Ever since 9/11, a disastrous event that impacted this nation like no other, Islamophobia has been present in the hearts of many Americans and has shaped their opinions about the followers a religion that's based on the peace and love and "submission that should come from within, from sound belief in and conviction to Allah, with no doubt. It should also come from "love, trust, and affection." Americans have attacked mosques nationwide, and "for the year 2001, the FBI reported 481 anti-Islamic hate crimes, which is three times the yearly average over more than 10 years. The average of 2001 to 2013 is 168 anti-Muslim hate crimes per year."

And now? Donald Trump is manipulating the fear that has been present since 9/11 with his anti-Islamic rhetoric, stating that he is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, hand-in-hand with his plans of building a wall against the "rapists from Mexico." He says that "our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," and it will "make America great again." And our fellow Americans agree. You might say, "No, there is no way," yet, on Facebook, within the first few hours of Obama's speech about Donald Trump's plans for the expulsion of all Muslims, all the top comments on this video were of people criticizing his words and defending Trump. Obama asked the country not to turn against each other out of fear, yet that's exactly what's happening.

The media only focuses on the terrible things that a select few "Muslims" do. The media only calls the attacks by minorities "terrorist attacks." Yet, when a white person kills children, when a white person attacks abortion clinics and when a white person commits a mass shooting, that is not a terrorist attack. No, that's just a "kid with mental illness", committing a crime because "their parents didn't raise them right." The double standards are repulsive.

Let us not forget some of the numerous crimes against humanity by the Catholic church, the religion that 69.5 million people in America believe in. Bishops were known to manipulate people for years by telling them that their loved ones were suffering in Purgatory and would stay there unless they gave money to the Church. Catholics burned innocent people under the suspicion that they were practicing black magic. Spain and other Catholic countries invaded land, killed countless people indirectly or directly, stole and raped while spreading their religion. The Church convinced some of the hundreds of thousands of people to become crusaders during the Crusades by promising them Apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins just because they wanted to rid Anatolia of all the Muslims present and make it predominantly Catholic.

Oh, but Muslims are the dangerous ones.

Those "Muslims" that commit heinous crimes because of "their love for Allah" and the favorite, ISIS, are not true Muslims. This is not love, trust and affection. They use the term "Muslim" to create more fear and hatred, using a term that means "one who submits" (to faith) to exterminate people who they think aren't worthy of life. These terrorists know what the world wants to hear and we are letting them win by giving in.

I remember sitting in the ER and I was speaking to an elderly woman, when suddenly she gasped and pointed at a Muslim woman on a carpet, facing Mecca and praying quietly as Muslims do, in a corner of the lawn in front of the hospital. The elderly woman seemed terrified and asked me what she was doing. I had to explain to her that she was praying, something normal for anyone religious to do, and she finally calmed down. It is unbelievable, how a pure simple action, a sign of devotion to a belief, could scare anyone.

I am not defending the "Muslim" terrorists being manipulated by ISIS, but innocent people do not deserve to be hated just because of what they believe in. According to Georgetown researcher, Nathan Lean, "American Muslims have a substantial presence in the health care industry, Muslim charity groups in the United States are too numerous to catalog, though the Bay Area Islamic Networks Group, the UMMA Clinic in Los Angeles, the Chicago-based Inner-City Muslim Action Network and Dearborn’s ACCESS and Muslim Americans designed the Sears (now Willis) and Hancock towers in Chicago, developed the chemotherapy mechanism that treats brain tumors and revolutionized this country’s original art form: jazz. They also contribute through their service as educators, lawmakers and soldiers and are on the front lines of campaigns to end some of today’s most egregious civil rights abuses." When he delivered his address at the Islamic Society of Baltimore towards the beginning of the year, Obama said, “The first thing I want to say is two words that Muslim Americans don’t hear often enough and that is, thank you. Thank you for serving your community."

And after the Orlando shooting, more than 200 American Muslims showed support for the victims of the catastrophe by breaking their Ramadan fast and praying in New York City.

Religion has always caused problems around the globe, although it was never meant to. Religion is supposed to bring hope to humanity, not crush it. Yet now, most of the 3.3 million Muslims in America live in fear because of the hate toward them. Immigrants come here in search of religious freedom and opportunity, but they are met with discrimination because Americans have never been a welcoming group, even though they were immigrants once themselves.

The issue here isn't Muslims, the issue here is the lack of gun control.

"The Orlando shooting wouldn't have been so deadly if someone would have had a small pistol in the club to stop him," a comment on a Facebook post about a news segment on Obama's support for the Orlando victims, shows how ignorant the public can be. If there was any sort of gun control in this country, a young adult in Virginia wouldn't have been able to purchase a deadly AR-15 with an expired ID in five minutes.

But that's a whole other story.