Nation

‘Islamophobia’ gaining notoriety with recent controversies

Broadcast journalism sophomore Aspen Enoch studies in the basement of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library as Muslim students pray behind her. | Naheeda Sayeeduddin/The Daily Cougar

Not long ago, Raheel Ramadan and his wife, Sara Meghani, both UH alumni, entered La Madeleine intending to enjoy a pleasant lunch. What began as a typical day soon turned into a nightmare experienced by many American Muslims.

A customer in the restaurant vehemently voiced his disapproval of the couple having the right to eat at the restaurant, calling them “terrorists.” He expressed his sentiments to other customers, who continued eating their meals and did not rise to the couple’s defense.

The man then took his complaints to the staff of the restaurant, declaring that Muslims should not be allowed to eat there. Not one member of the staff denounced his actions and not one brought up the Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

America has seen such scenarios played out many times in the past. Previously, other minorities were victims of prejudice and hatred. Today, Muslims are the targets of persecution and contempt.

“We have to focus on what is happening today and to realize that the same forces that are demonizing Muslims and Arabs today are the same forces that demonized Jews, Blacks, Hispanics and all sorts of other groups in the past,” Rice University history professor Ussama Makdisi said. “And they will demonize presumably other groups in the future.”

Many American Muslims became victims of hate crimes after Sept. 11. In the past few years, Islamophobia in the U.S. has risen and fallen. Due to recent controversy surrounding the “Ground Zero Mosque” and Quran-burning incidents, Islamophobia has again increased.

“Amongst school children, one student was beaten and thrown in a dumpster and another had his jaw broken,” said Kaleem Siddqui, spokesperson for the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “We have also been made aware of shots fired at a mosque and an explosive device used to destroy property on mosque grounds.”

History has a way of repeating.

In the mid-1800’s, discrimination against Irish Americans was widespread. Job classifieds stating, “Irish need not apply,” were not uncommon. Until the 1960s, systemized segregation was the American way of life.

“Whenever there is a national or economic problem, we need a scapegoat,” History professor Robert Buzzanco said. “Instead of looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What have we done wrong?’ we point a finger at those who are different from us. This time it happens to be Muslims.”

Despite the rise of Islamophobia, a significant number of UH students accept and respect Muslims.

“I do not think that all Muslims are bad people,” business senior Michael Washington said. “Anyone could be a terrorist.”

Internationally, Islam is the largest religion after Christianity. According to CAIR there are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, of which 6 million reside in the US as of 2001. Yet, according to a 2010 Gallup survey, 4 out of every 10 Americans have feelings of prejudice against Muslims.

“This is the worst episode I have seen of domestic repression,” Buzzanco said. “It’s sad when a group has to go out of its way to prove that they are not terrorists. How do you prove that when people already think the worst of you?”

The cure to Islamophobia may be as simple as familiarizing one’s self with Muslims and their beliefs.

“The basic truth is once you get to know Arabs and Muslims as individuals, once you humanize them, it’s very hard to demonize them,” Makdisi said.  “That’s the bottom line.”

Additional reporting for this story provided by Naheeda Sayeeduddin, Henok Tekeste and Karisha Lucero.

69 Comments

  • Definition of Islamophobia: A non-Muslim who has taken the time to educate him or herself on Islam.

    Here are some Islamophobes.

    Patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria on Islam
    "I am afraid that God has sent these men to lay waste the world".

    Gregory Palamus of Thessalonica on Islam
    "For these impious people, hated by God and infamous, boast of having got the better of the Romans by their love of God…they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil and not only do they commit these crimes, but even – what an aberration – they believe that God approves of them. This is what I think of them, now that I know precisely about their way of life."

    • If you really studied and researched for yourself from all sources, not just anti-islamic ones, you would see that you have been indeed brainwashed by same propaganda that nazi germany used and that Islam is the one true religion brought by all the prophets (pbut) of god/Allah, even Jesus (pbuh). Jesus said for my ownself can do nothing without the will of the father (god/ Allah) and to worship him (father/god/Allah) alone!!!!

