Muslims use social media to condem ISIS, fight Islamophobia

It’s trying to win propaganda battles, and for ISIS, the best propaganda victory is when it gets to portray itself as the sole, legitimate protector of Muslims all over the world.

Several of the Imams, who represented 26 different Islamic societies and mosques from New Jersey and one from NY City, gave statements stressing how important it was for their voices to be heard throughout their communities, both Muslim and non Muslim, so that people knew how they felt.

But ISIS isn’t strictly religious.

I am sure many Londoners will express the same acceptance and consideration towards fellow Muslim citizens.

The newspaper says Shalaby was interrupted by a man who made anti-Muslim comments.

Despite claiming to follow the same religion as their victims, ISIS murders Muslims, irrespective of their sect, because that’s what they do; they kill people, they kill humanity. There is also a very common Western perception that terrorist attacks are a routine activity in predominantly Islamic nations, and this has the effect of trivializing such incidents in the Western media. “If you do not have respect for this country, why the f*** do you come?” and adding that they “do not have the right to impose any one-sided view in any way”. If you’re a university graduate earning the typical HK$10,000 a month, would the cluelessness of government leaders, the decadence of our tycoons, and the inability to ever own a home or ascend the mobility ladder make you shrug your shoulders? There are no religious tests or requirements to hold office in the U.S. The Constitution is remarkably clear on that point. “Just because of these people, we have to see the consequences”. It’s a problem here in the USA as well.

The leaders decried political rhetoric in recent days, including politicians who referred to Syrian refugees as a suspect population and called for them to pass a religion test to enter the country.

Ted Cruz, for example, has called on the Obama administration to carpet bomb Syria and Iraq because ISIS “will not be deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties”. Or upon examining that, most people who opened fire in schools, churches, malls and theaters happened to be white, what if we stopped white people from entering the country because they were all a perceived “threat” to American freedom?

But Cruz isn’t the only Republican presidential candidate doing his part to hand ISIS big time propaganda victories. Marco Rubio’s argument that there is a “clash of civilizations” underway.

Ahmad used the analogy of the Ku Klux Klan.

So thanks for that, Marco. “Unfortunately, if I said to you well, if only ISIS believed that anyone who leaves the religion should be killed, well, maybe then we can finally kill all of ISIS”.

Shutting down mosques would be the ultimately propaganda victory for ISIS. That is a myth shattered by the fact that most of Daesh’s victims are Muslims, including the 40 or so killed in suicide bombings in Burj al-Barajneh, Beirut just the day before the Paris attacks.

Representatives from the US Attorney’s office and the New Jersey Homeland Security Office also attended the condemnation event. And often the two groups are falsely associated. “People have fears and concerns, but they need to understand that the poor people are running from terrorism, they have lost loved ones and are trying to settle and build themselves back up”.