Ahmed 1

Omar Ahmed

Mrs. Williams

Honors ELA 10

18 May 2018

Exterminating Islamophobia

Reza Aslan has once pointed out that, “Islamophobia has become so mainstream in this

country that Americans have been trained to expect violence against Muslims - not excuse it, but

expect it. And that's happened because you have an Islamophobia industry in this country

devoted to making Americans think there's an enemy within.” This “Islamophobia industry”

that’s relentlessly spewing out misinformation and generalizing stereotypes of Islam and

Muslims must be none other than the collective effort put forth by corrupted media outlets. As a

Muslim myself, I am a victim of this widespread epidemic. On one occasion, I was strolling

along the Chicago River in downtown Chicago with my family, enjoying my vacation. Although

we may have been enjoying our time, we seemed like a threat to another family of Caucasians

who saw us approaching their path. The mother of the family pulled her son, who was only

several feet away from her, while muttering what seemed like several words of prejudice. When

we Muslims are constantly avoided just because we seem like a threat, we begin to feel the

chains of isolation strapped around our minds increasingly tighten. In hopes of cutting down

these rising rates of Islamophobia, I would diligently study the root causes of it, organize

informational open houses in mosques, and even make appearances on several well renown news

channels that continuously stir up Islamophobia.

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As crucial as it would be with any other issue, studying the root cause of Islamophobia

must take place in order to ensure that I’m heading in the right direction with all the events I’ll

be organizing to defame these misconceptions that Islamophobia feeds on. In doing so, I would

make myself more comfortable addressing non-Muslims with misleading misconceptions of

Islam, as I would have a sense of general questions that would be heading my way. Speaking of

questions, it is key to not only find common questions that many Islamophobes are intrigued

about, but also generate guiding questions for myself to answer, creating a well-informed

platform for me to firmly stand on. Questions like: “What are the main fears of Islamophobes,

and what can I do to console them?”, “Which misleading sources do they obtain their

misinformation of Islam from?”, and “What are the most prevalent misconceptions that most, if

not all, Islamophobes have of Islam?” would kick me off to a great start. Finding the answers to

questions of these sorts would massively aid myself in cracking the surface of Islamophobia and

mining for the different ores of misconception. From there, I could smelt those ores, refine them

into purified minerals of comprehension, and then generously offer them to Islamophobes to

glare at in awe.

After deliberately studying the causes of Islamophobia, I would immediately start

plotting for different ways to set up a network of many mosques to come together and organize

informational open houses. I would potentially start a trend on widely used social networks from

the likes of Twitter and Facebook to grab the attention of board members from different

mosques. Posts that are linked with these trends or hashtags will include instructions on how and

when to carry out these events, and hopefully many mosques will subscribe to the plans I’ll have

for them to execute. Why are open houses such a big deal in my plans to address Islamic

misconceptions? Well, one of the root causes of Islamophobia is that Islamophobes often don’t
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know any Muslims; therefore, solely getting their distorted views on Islam from the media. By

inviting these Islamophobes to these open houses, they’ll see real-world Muslims speaking on

their values and what their religion really means. Better yet, these Islamophobes may even ask

for clarification of any confusing misconceptions they may have of our religion during the event,

and we would gladly clarify them as a Muslim community.

Finally, another crucial step I’ll take to support my cause is striving to appear on widely

watched news channels, especially those that continuously evoke the already ample fear in

Islamophobes. My appearances would most likely consist of interviews with the host of the

broadcasting company or debates with Islamophobes who may be promoting Islamophobia. An

interview with the host of a well renown news channel would grant me a great opportunity to

answer common questions about this issue on live television with a large audience watching. The

higher the number in which the audience consists of, the better the chances of Islamophobes

potentially losing their fear of Islam. A debate would serve quite a similar purpose, but with a bit

of aggressiveness from both sides. I believe it would only be logical to spread the truth about

Islam from the very sources that spread lies about our beautiful religion.

I hope to prevent Islamophobia from spreading too quickly one day, as it is painful to see

non-Muslims and Muslims in our beloved country not coexisting in harmony. I’ll strive to bring

this to an end by studying common misconceptions of Islamophobes and the root cause of

Islamophobia. With that knowledge in my arsenal, I will then start taking action by organizing

open houses and appearing on news channels that have promoted Islamophobia in some kind of

way. Together, Muslims and non-Muslims could transcend Islamophobia into Islamophilia, a

world where both Muslims and non-Muslims will get along and treat one other like close kin.