      • It is interesting that you mention Nazi Germany, when Amin Al-Husseini, then the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (and thus leader of all Arabs) strongly supported the Nazis and their ideals, especially after 1933 when Hitler came to power. Under his time, Mein-Kampf was translated into several versions and released in several major Arab cities. The Mufti actually had a headquarters in Berlin where he organized Muslim military units and established the Arab Legions and Arab Brigade, which were trained and used by the Nazis. He was on friendly terms with Rudolf Hess (Auschwitz) and Franz Seiris (Mauthausen), among others, and even after VE Day, when Nazis were willing to divert Jews from concentration camps, in return for cash, the Mufti insisted that they be murdered. Under the Mufti's leadership, Jews were murdered and tortured in concentration camps in North Africa, and a huge amount of anti-Semitic feeling was spread, mostly thanks to the Mufti and his close ties with Nazi Germany.
        So if you really did do all your research, you would see the error of your ways.

        • And you seem to be missing the point that not all Muslims live in Arab countries. Whatever Arab countries chose to follow represented their political ideals of a given time period. I'm considering you're talking about Islam, not Arabic history. Before you use sweeping generalizations to misrepresent a religion, take a moment to think about what and who you're talking about.

          • I stated historical fact, not a generalization to misrepresent a religion. I brought it up to highlight the problem with Muslimah's mention of Nazi Germany.

            • Yet your historical fact did not address the point that Muslimah made at all.

              Also, saying "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (and thus leader of all Arabs)" isn't really a true statement. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, sure, did have leadership over a lot of Palestinean Arabs at the time, but Palistineans make up a very small percentage of the entire Arab world, so the Mufti was not the leader of all Arabs. Please take the time to be specific with your language. Furthermore, Amin al-Husseini was put into power directly by the British High Commissioner of the time, so to say that he was a representative of the people would be a stretch since there was no explicit consent to his leadership by the people.

              But this "historical fact" is digressing the conversation. So what if one person turns out to not be so great of a guy? What point does that prove? He in no way is representative of Muslims of today and not really a representative of Muslims back then either. You still don't address that there is propaganda in the media that is turning Americans against its Muslims.

    • Arafat,

      You are provoking conversation, and conversation is a first step, so regardless of my personal feelings I condone that.

      Secondly, for me the biggest indicator that helps me decide the rationality of an argument is which side degrades into name calling first.

      I think the pro Islam group loses these discussions, and loses this round. This is not an indictment of either argument just an assessment of Platonic logic phallacies and who dived head first into them first.

      • I should use spell checker and proof read better 🙂
        What I meant to say in that last line was this:

        This is not an indictment of either argument's veracity, this just an assessment of Platonic logic fallacies and who dived head first into them, and who more artfully navigated them.

  • Here are some additional Islamophobes:

    “Qur’an… an accursed book… So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.” —William Gladstone (1809-1898) Prime Minister of Great Britain 1868 – 1894

    JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (U.S. PRESIDENT)

    ”THE ESSENCE OF MOHAMMED’S DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE”.

    POPE BENEDICT/BYZANTINE EMPEROR PALEOGUS

    "Show me just what Prophet Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

    To reiterate…an Islamophobe is someone who sees Islam for what it truly is. No sin in that.

  • simms,

    This is not about my sense of humor. It is about Islamophobia.

    I believe Islamophobia is a made-up word. An Orwellian word that actually means the opposite of how it is used. A phobia is an irrational fear. I argue that fear of Islam is, in fact, rational. Any thoughts on this?

  • 4 millions Vietnamese were killed by Muslims, 6 millions Jews were killed by Muslims, 1 million Iraqis were killed by Muslims, and five million gypsies were also killed by Muslims during WW II.
    Muslims also sold opium to Chines.

  • Part II.

    And here is a short article which directly addresses some of the comparisons you erroneously made in your comment.

