On Friday, October 14, we are once again reminded of the sad reality of religious divide in our country. Three men, Curtis Alle, 49, Gavin Wright, 49, and Patrick Eugene Stein, 47, were arrested for planning, "a terrorist attack on a mosque and housing complex in a western Kansas town where Somali immigrants live and worship," according to NPR. The men were targeting Muslims in order to, "wake people up" in America. They called themselves "The Crusaders," a clear reference to the 11th and 16th century crusades which aimed to capture land from Islamic rule by Christians. These men seem to think that Muslims have gained control of their town and their only answer was death to hundreds. They had many firearms and bombs prepared to kill all of these innocent people. While this disgusting story emerged in the news last week, it reminded me of a growing problem I have seen right in my own city.

Aberdeen, South Dakota is home to Northern State University and around 26,000 citizens. It is also a city that has been very vocal in the past few years on any subject involving refugees or immigration. South Dakota was one of the many states that came out to say that "Syrian Refugees were not welcome," and even tried to block them from entering even though they had no legal power to do so. A number of people in Aberdeen largely co-opted that message and has decided to continue to push this agenda by creating the Americans First, Task Force of Aberdeen, SD. This group was formed to create discussion on immigration issues and create positive answers to keeping Aberdeen safe. Now, what a group claims and what it actually is, tends to be different according to who you ask, and this "Task Force" is no exception. You see, the group has become a breeding ground for anti-Muslim speech and lack of discussion with opposing viewpoints. The page has a statement that it will only delete comments on their Facebook page that are derogatory and offensive but have shown to apply the delete button to silence opposition. This can be seen through their various "events" in which they have invited other anti-Islamic speakers to Aberdeen. It becomes very clear that opposing viewpoints are to be met with anger and resentment. This, of course, can stem from how those viewpoints are expressed, but none the less is applied universally to all. The Task Force's events have been breeding misconceptions about Muslim culture with biased extreme speakers who claim to be experts. I do not use the term extreme lightly, but the last speaker they brought was a firm believer that Obama is a Muslim. This rhetoric is sure to continue next week with their speaker Usama Dakdok, who also claims to be a firm believer that "Obama Is Definitely A Muslim."

Usama Dakdok is set to speak in Aberdeen on Tuesday, October 18th at the Eagles Club, in a presentation entitled "Allah is Satan, Jesus is God." Usama Dakdok is a Christian from Egypt that formed the Straight Way Ministry. Their purpose is to convert Muslims to Christianity. Usama Dakdok has made it his goal to undermine what he calls "the evil Muslim." His rhetoric has been found to be extreme and at times violent claiming that he is not anti-Muslim but anti-Islam. Which, for those of you following, that logic is a contradiction. Islam is the faith that Muslims follow, to be against one is to be against the other. His rhetoric has also followed by violence from those who have listened to him. In December 2015, a few weeks after Dakdok spoke in Grand Forks, ND, "a Somali restaurant in the city was firebombed," according to the StarTribune of Minneapolis, MN. So, while he may claim to preach non-violence, the reality is that he cannot control the actions of his followers. My growing fear is that this same hate filled rhetoric will encourage violence here.

The reason people like Usama Dakdok become so harmful to areas like Aberdeen is because these areas already have such little knowledge of Muslim people and Islam. Usama Dakdok uses his own translation of the Quran, encourages that Sharia law is a threat, claims Muslims want to destroy Christians and America, and that Allah is not the same God of Christianity. In order to avoid the harmful effects of biased information that is not backed by any reputable scholar, I have decided to provide answers to all of Usama's claims. Education and logic should always outweigh emotion filled logical fallacies. In order to prove my point, I will use prominent Muslim Islamic Scholar Arsalan Iftikhar and his book "Scapegoats," two secular Islamic Scholars, Bernard Lewis and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, that authored the educational book, "Islam," and finally, an interview with my friend Ramy Noseir who is a Muslim student at Florida State University. Hopefully, these answers will shed light on the ignorance Usama Dakdok is calling facts.

So, the first thing I will address is the translation of the Quran Usama uses. You see, Usama uses his own translation of the Quran that he claims to be the best English translation around. The problem with that statement, however, is that he has no scholars that agree with that claim. Ramy worries about this translation because "it allows for corruption of the Quran. By using his own translation, it allows him to form it however he wants." Ramy's worries are true. Usama's translation differs from the scholarly accepted English translation of the Quran. Besides the fact that traditionally "...translation from the Arabic original into other languages is in principle forbidden," according to Lewis and Churchill. As they put it "other versions are presented as commentaries and explanations rather than translations..." To think that Usama's translation of the Quran is credible is just not logical. We cannot think that this translation is anything but biased information framed to create a view of Islam that is negative.

