Dealing with Islamophobia

Not one day goes by that I don't come across a term being used in the media - broadcast or print - that goes against the very tenets of Islam, the faith of more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
 
"Islamic Terrorist," "Muslim Terrorist," and many other offensive and acrimonious expressions have been used ad nauseam that they now seem to occupy unending position in many prominent and not-so-prominent newspapers and TV outlets. The term "Islamic Terrorist" indicates that Islam has something to do with terrorism; that obviously leads to misapprehension of this great faith. Likewise, "Muslim Terrorist" erroneously informs the audience that Muslims are inherently terrorists.
 
These gross misinterpretations intensely produce a domino effect and ultimately results in the negative stereotyping of Muslims and Islam. Isn't that a great disservice to a faith that preaches tolerance and compassion towards humanity at large and considers killing of the innocent people as the greatest transgression?
 
God says in the Qur'an:

Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind ... (Qur'an 5:32)

Yes, there are terrorists in every community. And some people who claim to be Muslims may also be terrorists. But, a terrorist is just a terrorist. He or she is not following the commandments of any faith when engaging in such a despicable act.
 
Question arises as to why there is so much ignorance of Islam?
 
Well, it could be attributed to the fact that Muslims, at least in part, are responsible for not delivering the message as it was intended. However, journalists and writers, regardless of their religious affiliation, should do their own research as well and refer to the authentic sources to make them knowledgeable enough to write on the subject. Without doing comprehensive, thorough, and investigative analysis on the subject, any writing may fail to meet its objectives.

A little rationalization can go a long way. There is no need to add any adjective to define terrorism. To put it simply, terrorism is terrorism, and no faith preaches terrorism.
 
Broadly speaking, the need of the hour demands that a journalist cannot afford to remain ignorant of Islam or any other subject while writing on a relevant topic. That is because journalistic integrity is of paramount importance. Therefore, why not acquire the knowledge of the relevant subject from the reliable sources prior to penning it? And this applies to any journalist or writer - Muslim or non-Muslim alike - who intends to cover any issue.
 
The masses should be protected from the inappropriate portrayal of their faiths. In this misrepresentation lies anathema to the justice and peace, and hampers the progress of rebuilding and reconciliation to bring all the communities together.
 
Anti-Semitism, preached and practiced by the hatemongers against Jews, has been significantly overcome by applying due diligence, including enacting laws at many levels. Hitherto, these effective steps taken from the social and legal perspective have tremendously weakened, if not completely eliminated, the anti-Semitic forces.

If anti-Semitism has been overcome because of those concrete measures, Islamophobia that now rears its ugly head should also be dealt with unequivocally; the required concerted effort should be exerted to thwart elements that espouse it. International laws should be enacted to counteract successfully this increasing threat. Furthermore, at community level, interfaith meetings - held at regular intervals - can help dispel the myth about Islam because therein lies the delivery of appropriate education and the required communication among various communities.
 
Temporizing on the issue would aggravate the already critical state. The motto of "rights and dignity to everyone" would merely remain a sanctimonious slogan if we fail to deliver on this concern. It is imperative that we realize it now and aggrandize our efforts to consequently deal with this rising menace.

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Asad Latif has an engineering background and is a writer based in Toronto, Canada. He writes on diverse issues - social, political, economic, religious, and technological. He can be reached at alatif2002yahoo.ca