Islamophobia

Islamophobia is hard at work. It has led to governments passing legislation targeting Muslims and their faith practices in the name of “fighting terrorism”. It has led to killing of innocent people. So let us take charge of ourselves and our future. 

All surveys have shown that students are especially skeptical of hate mongering. The highest favorable rating of Muslims (49%) is in the age group of 18-29. Let us make a serious effort to fight hate on campus.

The Masjid is where the action is. Muslims and their resources are connected with Masjids. Rethinking how to use those resources will help the Ummah greatly.

If you are involved in interfaith work, raise the topic of Islamophobia at your meetings. Stress the urgency for people of all faiths to address and condemn it, along with other forms of intolerance publicly.

A large number of Imams have informed me that they use articles from Sound Vision's website for their sermons. May Allah accept it. In consideration of this, I am taking the liberty to suggest some points for your forthcoming Khutba.

A problem, until named or described, is often ignored. Consider that until we had the terms “racism” and “anti-Semitism”, these two types of prejudice were difficult to combat. It is time we understand this and start calling out anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim prejudice for what it is: Islamophobia.

Here, in a darkened room, in a museum built more than a 100 years ago, in a non-Muslim country, a non-Muslim woman decided to shed light on the magnificent discoveries of MY people, at a time where Muslims had drifted off into the darkness in terms of knowledge and research, a time when they didn’t even care where their literature and art and discoveries were going, and in whose hands they were in.