By Meher Inayat:
Right from my childhood, I have not only learnt that Islam is a religion of peace and harmony, but I have also practiced my faith with the same. Today, the word ‘terrorism‘ is constantly being attached with the name of Islam because of the activities of some Muslim extremists. Being a Muslim I am not ashamed of my religion merely because of a few religious fundamentalists; as I know this particular group of people do not represent the whole of Islam and Muslims. However, what they happen to be doing is appalling as they are hindering humanity while acting like monsters. I believe, they are harming themselves more than what they are doing to the world because they are not moving with the world, they are different, or maybe aliens.
Yes, we cannot deny the fact that politics has endorsed terrorism in the past especially during the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan; however, religion was considered the main reason behind the same. Whenever I think about these terrorists, a question plagues my mind, Shall I call it a religious act? My mind never accepts that it should be attached to religion, because what religion has taught me is not what these terrorists are doing. If these terrorists are creating terror for the sake of religion then it means that the way they interpret Islam is nothing but wrong.
Islam doesn’t support terrorism because if Islam supported terrorism then these people would have not killed their own folks, their own Muslims. Today most of the people who are dying due to terrorism are Muslims, so it would be inequitable to blame Islam or discriminate against Muslims. It doesn’t hurt me when people call Muslims ‘terrorists’ because I believe in humanity and humanity is the best religion. Moreover, I cannot deny the fact that Osama was a terrorist and he was a Muslim.
Terrorists are terrorists whether they belong to the Muslim community, the Hindu community, or any other religion. They are enemies of humanity and all they do is kill innocent people and snatch peace from the world. Moreover, whenever I go to any new place or meet new people I show them through my behavior that I am a Muslim and I love peace. I don’t believe in religious discrimination, neither do I support terrorism. I do hate terrorists to the extent that any non-Muslim does. And above all, I believe that I am a good human being.