By SAIMA USMANI
February 8th, 2018
“We karate-chop the bond between them and their very recruiting force: angry young Muslims.”
I am an American Muslim and I am a foot soldier in the War on Terrorism.
I don’t mean to undermine the sacrifices of actual American, Iraqi, Pakistani, Turkish, Jordanian, Canadian, etc. soldiers who are physically fighting these murderers in the actual rough. I just mean that I am a foot soldier in a figurative way.
I know, I know. Muslims are just like any other citizens of the world and we should not be expected to “do more” or “prove our loyalty” just because some of the world’s murderers are using our religion of Islam to try to justify their actions.
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I agree with this.We should not be expected to…by our governments and countrymen. But little-known fact: we are expected to fight ISIS…by God.
Islam requires Muslims to defend the religion, defend humanity, and uphold justice. This is a little bit of all of them.
Not only is Islam being defiled by these people, but they are also responsible for human rights violations, and illegal settlement of unwilling peoples. So it should not be our American responsibility to counter ISIS, but it is our religious responsibility to do so.
So what do derpy civilians like myself do to counter ISIS? Hello, the demographic in this world that ISIS fears the most is me.
Why does ISIS have death threats and fatwas against the most prominent Islamic scholars like Imam Sohaib Webb? Muslims know Islam. We teach Islam. We dismantle every argument ISIS uses to justify its cruel and illegal actions. We karate-chop the bond between them and their very recruiting force: angry young Muslims.
I look into the fiery, frustrated eyes of young people every week (they are frustrated because the world is frustrating—is it not?) and tell them, “violence is a coward’s path. Violence is a villain’s path. Patience and virtue is the path of a Muslim.”
Education, for Muslims about what Islam is, and for non-Muslims about who Muslims are, is the greatest weapon against radicalization. Anyone with half a brain knows this.
If that wasn’t enough, masjids of all countries are constantly on the lookout for extremists in their ranks.
READ: Can a Person Be Fully Muslim and Fully American at The Same Time?
Why the hell would we purposefully protect an unhinged murderer who will shoot up innocent people and defile our name?
There is a popular urban legend here in America. A masjid started noticing a very shady fellow in the congregation who said strange things and had a suspicious quality about him. The board reported him to the FBI. Turns out, the man was a spy. For the FBI.
I know he’s dangerous, but Baghdadi is a silly little man to me. I fear him about as much as I fear my welcome mat. And, fun fact, all of my Muslim peers feel the same way. He and his urchins are a lot more afraid of us than we are of them.
Muslims—actual Muslims—of the world stand in between these leeches and the civilian masses of the world. I just want to go to some of these towns around the world that are suspicious of Muslims living inside their borders and say: “What do you have to fear?”
You fear those backward bumpkins across the ocean?
We Muslims live among you.
We will protect you.
You have nothing to fear.”
