Islamophobia

[S_and_S]

Re: Islamophobia

@Munni

The way to decrease Islamaphobia is to get yourself out there and let your neighbors and coworkers know who you are and what you stand for and rather, dont stand for. I am active on social media and will be doing an interview soon with a non-muslim and I can tell you that people want to know what muslims truly believe about such atrocities, if they support them, things about our faith, etc. Insulating ourselves is not going to help. Some people I know make it a duty to go and introduce herself to several neighbors so they know who she is. It starts with just one. Then you can use social media outlets to let your views be known. I dont think we as muslims need to defend Islam, because it can do it itself, what we can do if we choose is to let others know that we as followers of Islam know we have a great faith and it doesnt teach us to do the horrific things that some do in its name. With the media spreading wrong things and always bleak things about muslims and Islam, we should have our own form of spreading the goodwill that we can via our use of media, etc. I’ve had several non-muslims ask me why muslims dont get the message out that Islam doesnt stand for terrorism, why are the muslims quiet, etc. I try to tell them sometimes that its not that we are quiet, its that we dont get the coverage, but if we were more vocal, they couldnt ignore us.

Sorry, super late response here but this is what Ive come to realize about all of this. Being silent and doing nothing is worse and part of the major problem in my opinion now and the reason I believe this whole rhetoric has been able to spread. Just being good Muslims and citizens isnt doing enough anymore. Non Muslims think that by being quiet, mainstream Muslims somehow condone these crazy acts of violence and therefore in a way support it. I never really dealt with having to explain my religion to people in Canada growing up because the classrooms were always diverse and maybe it was because it was a different time. Now after living in the US, I find myself in general conversation having to further explain something about my belief or culture and people generally are very unaware of our practices and how they play a role in our lives. They just don’t get it because their culture is so different and isnt necessarily influenced directly by their religious beliefs, if they have any. I have to agree with Ma Mooli as well. Disassociating from these extremist people can only be done by standing up against them and isolating THEM not allowing them to isolate us in countries we reside happily and freely in (which is something I’m sure all of us acknowledge.) Unfortunately sometimes people who scream the loudest are still the ones that make the most noise and can cause the most damage or do the most good, but I think at this point most have to try. If we don’t speak up, don’t we let that kind of anti Islamic rhetoric to thrive and both sides to win (referring to both sides as extremist as well as bigots and ignorance) over us, who in majority are just trying to live normal lives?

Came across this on Facebook and I think it’s worth sharing because I think it shows how much just having rational conversations without getting emotional and offended about our religion can change some peoples minds. There will always be crazies around but I think positive people if out in large numbers can do a lot of damage control here.

Hope the link works from fb, it’s a public post.

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