Sept. 11, 2001. All of us know what happened that day. Many, if not all of us can recall exactly what we were doing and where we were when news broke that we had been attacked on our soil. I, for one, was a confused first-grader sitting at lunch when teachers suddenly rounded us up on buses, telling us we were going home early. I remember getting home that day and watching the news with my parents on CNN. I remember hearing my dad call my uncle in Brooklyn to see if his family was safe. I remember the events that followed 9/11 that have not only shaped American relations with the Middle East, but have made being Muslim a target of suspicion.
It’s easy to see the effect that extremism and so-called religiously backed violence has on Western nations, but it sometimes escapes the focus of many that Muslims, whether we are living in the West or elsewhere in the world, have been greatly affected as well. Extremists don’t just target non-Muslim countries; they also attack and kill Muslims who get in the way of their sick ideology. A Muslim who doesn’t support their horrendous acts is as much of a target as any other person.
In fact, terrorists groups have attacked and killed more Muslims than they have any other faith group. Not only do terrorist groups kill Muslims, but they also stand in the way of their respective countries’ advancement and security. For example, as much as the Taliban is hated in the U.S., it has done much more harm to Afghanistan and has affected the lives of many Afghans.
Individuals like Malala Yousafzai, the Afghan girl who was shot by the Taliban for speaking in defense of the education of women, show that Muslims are in fact targeted by extremist militants. The acts of terrorist groups have also had an indirect effect on Muslims. Many Muslim civilians have been killed in the war against terror, while those of us in the West have dealt with racism in one form or the other.
Extremism is not only a physical threat to the lives of many Muslims, but it also affects many of us psychologically. As a Muslim, I’ve grown tired of defending my religion and the rest of my community as a result of the acts of a senseless and ignorant minority. It seems as though Muslims cannot be just Muslim individuals; rather, we are all spokespeople for one another in a way that members of other faith groups don’t have to be. It’s as if being Muslim makes you a lawyer defending all other Muslims, or a prosecutor condemning the acts of those who deviate to the path of religious radicalism. The focus always turns to Muslims as if it’s each one of our responsibilities to condemn criminals, whether it’s by speaking out against al-Qaida or now the Islamic State (formerly ISIS). The racism many Muslims in the West face is also psychologically straining and creates a sense of self-hate among the younger generation, as if it has become shameful to be a Muslim in the 21st century.
So as another Sept. 11 goes by, let’s also keep in mind the Muslims who have had to pay for the acts of terrorism and been the target of radicalism. Three thousand Americans, including American Muslims, died as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, with countless others dying as a result of the war against terror and the many acts of terror that followed and continue to occur to this day. The least we can do is commemorate the victims of radicalism equally.
Published by The Breeze, James Madison University's student run newspaper:
http://www.breezejmu.org/opinion/article_971d900c-3944-11e4-b55b-0017a43b2370.html
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