    >>> The Muslim Game:
    Bringing other religions down to the level of Islam is one of the most popular strategies of Muslim apologists when confronted with the spectacle of Islamic violence. Remember Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber? Why pick on Islam if other religions have the same problems?
    The Truth:
    Because they don’t.
    Regardless of what his birth certificate may or may not have said, Timothy McVeigh was not a religious man (in fact, he stated explicitly that he was agnostic). At no time did he credit his deeds to religion, quote Bible verses, or claim that he killed for Jesus. His motives are very well documented through interviews and research. God is never mentioned.
    The so-called “members of other faiths” alluded to by Muslims are nearly always just nominal members who have no active involvement. They are neither inspired by, nor do they credit religion as Muslim terrorists do – and this is what makes it a very different matter.

  • Part III.

    Islam is associated with Islamic terrorism because that is the association that the terrorists themselves choose to make.
    Muslims who compare crime committed by people who happen to be nominal members of other religions to religious terror committed explicitly in the name of Islam are comparing apples to oranges.
    Yes, some of the abortion clinic bombers were religious (as Muslims enjoy pointing out), but consider the scope of the problem. There have been six deadly attacks over a 36 year period in the U.S. Eight people died. This is an average of one death every 4.5 years.
    By contrast, Islamic terrorists staged nearly ten thousand deadly attacks in just the six years following September 11th, 2001. If one goes back to 1971, when Muslim armies in Bangladesh began the mass slaughter of Hindus, through the years of Jihad in the Sudan, Kashmir and Algeria, and the present-day Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq, the number of innocents killed in the name of Islam probably exceeds five million over this same period.

  • Part IV.

    In the last six years, there have been perhaps a dozen or so religiously-inspired killings by people of all other faiths combined. No other religion produces the killing sprees that Islam does nearly every day of the year. Neither do they have verses in their holy texts that arguably support it. Nor do they have large groups across the globe dedicated to the mass murder of people who worship a different god, as the broader community of believers struggles with ambivalence and tolerance for a radical clergy that supports the terror.
    Muslims may like to pretend that other religions are just as subject to "misinterpretation" as is their “perfect” one, but the reality speaks of something far worse.<<<

    • Arafat,

      You make points that are interesting. I am not sure how I feel about them, but at least you are advancing a discussion using factually plausible arguments and not resorting to name calling of those that don't agree with your perspective (unless you have done that in posts I havn't read, and in which case I retract the comment…. 🙂

      So I am still digesting your points as a whole, the one contention I will point out, which makes this whole thing even sadder, is that Jews, Christians and Muslims don't worship a different god. It is supposed to be the same one.

      The reality is that these are all political issues wrapped up in the facade of religion.

  • Arafat, just shutup and go educate yourself. All you do is trash any article you can find that mentions Islam. Maybe it is time to stop quoting anything negative you can find on the topic and just go read something balanced for a change. Also, how long did it take you to post all that? Go do something useful with your time.

  • Arafat,
    There is nothing more despicable than someone who sparks hatred in people and fuels the flames with half truths, mistruths and false information.
    Let the facts speak for themselves, over the last 100 years there have been more than 100,000,000 people killed in wars and genocides. Less than 5% were killed by Muslims who are 20-25% of the worlds population. If we go back 500 years, the percentage is much smaller. However, a disproportionate number of Muslims are victims of war and genocides.
    Vocal and deceptive bigots like you create the conditions that allow these atrocities to happen.

  • I'm a devout Muslim and not once have I ever blown myself up. Not once!

    On a more serious note, I have been targeted on numerous occasions by my fellow Americans who wanted to make a hate crime victim of me. But I know they did it out of simple ignorance and were misled by the same stuff Arafat is posting. As Professor Makdisi (who is a Christian, I believe) said, get to know Muslims and you'll quickly stop hating them. Arafat, wanna be my friend? =)

  • Yalateef,

    Out of what thin air are you pulling your facts from?

