Educate Yourself On Islamic Faith To Help Stop Muslim Prejudices

By Allison Bond
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Courtesy Of "The University Daily Kansan"

Since September 11, 2001, Muslims in America have constantly been targets to religious intolerance. One would think after 10 years the hype of Muslim terrorists would be over. I thought that today people were more educated about the Islamic faith and put aside their prejudices. I hoped Americans no longer took seriously the minority of people who burn Qurans and solicit hate speech toward Muslims. However, I have been sadly proven wrong once again.

On March 10, a congressional hearing took place to discuss Islamic terrorism within America in association with radical Muslims living in the U.S. The New York Times wrote that some people at the hearing portrayed Muslims to be a “community ignoring radicalization among its own.” Witnesses testified saying things like, “Our children are in danger” and “Americans are sitting around doing nothing about radical extremists.”

But what are Muslims here in America supposed to do about this issue? Aren’t there radical beliefs in every religion that could lead to radical acts? It is disappointing that we have decided to single out Islamic radicals and Muslim communities once again. While it seems that Congress was split on the issue, the fact still remains that Islamic intolerance is still an issue in America.

This intolerance is spreading all over the world and has recently landed in France as well. On April 11, France officially banned the wearing of “full faced veils” in public. Muslim women, who wear the niqab for religious purposes, are outraged that they are being limited in expressing their faith. Once again, the Islamic faith is being targeted for Muslim radicalism that now threatens the French Republic.

This intolerance toward the Islamic faith needs to be stopped here in America and abroad. It starts with us here at KU. The Muslim Student Association on campus works to educate the student body about Muslim identity. It is our job to learn all we can about what the Islamic religion is truly about and not base our opinions and thoughts on what the world is trying to tell us about a select group of radical Muslims.

Education can start with attending prayer at the Islamic Center of Lawrence mosque on Fridays at 1:30 p.m., attend events during the MSA Islam Awareness Week, take an Islam course through the department of religion or research on your own. Religious intolerance will not stop until prejudices can be put aside and individually we can start to move forward in our education of others. Perhaps eventually then, America and the world will become a place where freedom of religion is truly present.

— Bond is a junior in religous studies and journalism from Andover.