Dear Anti-Muslim protesters,
American Muslims are not your enemies. Many of us are actually on your side, but your misinformation prevents you from understanding that. You see, we've been as much the victims of extremism as you have. This may surprise you, but many of us have actually had to pack up and flee our home countries because of it. Turning on the news to see our fellow countrymen being killed by terrorists is an experience that we tragically share. It turns out we both want to stop ISIS, but one of us has a better understanding of what we are actually fighting against.
Because of just a bit more proximity to the region, we, the nonviolent majority of Muslims, understand that ISIS's ideology is the political invention of power-hungry warlords looking to exploit an uneducated and disillusioned youth to violently further their self-interests. The ideology ISIS preaches is called "Islamist extremism" and many prominent Muslims like Maajid Nawaz have actually devoted their lives to fighting against it.
But what's the difference between Islamism and Islam?
Islam is a religion. Islamism is the desire to impose that religion on a political system. Islamist extremism is what happens when someone ignores the tenets of Islam that preach peace and tolerance and decides to misrepresent the religion in a way that encourages young, uneducated people to fight for the creation of an old-school Islamic caliphate.
American Muslims don't want that and neither do you. I refuse to believe that you were simply born as a bigot, so how about we remove the anti-Muslim aspects of your message and stand together against Islamist extremism. No, calling it "radical Islam" doesn't help. It's too vague and many people will conflate that with Islam in the American media. This is Islamist extremism and you won't find it at that mosque you're so worried about.
What you will find at that mosque are some great allies. You'll find people who hate terrorism even more than you do. You'll find people whose families have unfortunately been affected by terrorists. You'll find people who would want nothing more than to see ISIS disappear right this second. And, most of all, you'll find young people who are tired of seeing people like you target their religion and their places of worship when there are such larger issues that need our attention.
Sincerely,
An American Muslim