    Here's a little tale about Islam's first bloody four hundred years (of course it all began with the warrior Mohammed):
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/11/the_truth_

    Let's not forget the rivers of Hindu blood also resulting from Islam's untethered and ruthless aggression. This author claims 80 million Hindus were killed by Muslims:
    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/09/hindu-human-rig

    Finally, let us remember the 20th century began and ended with genocides committed by the hands of Muslims.
    1) 1.5 million Armenian Christians killed in Turkey in and around 1915.
    2) The genocide of Darfur that is ongoing to this day, thanks to Islam.

    So, Yalateef, am I an Islamophobe, or am I simply a person who has studied your religion, and see it for what it is?

    • Arafat,

      You are an Islamophobe, not because you have studied Islam, (which I don't believe you have). You are an Islamophobe because you have chosen to hate nearly a quarter of the world's population rather than to understand and appreciate that there are people out there that have different beliefs.

      You are not superior.

      In fact when it comes to wars and genocides, like I said and you cannot discount, Muslims are responsible for a very small percentage (Turkey and Darfur are already accounted for in my previous comment).
      You know who is responsible for the majority of the wars and genocides, so learn from history and stop being a hypocrite.

      • No, Arafat is an Islamophobe because he chooses to hate nearly a quarter of the world's population of which a good portion just so happens to live in countries where church and state are not separate, leading to all sorts of nasty complications, and is ruled by people who think it's fine to support a whole Quran-full of extremist groups hell-bent on producing violence in every single country they can (including Indonesia which is majority Muslim).

        Arafat is an Islamophobe because he does not see moderate Muslims being very vocal about this extremism.

        Arafat is an Islamophobe because he doesn't like seeing TV shows (South Park), newspaper comic authors, and the media kowtowing to the mass of vocal, religious Muslims for every bit of ostensible 'disrespect' to Muhammad (separation of church and state, anyone?).

        Arafat is an Islamophobe because he sees what vocal extremists and religious Muslims say far more often than any other, more moderate view, and so understands modern Islam through that lens.

  • pffffffff, @Arafat: your ignorance, bigotry and intolerance fuels your despicable thinking so as to see water as fire, sand as rock and pigeons as snakes!!!

  • I'm an American Muslim convert and it makes me sad that my fellow Americans can't or won't see the beauty of Islam. Islam is a way of religious belief and worship and it's also a rational way of life. Islam gives structure and peace to the life of the believer.

    I'm a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf and I feel that Islam has elevated my status as a woman. Muslim women have had property rights for over 1400 years and we are encouraged to keep our maiden names. Whatever I earn belongs to me but whatever my husband earns must go toward the household expenses. My husband is a Muslim from Thailand–there are more Muslims in Southeast Asia than there are in the Arab world–and he treats me very well.

    For all of those who hate Islam, I encourage you to go to the source. Visit a mosque. Talk with a Muslim. Read the Qur'an. Don't let others tell you what Islam is. Find out for yourself.

  • Terrorism knows no religion. You can't blame an entire religion or the people who practice it due to the actions of a few terrorists that claim they are doing it in the name of Islam.

    Islam is a religion of peace, and I strongly suggest everyone to educate themselves on the true beliefs of the religion before hating or fearing Muslims.

  • Arafat – if you actually had studied the religion properly then you would not be posting the uneducated and idiotic comments that we're seeing here. Crack open a book.. a legit one.

  • For those of you who know nothing about Islam other than what you have heard from unreliable sources – here is just a little about it:

    It preaches peace, patience, and prayer, donating and helping out the poor, needy, disabled, the orphans. It asks us to hold our tongues in anger and teaches the evils of hatred and jealousy. Those of us that practice our religion the way it should be practiced are not terrorists. Does this sound like a religion of hatred? Please educate yourselves, or even go out and meet a few Muslims so you can see that we are human beings just like everyone else on this planet and don't deserve to be treated any less simply because you can't open your eyes.

