I’m a Muslim-American. I’m Not a Terrorist.

It’s a difficult time for Muslim-Americans in the world right now. In light of the recent San Bernardino shooting, Muslims all over the world are facing extreme discrimination from Islamophobists, and some Muslim-American women have even felt the need to hide their hijabs with a hoodie or take them off completely. 

Is this really what America has come to? These days when I go online, I see mostly hatred coming from people who are accusing all Muslims to be terrorists, I see articles about Donald Trump wanting to bar all Muslims from coming to the United States, I see people giving in to the fear and biased comments of extremists such as Trump, not knowing any better.

Since when did Muslim-Americans become the target? It baffles me every day that people are comparing the actions of an extremist militant group, ISIL, to people like my aunt, who happens to wear a hijab. If any of these people got the privilege to ever meet my aunt, they would immediately see how much of a kind, caring and generous person she is. She doesn’t deserve to be called a terrorist. She doesn’t deserve to feel fear for practicing her own religion in the “land of the free.” She shouldn’t feel scared to step outside her front door every day for fear of someone causing physical or emotional harm on her. It’s not fair. 

As for me, I’m tired of people acting like they know what the true meaning of Islam is. Please take a second and educate yourself on The Five Pillars of Islam before you label any Muslim as a terrorist. This is a religion built on the foundation of giving, good faith, good deeds and much more. It’s sad to see so many people compare it to something it’s not. 

Before I end this, I would like to leave you with a quote from President Barack Obama himself: 

“The values that we are defending, the values that we are fighting against ISIL for are precisely that we don’t discriminate against people because of their faith, we don’t kill because people because they’re different than us. That’s what separates us from them and we don’t feed that kind of notion.” – President Obama

I commend Obama for constantly defending Muslim-Americans in their fight against Islamophobists. This constant fear, hatred and discrimination toward Muslim-Americans is exactly what ISIL wants to see. Let’s not stoop down to their level and stand strong as a nation that truly does practice freedom of religion.

• islam
• islamophobia
• muslim american
• san bernardino