This is not about turning a tragedy into a dialogue about defending Muslims. It’s about shifting the hate against Muslims and letting people properly mourn.
A traumatic turn of events occurring in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad rocked the whole world. Social media erupted with different emotions and opinions, for better or for worse. During all the different conversations which initiated, everyone was looking for a single organization to blame- ISIS. It has had a revolting track record of spreading death and destruction in its wake. It’s like the citizens of the world have a silent understanding of how every terror attack will have a Muslim involved. Nobody blames them; they are saying what they see. ISIS’s actions, somehow, start the domino effect in which only the innocent are killed, injured or abused. They are holding the record of pissing off and hurting so many different communities simultaneously and somehow people believe that Islam is responsible for their actions. This fact emotionally cripples the 1.6 billion Muslims who just want to be treated like any other normal human being. At the end of the day, organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda make me more furious than the bigots who blame me for their actions. They are using my religion, its sacred language and values to represent their abominable actions. Either they are really that delusional about Islam or they know exactly what they’re doing. I think I’ll go with the latter. It’s really heartbreaking to see how they have manipulated so many into believing that their conduct is the correct representation of Islam. But I’m here to say on behalf of all Muslims, that we pray day and night, take part in protests and share our opinions to show that we detest ISIS like any other human being, if not more, and we hope that they get what they deserve.
I really hoped that this time, a backlash against Muslims won’t start, just maybe people would spend more time mourning the victims rather than finding someone to blame. Wait, let me rephrase that. Finding someone to blame, who looks like the attackers but has nothing to do with them. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since the tragedy occurred and already my newsfeed is starting to get filled by ‘Fuck Muslims’ posts. Perhaps channeling your anger towards ISIS might be a little more appropriate, don’t you think? While there are these delusional people present, I’m so proud to see people who are actually extending their condolences to the victims and their families. I like to think that just like ISIS doesn’t represent Muslims, the bigots don’t represent the global community. In my honest opinion, even ISIS doesn’t think that it’s doing this for religion; it’s for retaliating against the West’s military policy in the Middle East, revenge against blowing up its camps and France’s recent airstrikes in Syria. Islam has been just stereotypically reserved as the ‘standard reason’ for their actions.
The Facebook post below also succinctly sums up another very valid reason.
While we’re on the topic of ISIS’s completely wrong portrayal of Islam, why don’t I go ahead and pinpoint their daft errors, which the media has wasted no time in spreading.
First and foremost, the loosely used term ‘jihadists’, which is used to describe ISIS’s actions is actually an insult to what this word actually means. It means to persevere, to strive and to apply oneself. The Greater Jihad calls for fighting against one’s own demons and striving against sins and bad deeds. The Lesser jihad calls for military combat against the oppressor and it needs to be the very last option to protect Muslims. Even if there is a dire need for battle, civilians, plants, religious and medical places have to be protected at all costs. So basically, ISIS is doing everything which is the opposite of Jihad and according to its actual values, going against ISIS would count as Jihad. The ever so notorious chant of Allah-u-Akbar is not actually a kill-cry. They have used such a sacred saying and turned it into an expression of violence. Allah-u-Akbar means God is great and it’s used in prayers, in distress and as a call for justice. I’ll be saying this same word while I pray for the victims which are suffering by their hands. This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many things that need to be corrected and told to the general audience. I’ll need to write a whole different piece on that.
I don’t know how people can believe that the Quran calls for the killing of the innocent. That’s just absurd. No Muslim even considers ISIS to be a part of Islam, let alone a ‘radical wing’ of the religion. Just go to Wikipedia and do a bit of your own research and actually talk to a real-life Muslim. That’ll take about the same time as writing a paragraph on how Muslims are the scum of the earth. While everybody is divided up and trying to decide whether Islam promotes violence or not, thousands of people are suffering at the hands of ISIS. This anger you are feeling right now over 1.6 billion people; why don’t you direct it toward a smaller group of people like ISIS? It’ll save you a lot of energy. To those people who say that Muslims aren’t condemning the evils in this world, might I suggest that you actually open your eyes and ears. And the people who actually understand that violence has nothing to do with Islam, thank you for using your brains and fulfilling your responsibility as a global citizen.
May every victim of terror, whether French or Arab, find solace and ease for their sufferings.
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