  • I'm an American Muslim as well, and I find it sad that some people can justify being bigoted and judgmental. Considering all the American claims that they believe in freedom of religion and acceptance of all cultures, it's sad to see such unfounded hatred. Arafat, I have no idea where you're getting your "facts" from, but rest assured that they are either untrue or heavily skewed against Islam. You can manipulate statistics to show anything with a little careful wording, and by excluding other pieces of relevant information.

    Muslims overall are an extremely peaceful people: the world Islam comes from the Arabic word "salam", which means peace. I, and all the Muslims I have ever known, condemn all acts of terror against innocents.

    Especially on the UH campus, where Muslims are a common sight, one can only hope that those inclined to spread lies about a religion that they know nothing about will one day come to their senses.

  • Just look around UH campus. Walking from class to the library and then from the UC to the Rec, you'll see so many Muslims. If they were really the awful, hateful people so much of the media is saying they are, don't you think there would have been some problems?

    The reality is the vast majority of the 1.2 BILLION Muslims are just living a normal life. They're normal people who work, get jobs, and have families. It's not fair when a law abiding citizen, who has broken no law and has nothing to do with international terrorists gets treated like a criminal, humiliated, and disrespected for following her faith.

    Tolerance it seems is in short supply now days, especially when it comes to people of the Islamic faith. We should start here on our own campus promoting it and we'll be making this nation a better place.

  • Ok, so, tell me Arafat, exactly how many people have died in the hands of Americans (at least 2 entire cities disappeared because of them, or are you also going to tell me the Japanese deserved it and good riddance?). European hands are not any cleaner, for if you grab a history book, you will notice that Europe was constantly at war, and then went on to "colonize and civilize" most of the world, by the sword, I might add. Tell the Aztecs, who had one of the most populous empires at the time, if Christianity was a religion of barbarians, warriors and murderers.

    Hell, we even had Popes who had their hands deep in worldly affairs, manuevering kingdoms to their advantage. Atleast the Muslims don't have someone who claims to be a connection to god who goes and does screwed up stuff like that.

  • I am a little alarmed at the bigoted comments on this article. I know many Muslims on campus who do indeed practice their religion, and they are law-abiding, peaceful people that are just like you and me. And besides that, no other century in human history has seen the amount of violence and death as seen in this century, which can be attributed not to Islam, but systems like Nazism and Fascism (i.e WWI and WWII).

    I think we need to understand each other a little better. We're all living in this world together after all.

  • i think its fine that people are worshiping the way they want to. they are not bothering anyone. – i dont think we should get caught up in the wave of islamaphobia

  • Part I.

    You know, don’t you, that no matter how many times you say something that isn’t true it does not change that truth. Every single Muslim on UH’s campus can say the “earth is flat” five times a day and the earth will still be round(ish).

    And the same goes for Islam. Each and every one of you can say Islam is a peaceful religion five times a day, but it doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t. Mohammed was a warrior, Jesus wasn’t. Mohammed raped and enslaved women, Jesus didn’t. Mohammed killed and tortured his enemies, Jesus didn’t. The list goes on and on and on and on.

  • Part II.

    And, then again, there is this present day reality that our Muslim apologist friends seem to want to also pretend does not exists: Islamic genocide in Sudan, repression and suppression of all Shi’ite freedoms in Saudi Arabia and Yemen Taliban turning a soccer stadium into an execution viewing area where women are shot in the head or hung from the goal posts, 1,000,000 Shia and Sunni killed in 7 year Iran/Iraq War, hanging of homosexuals in Iran, killing of Kurds in Iran, Iraq and Turkey, murdering Chaldeans in Mosul, murdering of Coptics in Alexandria, murdering of black Christians and black Animists in Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia, murdering of Buddhists in southern Thailand, murdering Hindus in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the list goes on and on and on.

  • Part III.

