Islamophobia Inside East: Islamophobia, the fear or hatred of Islam, is an unacceptable issue at East and in society

“Allahu Akbar” is an Islamic phrase meaning “God is great.” Muslims, including me and some of my family, are required to say it at least 17 times a day during prayer to thank and praise to Allah.

It’s also a cheap joke. In fact, it’s my white, Christian classmates’ favorite punchline when our teacher lectured about the timeline of 9/11 — despite the phrase having no relevance to the tragedy itself. The class laughed anyway. No one scolded the student for belittling my religion or falsely relating a mass act of terrorism to my innocent society.

But what could I say? As much as I wanted to speak out, I didn’t want to risk being called a terrorist — for the third time that day.

This jab wasn’t a harmless mistake — it was outright Islamophobia, the dislike of and prejudice against Islam or Muslims. This hostility isn’t just present in jokes, I see it daily in news shows, books and in classroom assignments.

Islamophobia has surged since 9/11, which was said to have been carried out in the name of Allah. Though they were Muslims like me, they misinterpreted the true message of Islam and were an extremist minority group.

Islam is a peaceful and intricate religon that in no way permits violence like 9/11. Most Muslims believe it is a severe criminal act to kill an innocent person — an Islamic principle which is specifically outlined in the Quran. Members of my mosque frequently give Sadaqah — a voluntary charity to please Allah — such as giving money to starving children or water to those who are thirsty. We value kindness, charity, honesty, respecting parents and elders and many other morals — not killing innocent souls.

Most people are unable to look past the way the media portrays Islam. They are unable to see us as anything besides terrorists, suicide bombers and mass murders. They are unable to see our beautiful religion because they don’t dig deep.

We also value “La Iqra Fiddin,” a verse from the Quran, which means “there is no compulsion in this way of life.” This verse refutes Islamic State in Syria and Iraq’s argument that they are justified in killing innocent people because they won’t convert to Islam. Islam completley forbids this by explaining that killing an innocent person unjustly is like killing all of mankind in the eyes of Allah.

The constant prejudice toward my religion is not only incorrect but has become way too normalized at East and often goes unnoticed by teachers and fellow classmates.

When we read the book “Woman at Point Zero” in my IB English class, discussions were focused on Islam and sexual assault, discussing how a Sheikh — a leader in a Muslim community or organization — sexually assualted a woman. The class pointed to Islam as what justified the assault. Students made comments like, “Islam allows men to take advantage of their wives.” These students were ignorant and uneducated — they had never read the Quran or a single fatwa, an Islamic ruling, in their life. By reading the Quran, non-muslims will learn the basic parts of Islam Because people make Islamophobia the societal norm, these comments were completely disregarded.

Islam is portrayed as a violent and opressive religion simply because it is different than the American standard of Christianity. This fear of another religion is especially a prevalent issue in homogenous states like Kansas where 77% of residents are Christian, according to pewresearch.org.

Unintentional Islamophobia, like sending a picture of one dressed up in a veil, acting as a member of ISIS as a joke, is something I see all the time, but this ignorance is still inexcusable. It makes me feel unwelcome in the world and does the same to millions of other Muslims by not respecting our decision to please Allah.

Islam has been aligned with horrific acts of mass murder and destruction throughout my life, but it doesn’t have to happen at East. It’s time for the constant generalizations to stop along with the unneeded comments that are so clearly commented at me. It’s time for people to educate themselves about Islam’s real principles instead of assuming the worst.