trying2learn
Junior Member
Assalamu aliakum, I hope every one is well.
With all the hype that has been in the media lately, I urge everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim alike to choose their wording carefully. I have been reading several sources since Sunday, and the verbal attack on the blanket statement “America” or “Americans” has been used quite a bit. I urge everyone to be mindful, and respect that there are 300 million+ people who call America home, and to lay blame on any action or lack of action taken by our government to not be forced upon the shoulders of every day American citizens. In my own personal life I can tell you all, I was born and raised Presbyterian Christian, and tried to make friends with everyone, adhering to our constitution that all men are created equal and the fact that we have freedom here to practice our religions as we deem fit. As a matter of truth, post 9/11 here, when fears were at the highest I defended Islam and got into many verbal altercations about the difference of average Muslims and those who are labeled extremists. I sat as a previous boyfriend threatened to beat up a Muslim family we saw enter a gas station. I warned him to stop, and to not get out of the car, for they were just ordinary people that were traveling with their two small daughters. He did not listen and tried to exit the car, at which time I took action and punched him in the mouth. I regret turning to violence but in my heart I could not allow small children to see such hate. I later went on to meet my future husband, who is Muslim. I love him and his family very much. I hope that our children will not grow up with a stigma attached to them for they do not need to grow up thinking people in their own country dislike them for being Muslim, and their fellow Muslims across the globe dislike them for being American. How do you respond to a child when they ask why no one seems to like them? This is a question that was asked of me by step-daughter. I told her, that it was not that no one liked her, it was that people dislike fear of what they do not understand, and that it was our job to teach them what was correct so that the fear turned into knowledge. There are many, many Muslims who live here, were born here, and who have moved here to America. I urge everyone, no matter their religion to educate themselves, and learn to coexist in peace so that our daughters here can attend school without fear to wear hijab. I had many friends as I was growing up, I had friends of all different religions, I had a friend who was a Hindu, a friend who was Catholic, a friend who was Mormon, a friend who was Jewish. We could all be friends because no one of them forced their opinions on the other; instead we focused on school work, and learning from one another. Even now, I have friends who were raised Catholic but now find themselves to be atheist. They accept me, my husband and my children. They do not bad mouth Islam, instead when they have a question they ask us. I have managed to make a small difference in my little corner of the world, but regrettably I have some members of my own family who hold fast to their ignorance and their false knowledge, and do not accept my choice of husband or to raise my children as Muslims. This I know will be an uphill battle, for some people are so steadfast in their own ignorance teaching them is like trying to move a mountain with bare hands. I wish they would listen, and I pray they come around, for one of these people is my own father. Religion is a truth of the heart, when your heart realizes the truth it seeks out what is right, thus my heart led me to Islam, my love for Allah, and my desire to be Muslim, tore my family apart yet it has not dissuaded me in my deen. I hope that American’s can truly comprehend, sometime in the near future that Islam is a religion of peace, so that my children will not have to grow up in a world full of turmoil, but grow to be accepted as who they are and the religion the exercise. So please, for the sake of the small Muslims here, choose words carefully so they do not grow up thinking they have nowhere and no group to belong to, show them love and that no one no matter what country they live in, have power over what their governments chose to do or not to do, but we see people as people, not as their government.
I write this with love and concern, in no way am I trying to create anger in anyone's mind and heart, I write this as a concerned mother.
With all the hype that has been in the media lately, I urge everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim alike to choose their wording carefully. I have been reading several sources since Sunday, and the verbal attack on the blanket statement “America” or “Americans” has been used quite a bit. I urge everyone to be mindful, and respect that there are 300 million+ people who call America home, and to lay blame on any action or lack of action taken by our government to not be forced upon the shoulders of every day American citizens. In my own personal life I can tell you all, I was born and raised Presbyterian Christian, and tried to make friends with everyone, adhering to our constitution that all men are created equal and the fact that we have freedom here to practice our religions as we deem fit. As a matter of truth, post 9/11 here, when fears were at the highest I defended Islam and got into many verbal altercations about the difference of average Muslims and those who are labeled extremists. I sat as a previous boyfriend threatened to beat up a Muslim family we saw enter a gas station. I warned him to stop, and to not get out of the car, for they were just ordinary people that were traveling with their two small daughters. He did not listen and tried to exit the car, at which time I took action and punched him in the mouth. I regret turning to violence but in my heart I could not allow small children to see such hate. I later went on to meet my future husband, who is Muslim. I love him and his family very much. I hope that our children will not grow up with a stigma attached to them for they do not need to grow up thinking people in their own country dislike them for being Muslim, and their fellow Muslims across the globe dislike them for being American. How do you respond to a child when they ask why no one seems to like them? This is a question that was asked of me by step-daughter. I told her, that it was not that no one liked her, it was that people dislike fear of what they do not understand, and that it was our job to teach them what was correct so that the fear turned into knowledge. There are many, many Muslims who live here, were born here, and who have moved here to America. I urge everyone, no matter their religion to educate themselves, and learn to coexist in peace so that our daughters here can attend school without fear to wear hijab. I had many friends as I was growing up, I had friends of all different religions, I had a friend who was a Hindu, a friend who was Catholic, a friend who was Mormon, a friend who was Jewish. We could all be friends because no one of them forced their opinions on the other; instead we focused on school work, and learning from one another. Even now, I have friends who were raised Catholic but now find themselves to be atheist. They accept me, my husband and my children. They do not bad mouth Islam, instead when they have a question they ask us. I have managed to make a small difference in my little corner of the world, but regrettably I have some members of my own family who hold fast to their ignorance and their false knowledge, and do not accept my choice of husband or to raise my children as Muslims. This I know will be an uphill battle, for some people are so steadfast in their own ignorance teaching them is like trying to move a mountain with bare hands. I wish they would listen, and I pray they come around, for one of these people is my own father. Religion is a truth of the heart, when your heart realizes the truth it seeks out what is right, thus my heart led me to Islam, my love for Allah, and my desire to be Muslim, tore my family apart yet it has not dissuaded me in my deen. I hope that American’s can truly comprehend, sometime in the near future that Islam is a religion of peace, so that my children will not have to grow up in a world full of turmoil, but grow to be accepted as who they are and the religion the exercise. So please, for the sake of the small Muslims here, choose words carefully so they do not grow up thinking they have nowhere and no group to belong to, show them love and that no one no matter what country they live in, have power over what their governments chose to do or not to do, but we see people as people, not as their government.
I write this with love and concern, in no way am I trying to create anger in anyone's mind and heart, I write this as a concerned mother.
Alhamdulillah.