    That said the really issue here is about the definition and the meaning of “Islamophobe”. In the article it was used to describe non-Muslims who dislike Muslims for irrational reasons. My thesis is that the true definition of an Islamophobe is a non-Muslim who fears Muslims for rational reasons.

    The following article was published today and explains this quite well.
    http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39176

  • Linda, you urge others to "see the beauty of Islam," to "read the Qur'an" and "visit a mosque." How many of your Islamic brothers and sisters read the Bible, go worship with Hindus, observe a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony, or celebrate a Wiccan Sabbath? I believe the number is few. Religious tolerance goes both ways.

    If Muslims really want to affect a change in the way they are viewed in global societies (because it's not just Americans who view the Islam world through terror colored glasses), they need to stop playing the victim and speak up against the Islamic terrorism that is warping the Muslim image. Muslims should bellum sacrum (holy war) against those radical groups and be vigilant about speaking up against the hate crimes that are being committed daily against innocents of every race and origin in the name of Islam.

    • Muslims speak out against terrorism all of the time! Terrorism and ignorance makes their life much harder than it should be. I'm not Muslim but I admire them because they go through a lot and still they have the strength to keep practicing their religion and been patient with the millions of people who criticize and insult them. It's easy to criticize.

      • If Muslims are speaking out, and there is a religious movement against those who incite terror in the name of Allah, that movement must be small and out of public eye. It's easy to worship with your head down, patiently waiting for the boogie man to leave the religion. But we all know that turning a blind eye, and dismissing the large group of Muslims who are responsible for atrocities world wide as simply being a defect of the religion will not bring peace to Islam.

        • I'm not sure what you're suggesting we do Lisa. Hold a protest against terrorists?

          If you're wondering, we do have renown scholars among the Muslims who have condemned terrorism. These speakers are obviously not on CNN every night because that's not their forum. We don't have TV evangelicals. We have popular speakers and attend conferences and read articles and all of these mediums have been used to speak out against the people who hijack our religion to do evil.

          Saying a "Large group of Muslims who are responsible for atrocities," is very inaccurate. In reality there are 1,600,000,000 Muslims in the world and maybe only a few hundred may be responsible for terrorism. They just happen to make the news and get more media coverage. The other 1,000,000,000 Muslims are working, spending time with family, doing *normal* stuff that don't get TV coverage.

          • Hi Cougar Squared. I think rallies and protests are a great idea.

            Also, I think saying "maybe only a few hundred may be responsible for terrorism" is grossly inacurate. I would like to see statistical data supporting that statement.

  • When muslims release Christians from prison globally, stop the beheading globally, stand up as a whole in the United States and decry terrorism, stop murdering Jews, let us build a protestant church in mecca, and then apologize for the thousands of years of your bloddy history then we will accept you as a peaceful religion.

  • Lisa, if you paid attention and talked with some of the muslims on campus, you would notice that they speak up against Islamic terrorism.

    Arafat, everyone can claim a holy war, but in the end, it is not Islam that is killing people, but humans like any of us, just much more stupid ones than us. Ignorance and lack of education can do that.

    Michael, Christianity has been around for longer, and has had a WAY more bloody history than Islam.

    Look at the Crusades, they were declared by Christianity against the muslims, and a whole lot of people ended up dead, among them muslims, christians, and jews. Look at the French, who killed a bunch of "heretics" in the middle ages just because they didn't practice Christianity in the same way. Like I said before, look at the English and Spanish colonizations of the world, and the many who died during their conversions. Look at the thirty years war, which ravaged Germany horribly, and it was a Catholic vs Protestant war. Look at Hitler, who decided to go ahead and kill a bunch of jews just because he didn't like them. Those were governments doing things for their state religion, not the religion itself.

    If the Muslims at campus were terrorists, wouldn't they have blown up the place and threatened out freedom and liberty? Yet what do they do? They practice and preach the same values that America stands for. This might not be the view of EVERY LAST ONE OF THE 1.2 BILLION muslims in the world, but then, every religion has fanatics, and they usually do really stupid things.

