Islamophobia, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), is close-minded prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims. The main word in this definition is “close-minded”.
Muslims all over the world are being threatened and mistreated strictly because of how they look or what they wear. The New York Times stated that researchers at California State University found that hate crimes against Muslims have skyrocketed 78% in 2015.
There is blame put on the entire Muslim community because certain individuals from this population have committed acts of terror in America. What needs to be realized here is that a small group of sick individuals is not representative of an entire population.
Three students and a professor from Indiana University led an Islamophobia discussion panel on Sept. 14 and shared some personal experiences they have had with Islamophobia. Sherouk Ahmed, a graduate student at IU, spoke of being attacked in public court and having profanities yelled at her from car windows. In both circumstances, bystanders did nothing to help. Two of the four speakers described times they were spit on for wearing their traditional garments. Sabren Abdulwahab, a student at IU, spoke of a time post-9/11 that a TEACHER gave a lecture on terrorism and ended with, “All Muslims are terrorists,” looking directly at Sabren. A professor at IU, Zaineb Istrabadi, recalled times where she was verbally harassed and called names such as dirty Arab, Iraqi, towel-head, and camel jockey. These names are so offensive that it is nauseating. I don’t know what kind of person would ever use such derogatory words towards another human being.
I believe that ignorance serves as a major part of Islamophobia. If you are not exposed to this religion, you may not see how similar we all are. That still doesn’t give someone the right to judge anyone based on how they look. If one's only image of Islam is an image of ISIS, they are led to believe that Islam is a terrorist religion, which is completely false and assumes a false identity for an entire population. This is why people need to educate themselves on different cultures outside of what is heard on the news. Do your research on the beauty of the religion of Islam before making unfair judgments on innocent people.
Anthony Maranto, a student at IUPUI, talked about his experiences with Muslim culture. “After 9/11, I saw someone with a hijab on an airplane and I was a little uneasy,” he said, “but after I made friends with exchange students from Saudi Arabia in high school, I could see the world through their side too. It opened me up to a different culture.” He discussed his shift in views after being enlightened by first hand exposure to Islamic culture. If one is uneducated on the underlying principles of a group or culture, it is not right to make assumptions about their beliefs.
Americans are all immigrants. America is the “new world”, one that we created. Our ancestors come from places around the world. Some people treat others of different races and religions as if they are foreign to us, yet America is FULL of foreign people. People born in the United States are so lucky. There are many poverty stricken people in America, but still our problems seem so minor compared to the people of poorer countries. We take for granted a functional government that practices democracy and freedom of speech, something many other countries do not have. People from the Middle East come here for a better life, and for some reason, social biases exist that prevent them from becoming fully accepted into this country. One of the women in the Islamophobia panel talked about how she just wants to live a "normal life", but she feels society does not allow her to do so because of the constant judgement by people. She said she feels like there is a responsibility put upon her to defend her Muslim brothers and sisters when any conflict arises. I think this demonstrates true pride because of the unity represented among this specific group of people.
I feel a personal responsibility to make things right in this world. We are always saying how we want to have the best country in the world, but why are there citizens who still don’t feel like they are accepted here? I wish that everyone could feel comfortable in his or her own skin, without having to prove anything to anyone. Sarah Kawamleh, a freshman at IU, shared some very inspirational words at the Islamophobia panel that I want to pass on to you. Her message moved me. I hope you are all equally moved by her passion and hope for the future.
“It’s our job and our role, not only as Muslims, but as human beings, as educated college students or professors or whoever we are, to tell people ‘this is not Islam’ or how Islam is. I complain all the time about what is going on in the media with the display of hateful rhetoric and the use of fear mongering tactics. But we have the power to change this rhetoric. We have the ability to be on those screens. We have to realize just how much power we have. There’s this one saying ‘The best way to take away someone’s power is to convince them that they don’t have any.’ But we have the power to change the world and to change people’s perspectives. I can’t do it alone. But we all can get involved. I’ve seen the spark of passion in people’s eyes, Muslim and non-Muslim. Empathy and sympathy that arises from these different conversations you have with different people. And I’ve seen the impact. So as much hateful rhetoric I get from people and these conversations or if you’re ever spit on, anything that happens to us, any Islamophobic attacks, I know that there are people out there that actually care. And right now, it seems hopeless that what is in the media is false and we know it, like a lot of us know it, and we think that we can’t do anything about it, but we really can. We all have the power to do something. I don’t want my Muslim sisters and brothers to be going through this like we all have the capability to help one another and we can’t just sit here and listen and complain. These fear mongering tactics are really lowering the self esteems of Muslims and we need your help. Power to the youth, we can do this!”
Learn more about this issue and how you can get involved at: http://www.islamophobia.org
