France pushes for United Nations declaration of war against Islamic State

The aftermath of the terrorist attacks that hit Paris on November 13 have had major consequences for the Muslim community all around the world, especially in France where 32 acts of Islamophobia have been registered since last Friday, according to France 24 channel. They are disgusted at the actions of the murderers, but at the same time fearful of being targeted as other Muslims have been.

I am a Muslim, they are terrorists and if we begin to blur the lines between the two, then we are allowing them to gain the upper hand.

Florida senator Marco Rubio, himself the son of Cuban migrants, who a few see as the Republican with the best chances of challenging the likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the White House, went so far as to call the conflict between western nations and Islamic State militants as a “clash of civilisations”.

My heart is heavy with the loss and trauma resulting from this act of terrorism, and how its pain will be felt in the coming months and years on the individual and national scale. The disparity in our concern for victims of terrorism, depending on the country attacked and the dominant religion, inadvertently feeds into their narrative.

I am deeply saddened not only by what has occurred in Paris but also by the atrocities that have taken place around the world and that have been carried out by people who are enemies of humanity in general. “Be just; that is nearer to righteousness”.

He says it’s the association’s main mission to show that Islam is a religion of peace, not war. “It’s playing on people’s fears, trying to incite fear and hatred”. Instead of empathising with them we are busy declaring what Islam is and what it is not. Pray for the Catholics and the Muslims, pray for the misled and misguided, the abused and forgotten, pray for the ignorant and the wise, pray for the angry and the apathetic, pray for the ones no one else will. When we let hate brew more hate, there is no room left for peace.

In fact, the prophet Muhammad foresaw the disease of these religious clerics, prophesying that they would be the worst creatures under the canopy of the sky. “Daesh (Isis) are terrorists with a fascist ideology”, said Mraizika from the UMF. It’s easy to become inward-looking, fearful and intolerant of people who don’t look like us, who don’t follow our cultural customs, who follow a different god.

My wish is for all people to know that Islam is a peaceful religion. The Koranic verses I gave are merely a glimpse. Once we can understand this, the media of our country and the civilized world must display the true tenets of Islam. Most especially in the wake of trauma and terror, how we each decide to engage with “the other” is our own individual choice, but the fate is shared by us all.

“I wouldn’t expect to see this in Greenville”, she said. If we don’t stand up for these precious achievements, we could lose the will to counter the barbaric certitudes of extremists. While nine per cent of us believe that ISIS is on the righteous path. There is no wrong in any of those things.

And, if there is something the ummah, and all the learned leaders, ulama and thinkers need to figure out it must be how to be a Muslim in the current time.