Check Imagine for a second, you are walking down the street. Your typical, average day includes dirty looks and nasty stares. Passersby look you up and down and sneer. They point when they think you’re not looking. They whisper to their friends about you. You hear the words, “towel head” and “terrorist”. Whether you’re a man with a beard and taqiyah (prayer cap) or a woman with a head scarf, it hurts to be treated this way. So why does it happen? Why do so many non-Muslims continuously provoke the Muslims in this country?
Why here in the United States, where we have freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom to show the world that we are Christian or Muslim or Jewish? The apparent answer to why many Muslims are treated so harshly is because they are afraid of Muslims and their religion or in one word: Islamophobia. Islamophobia is what happens when you combine fear and lack of knowledge of Islam. To explore this matter further, a group of people at Oyster River High School were asked to say the first word that came to mind, when hearing the word, Islam.
Alex Eustace, age 15 of Lee, NH, said Quran. Adam Stevens, sophomore at ORHS, said terrorists. Taylor Rioux, sophomore at ORHS, said 9/11. This association of 9/11 with Muslims is a mistaken belief. True, the people who instigated 9/11 claimed to be Muslims, but they were not. Hannah Herz-Khan, a Muslim of Durham, NH shares her opinion about the topic, “I feel as though Islamophobia was heavily brought on after September 11, which is unfair to compare because you can’t even call the people who did that Muslim. Islamophobia is really just a phobia of terrorists in any religion. Iman Ashtiani, a Muslim of Jasper, Texas agrees, “I think they are close minded to a sharp point. They have been exposed to the media’s view of Muslims. In the past 10 years Islam has doubled in population. The phobia is fading from more people but increasing for the few. ” Contrary to popular belief, Islam is not a violence-oriented religion. It is not the life goal of a Muslim to kill millions of people to get a point across. Only . 1% of Muslims worldwide are considered terrorists and only 6% of terrorists in general are Muslims.
The Essay on Muslim People Post 9/11
Americans have labeled Muslims in the United States as a threat to our country due to the fact that they share their religion with the extremists responsible for worldwide terrorism. Due to the recent conflicts between the US and Muslim, the Muslims that live in America continue to face isolation and danger because of their faith. Muslim people have gotten worse treatment after 9/11 in the United ...
The terrorist attacks on 9/11/01 were not caused by all Muslims across America; in fact a large number of Muslims died due to the attacks. Various people were asked what they believe the difference between Muslims and terrorists is, if there is one. Here are a couple of the answers received: Stevens said, “Muslims are people who “believe” in Islam. (I say believe only for lack of a better word) and terrorists are people who kill mass numbers in order to spread terror. In the “general” case of the current war, they are Islamic Zealots bent on making one extremely large Islamic state. Matthew Segil, age 15, sophomore at ORHS, who said, “I believe that many if not the large majority of terrorists that target the US are devote practitioners of the Islamic faith. To accentuate, I do not believe that all Muslims should be considered terrorists just because a few radicals want to start a jihad. ” Jihad is a common misconception. When many Americans think Jihad, they think of war, violence, killing, etc. However, this is not true. Jihad literally means struggle not war as most people think. It comes from the Arabic word Jahada, the infinitive, which means to strive or struggle.
Jihad is the struggle of living life by Islamic code instead of the average person. Not giving in to peer pressure to do wrong things is Jihad, as well as wearing a hijab in public because it is a tough thing to do. Being a hijab-clad woman herself, Nusrat Khan, 18 year old Muslim woman of West Lafayette, IN, understands the difficulty of trying to live a normal life. Khan started wearing the hijab as a freshman in high school. She admits it that it was challenging to get up in the morning and be ready to deal with the kids at school. Dealing with wearing a hijab in a society where covering up is not the norm was definitely tough. I mean for the most part, everyone was very curious as to why I was wearing a scarf. After I explained, people had mixed opinions, but they were willing to accept it. As far as other acquaintances, I did get a couple of awkward stares, but no one actually said anything to my face. ” Khan has some advice for her fellow companions, “I would tell them to be open-minded… I’m not telling them to convert or telling them to agree with Islam.
The Essay on Qur Islam People Jihad
Looking through the news today, one finds many references to an alleged 'Jihad against the West.' A Libyan was convicted for the Lockerbie bombing; bin Laden's alleged co-conspirators are on trial in Manhattan. Do these cases represent the true meaning of Jihad in Islam? The evidence from the Qur " an and the practices of the Prophet Muhammad provide the answer: a resounding 'no.' Muslims are ...
What I would insist is for them to actually learn about Islam and its true teachings before making judgments about the religion or Muslims. ” Now a freshman in college, she doesn’t even think about it. People have gotten used to her and treat her just like anybody else. Fortunately, she has found herself a Muslim roommate, so with both of them together, it’s not as intimidating as taking on the world alone. Khan’s final words of the interview were inspiring, “You gotta do what you gotta do, you know? Deal with the crap well and live a good life. I mean, I couldn’t be happier. ”