The next claim Usama perpetuates is the fear of Sharia law. This claim is no stranger to Muslims in America, is it seems to be the go-to for many ignorant Muslim fears. We must understand a few things about Sharia via Iftikhar before we continue. First, "Sharia is not a word traditionally used in Arabic to refer to the process of Islamic legal reasoning...that word is fiqh." Second, "there is no single monolithic definition of Sharia as it exists today anywhere in the world." So, to think that Sharia is a unified goal that Muslims want to be spread to all Americans is ridiculous. The Supremacy clause clearly states, "the Constitution and the laws of the United States [are] the supreme rule of the land." Nothing can supersede that fact. The debate you would think should end there but in order to further prove this Iftikhar says "Sharia only applies to observant Muslims...Sharia does not apply in any way whatsoever to non-Muslims," and "forbids members of a Muslim minority [like Muslims in the U.S.] from engaging in clandestine acts of violence...or from acting as a political or military agents for a Muslim-majority country." Muslims do not have an agenda to spread Sharia law. This will in no way ever apply to non-Muslim people.

Like the fear of the Sharia agenda, is the fear of Muslims wanting to destroy America. In my interview with Ramy, it became clear that these claims can be so hurtful and false. Ramy has experienced this sort of racial intolerance and told me a story that he says "he will never forget." Ramy was a Resident Assistant hanging out in the lobby of his dorm when a student was talking about how "Muslims want to destroy the world. Ramy said "He turned to me and said 'but not you Ramy.'" The student acted like it was just a joke, but he really just shed light to the false belief that exists in today's society. Ramy told me "We do not hate America. I do not understand where these ideas come from." This sadly is the feelings of so many Muslims here in America seeing the racial intolerance ripping them apart. Iftikhar shares Ramy's sadness saying "Hopefully within a few years, the idea that all American Muslims want to turn America into an Islamic state will seem as stupid as te idea that a Catholic president would take orders from the Vatican." These radical thoughts are stemmed from the radical terrorist perpetuating the extreme ideas. What we must understand though is that most Muslims don't see terrorist groups like ISIS as true Muslims. They do not represent Islam. Lewis and Churchill agree with this point, "Most Muslims are not fundamentalist...and most fundamentalists are not terrorists." Muslims are not out to destroy America.

And finally, we will debunk the title of Usama's presentation, "Allah is Satan, Jesus is God." Usama seems to think that Muslims and Christians do not believe in the same God and many others who do not understand Islam agree with him. In our interview, Ramy put it very clearly, "The God of Christianity and Allah are the same." This being said, Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammed is the last Prophet of God. This does not mean that they do not believe in Jesus. In fact, the Quran talks quite a bit about Jesus and, as Ramy puts it, "Muslims believe that Jesus was one of the greatest messengers of God." You see, in order to be Muslim, you must believe that Muhammed is the last Prophet and there will be no more after him, according to Ramy. Where Christianity and Islam differ is that Muslims reject the fatherhood of God. They do not see Jesus as the son, but just another Prophet. As Iftikhar quoted the Prophet Muhammed's final sermon, "All mankind is from Adam and Eve." Even Muhammed believed in the Christian God because Allah and God are the same person. There is no difference as Usama would want you to believe.

Usama Dakdok's claims do not stand. Ramy, Iftikhar, and Lewis and Churchill all agree that he is wrong. When three vastly different perspectives agree, a Muslim, a Muslim Scholar, and Secular Scholars, it is pretty easy to see that all Usama is doing is spreading lies that bring about an ignorant populous and perpetuates the harmful actions committed on innocent Muslims. It saddens me to think that acts such as the terrorist plot in Kansas, will only continue with Usama's harmful rhetoric. How many more tears do I need to cry as I see my friends get hurt by people that I use to call friends. I think Ramy put it best at the end of our Interview:

"Islam is about love. We need to love one another. The Prophet Muhammed had an apartment in front of Christians. They were his friends. We were taught that we must love one another in Islam. Whatever your religion, background or race. The Quran says "...Whoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind." The image of Islam portrayed by the media does not represent the true religion. "Humanity is but a single Brotherhood: So make peace with your brethren." The Quran 49:10."

Well Ramy, I am glad to call you my friend. We are a standing tribute that people of different religion, background, and race can stand side by side. Peace is not just a word but an action by which the world needs to be taught. I hope that Aberdeen pushes back against the ignorance that is growing like an evil seed. If we stop the seed from cultivating, only then can we stop the flower of hate from growing. I hope that the message of love does not fall on deaf ears.