In the aftermath of the Paris attack, there has been an overwhelming amount of support for France and the victims affected by this tragedy. The international community came together in solidarity for France; places all around the world paid tribute by waving the French colors. Everyone -- from Dubai to Shanghai -- appeared to be standing with France. Allies vowed they would do everything in their power to help in the fight against ISIS, the terror group who claimed responsibility for the attacks.
On the flip side of all this positivity and support is another, less pleasant fallout of the conversation regarding the annihilation of ISIS. As many posted the hashtag #PrayforParis, many also posted a lot of hateful comments towards members of the Muslim community. In turn, they turned what should be a movement of unity into a movement of hate and animosity.
Comments like "Islam is the root to these attacks" turned the conversation into a religious war against Islam and Muslims. People even went as far as suggesting that talked about we should deport all Muslims. This created further backlash against the Muslim community.
We need to separate the terms "terrorist" and "Muslim." There doesn’t need to be another witch hunt for Muslims, who don’t deserve hate and harassment during the aftermath of this tragedy. For such a long time, the two terms were used interchangeably in media headlines as widespread Islamophobia took over in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This was the western world’s introduction to the Islamic world, so for many people it was hard to differentiate Muslims from terrorists.
The biggest problem with a terrorist group like ISIS, which claims they are Muslim, is that people tend to group them with Islam. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, however, a very small percentage has given Muslims a bad name.
The act of blaming an entire people because of the actions of a small group needs to stop. It's tearing apart our community. Muslims should not be blamed or shamed for things they didn’t do. They also shouldn’t take responsibility because, just like everyone else, Muslims don’t like ISIS.
