President Obama’s Visit to a Mosque a Step in The Right Direction

Last updated on: February 9, 2016 at 11:04 pm by Muslims Writers Guild of America

President Obama’s Visit to a Mosque a Step in The Right Direction 2016-02-09T23:04:22-05:00 Muslims Writers Guild of America

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by Seidu Malik

Muslims in America, according to Pew research Center constitute just about 1% (3.3 million) of the entire US population. Unfortunately, this tiny community dominates the news media headlines for all the wrongs reasons. The recent San Bernardino and Paris attacks by ISIS inspired terrorists have created a culture of fear and have resulted in mosque attacks and backlash in the community.

Whiles ISIS and other terror groups are hiding behind Islam or perverting the true teachings of Islam for political gains, ironically, some in the community have bought into this bandwagon train of distraction believing ISIS’ actions to be the true face of Islam.

Nothing can be further from the truth though if you consider the fact that Muslims have lived and worked peacefully in this country for decades without any terrorism. The question is, how could the same group of people all of a sudden mutate into violent entity in society if they had been reading the same holy book, the Quran, for all these years? Extremism is not new to the world’s major religions and Islam is no exception. Therefore, to blame the actions of a few lunatics with no knowledge or understanding of the faith on the peace loving Muslims that are a part of the community is totally unfair. This is why President Obama’s visit to a Baltimore county mosque last week was very refreshing to the Muslim community and peace loving people in society.

As President Obama rightly said, the nation’s greatest strength is our diversity. This is not just rhetoric but a real fact of nature that can be testified by geneticists, animals and plant breeders of all ages. To allow ISIS and other terror groups to sow the seed of division in the community and to portray Muslims as bad despite obvious evidence to the contrary will hamper national unity and societal integration.

As a matter of fact, Muslims are so disgusted by the actions of ISIS and other terror groups in disparaging Islam that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community recently launched the TrueIslam petition initiative and has received signatures from across the spectrum of society. There are a millions of sound, hard working, and law-abiding American Muslims of diverse profession who practice their faith in peace and carryout their professional duties to the best of their ability for national development.

ISIS and other terror groups survive on fear, intimidation and propaganda. They have therefore become a cancer on society and are bent on causing carnage and distraction across the globe. This, therefore, requires a collective effort from all of us in the community irrespective of political or religious affiliation to stop this problem from spreading. We cannot solve this problem if we are divided. This only serves to strengthen ISIS’ recruitment and propaganda machinery.

Just a few days ago, President Obama was condemning the rise in anti-Semitism in society. When is our modern society with all the information at our fingertips (social media and the internet) going to appreciate the value of diversity and inclusion? We should look at the contributions individuals offer towards the progress of community and not religious affiliation because, after all, faith is personal.

If history is anything to go by, we should not lose sight of the fact that other minority groups in the past have received their fair share of being the media’s punching bag or election cycle news item. No one knows which minority group in the future will become a poster child for bashing by the masses and therefore we should rightly speak against such actions unfolding right in front of us.

President Obama’s visit that is his first in the country will ultimately bring some welcome relief to Muslims Americans that, despite everything, we are still a part of the strong American community that is leading the world in many fields of academic, military and industrial pursuit.

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