The rhetoric used by some presidential candidates only divides our country further and serves the terrorist agenda of creating a war between the religion of Islam and the West.
Source/Credit: cleveland.com
By Safeer Ahmad | March 13, 2016
Back when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump first made his remarks about the Hispanic peopleand the need to build a wall to close the borders of the United States, people were outraged and thought this man's run was over. A couple of months later, the same thought came to mind, and particularly surprised me, when Trump said that we should ban the whole Muslim population from coming to the United States. Once again I thought he had gone too far.
There was no way someone could still be a viable candidate after what he had said. Yet Trump won seven of 11 GOP contests on Super Tuesday. I could go on and on as to why I disagree with some of Trump's comments, but I think a better way to illustrate my frustrations is to examine the facts.
As Trump continues to succeed, polls show that a shockingly large group of people agree with him. A poll conducted in New Hampshire found that two-thirds of voting Republicans support a ban on noncitizen Muslims entering the United States. Not only is this appalling, but it truly goes against what this country stands for and was built upon: a home for immigrants.
Take, for example, Steve Jobs. He was the son of a Syrian immigrant and blessed America with his genius mind. Had his father not been allowed to come to the United States under a president like Trump, we would not have the design for things like the iPhone that revolutionized the technology industry. Imagine how many other immigrants with the potential to enrich America will be denied from coming here if we allow a man like Donald Trump to be president and let comments like his flourish.
Consider how Muslims may feel. On one side, there is the disgusting so-called Islamic State tarnishing how the world feels about Muslims. On the other, there is our own free country preaching hate about Muslims, telling us to leave, damaging our mosques, and attacking our people. The rhetoric used by some presidential candidates only divides our country further and serves the terrorist agenda of creating a war between the religion of Islam and the West.
Just recently, Dr. Ben Carsonsaid Muslims who believe in sharia law and also abide by American values must be schizophrenic. Now examine what's been happening to Muslims. In Connecticut, a man with a rifle shot the exterior of a mosque. In Pennsylvania, a pig's severed head was left outside the front doors of a mosque. A teacher in Georgia asked a 13-year-old girl wearing the hijab if she was carrying a bomb in her book bag and later said it was a joke.
A woman in California threw a cup of coffee on Muslims praying in a park while repeatedly insulting them. In a town meeting in Virginia, a citizen screamed at a fellow Muslim citizen saying that "every Muslim is a terrorist." There are countless heart-breaking stories just like these that prove how unacceptable it is for a potential leader of an entire country to make such hateful comments that damage his own people. We Muslims condemn this hostility and call for an increased unity in these troubled times.
President Barack Obama made this crucial point regarding the need for unity very recently with his first visit to a mosque in Baltimore. He said, "We are one American family. We will rise and fall together." Islamophobia is on the rise, and it is our utmost duty to stand united against both terrorist organizations and bigots who strive to tear us apart.
One easy way of doing this is by endorsing the True Islam campaign. This is a campaign, launched by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, focused on spreading the real teachings of Islam in the form of 11 points. No matter your religion, by going to trueislam.com and endorsing the 11 points, you are defeating the IS agenda of tearing Islam and the West apart.
Safeer Ahmad is a senior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Louisville, Ohio, near Canton, and a member of the Muslim Writer's Guild of America. He plans to study biology in college.
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/03/donald_trumps_anti-muslim_rhet.html
Read original post here: Perspective: Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric helps the Islamic State win | Safeer Ahmad
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Times of Ahmad. Times of Ahmad is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.