    • UH Catholic,

      Learn your history.

      The First Crusade began only after Islam had conquered the entire Middle East, all of northern Africa, huge sections of central and southern Asia, and large areas in southern Europe.

      Christianity did not go out looking for an excuse to start the Crusades. Christianities back was against the wall entirely because of untethered Islamic Jihad –and it was only when Christianity had no other choice– before they chose to defend their people and start the First Crusade.

    • I am an alumus who lives in New York. I view the world like everyone else by reading newspapers watching television broadcast and reading news on the internet. The Muslim world reaches far beyond the University of Houston campus.

  • Having lived in Turkey for over a year, I can attest that Islam is a bias and backward "religion" when left unchecked. Thanks to Premier Attaturk who civilized the then backward Muslim Turkey by force. He forced women to show their face when in public and forced a secular government to the then backward Turkish people. Today the Turks see their Muslim brothers down south as backward and savage.

  • Listen everyone. This may come as a surprise to all of you. But, I predict that if "Arafat" or Whatever His Name Is, will accept my challenge, will have a life changing experience within one year.
    I hereby challenge "Arafat" or WHNI, to read a good translation of the Quran and at least one good book about the Prophet of Islam. Before the year is over, Arafat will become a Muslim. Not only that, but he will become an avid advocate of Islam and of Muslims.
    I Love you brother "Arafat".

  • This is an nice article, so thank you (Anam Ghias) for sharing.

    I've an addition about understanding Islam and Muslims: It's true that terrorism exists and is done by terrorists who are twisting many things in order to find an umbrella for their actions. What isn't ture, however, is associating their twisted actions with Islam and generalize to identify all Muslims as terrorists.

    This, in simple words, is another part of the cure for Islamophobia that you've mentioned at the end of the article. We should highlight more on the clear difference between terrorism and Islam; however only Islamophobics who are proud of it don't bother spending efforts to understand this basic principle.

  • Arafat, read a unbiased book for once in your life!!!!!!! The crusaders were bloodthirsty warrior who were so violent that not even their country of origin wanted them. They killed as much as 40,000 innocent people in only 2 days. Now that was terrorism. They killed thousands of Muslims, Christians, and Jews and Jerusalem and there is even evidence that they ate the flesh of the people they killed!!!!! Yes, that sounds like what a civilized person would do. Give a break!!

  • Muslimah · 2 days ago
    If you really studied and researched for yourself from all sources, not just anti-islamic ones, you would see that you have been indeed brainwashed by same propaganda that nazi germany used and that Islam is the one true religion brought by all the prophets (pbut) of god/Allah, even Jesus (pbuh). Jesus said for my ownself can do nothing without the will of the father (god/ Allah) and to worship him (father/god/Allah) alone!!!!

    Muslimah, your words above really scare me.

    You are probably going to find my next comments provocative but they are not intended to be at all.

    In YOUR world, in YOUR view, in YOUR understanding of reality Allah is the only God but so what, what does that mean?

    I am not a Christian, Jew or Muslim.

    Do I fit into your world or am I evil because I am not a Muslim. I have to ask if you read history from a balanced source and not just pro-Islamic ones.

    Try a simple exercise. Take anything one group is saying and switch it around and see how it sits on your palette.

    No American child should be beat up because they are Muslim, and no Muslim child should be killed because of the unfortunate geographic or political reality they have the misfortune to find themselves in.

    But most importantly no child should have any of these atrocities occur to them. No human being should have any these atrocities occur to them.

    Your absolute view of reality gives fertile ground for the most abhorrent of human behaviors, righteous indignation in the name of their God

    The key is no human being -jdui j

  • FIRST GOD AND ALLAH ARE NOT THE SAME. Secondly, this article just is a way to say oh come learn about Muslims and feel sorry for them. That way they can convert you and you wont think what they are doing is wrong. Its there plan people. VOTE!

Leave a Comment