islamophobia

Suggested Eid day action items for Masjids and Islamic centers in the year 2010, when Eid day fell one or two days before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. 

May God help us all. May He guide our president to save the lives of Americans as well as others in our global village. May He comfort the victims. May He change the hearts of the oppressors. May He stop victims from becoming wrongdoers. May He let human beings talk to each other to understand each other. Ameen.

Over 1300 people, mostly boys, were stacked like logs into six army trucks. They were placed face down with their hands tied behind their backs, one on top of another, making a pile of four or five persons deep.

We destroyed our honor in the Muslim world with Abu Ghraib. Now, we have completely obliterated any respect for us by allowing our military officers to abuse the Islamic holy book. No wonder even Pakistan could not but express its outrage at the abuse of the Quran.

What is common between the images of American soldiers laughing at naked and humiliated Iraqi prisoners, the video of a terrorist group in Iraq slaughtering an American civilian, and the photos of an Iraqi mob desecrating and hanging the bodies of four American private commandos in Fallujah? It is the hatred and inhumanity of the people doing it.

Islamophobia is today's accepted form of racism. It will require Muslims to fight hard against it. Muslims are neither solely responsible for its creation, nor will they be able to fight it on their own. It is a collective responsibility for all bridge-builders of the world.

Islamophobia, or the fear and hatred of all things relating to Islam and Muslims, is becoming mainstream and deadly. Whether it's radio talk show hosts,  columnists or extremists who promise to kill Muslim women, there is a great danger to Muslims.