Tragedies happen all the time all over the world. Many are caused by the hands of a select few people who feel as if the world is against them, or people who feel their power has been taken away so they try and take it from others. That is exactly what has happened in Paris, and it’s going to keep happening unfortunately. What needs to stop happening as a result of these heinous crimes, is the spike in attacks against Muslims.
Every time there is an attack by Islamic terrorist groups, whether it be Al-Qaeda, ISIS, or Boko Haram, innocent Muslims pay the ultimate price. People have a very selective way of thinking and grieving when it comes to these situations. They feel for the westerners caught in the crossfire, but not the people who live right next door to these terrorists. They’re people trying to live their lives just like us.
So when hard working Muslims become victims of hate crimes at the hands of westerners who in their own minds think that they are defending their countries, we don’t grieve for them. We don’t acknowledge them. I saw an extremely poignant post the other day that read something like this, “The man who bags your groceries at the corner store isn’t out to get you, Aleeza who’s in your third period writing class isn’t in ISIS, the family dressed in traditional Muslim clothing walking through the local mall isn’t planning a major attack on the US, they’re just people living their lives.”
It feels as if people have lost every ounce of rationale that they have. Since when did a select few represent the views of billions of people? The one thing that continues to come up in my mind is this idea and how when you compare it to other religions like Christianity whose atrocities go back centuries there isn’t the same generalization. Dylan Roof went into a historical black church and killed nine people, but his crimes don’t represent all white people and they don’t represent all Christians.
The same treatment isn’t given to people who follow Islam, especially by the media who continues to say in sweeping generalizations that Islam promotes violence. Religion in general does not promote violence, it is in place to bring hope and instill a sense of faith in all people. If this religion promoted violence I don’t think it would have lasted this long. Is there violence in the stories told in the Quran, yes of course there is. The bible and the Torah also feature stories of violence against the innocence.
This kind of xenophobia is exactly what fueled the mass killings of Jews not even a century ago. We clearly have yet to learn from our mistakes, you’d think with all the progress we’ve made in the world our views would advance, but they haven’t. The countries that these terrorist groups are coming from are young countries that at this time are trying to work through multiple issues. Economic, societal, and religious problems that we as westerners seem to keep trying to fix.
Although the news continues to report incidents of Islamaphobia and vicious attacks against Muslim people, nothing is really done. Just last week a man in England attempted to push a Muslim woman in front of a train. When Ahmed Mohammed brought his clock to school and was subsequently detained one thing asked by people in the media was why didn’t he explain to the school what it was and didn’t engage with the teachers. The simple answer is that he’s 14 years old, and was probably extremely intimidated by all these adults coming at him asking him questions. Any kid would be a little hesitant, especially when it feels like you’re in a lot of trouble.
We need to stop being so eager to make snap judgements, because our people are suffering and their people are suffering. Everyone’s trying to protect themselves, but we must not forget that humility and forgiveness is and will always be a major part of the solution.
