarify that just like every other religion, my religion is perfect in its own way and I firmly believe that be it anything, religion or a professional field is perfect but the people following it indeed may not be. This accusation had been alone with me, I, as an individual would have taken it in a different way, but considering that Islam and its followers were targeted as a whole, was something really heart-rending.
As consumers of media and technology, it is my ardent request to make most of the electronic media to spread love and peace only. Negativity has been too mainstream; let’s try something positive and the least we could contribute is by uniting against any hate speech, racism, and unnecessary bashing and instead promote love, peace, and harmony.
