Introduction:
The community of Muslims is peace-loving; Muslims do not spread hatred for others, The Muslims follow the message of love and brotherhood, as taught by Allah Himself in the Holy Quran, as well as by the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) in his entire life. In Islam; Muslims respect the beliefs of minorities/majorities of other religions, and do not interfere in their practice or cultural traditions.
Non-Muslims:
While, in the case of non-muslims, it has been observed worldwide that some specific communities of non-muslims do not possess goodness for the Muslims, due to which they spread hatred for Islam and Muslims; hence they spread “Islamophobia”.
Terminology:
So, what is Islamophobia? Islamophobia expresses extreme hatred for the people, who follow the religion of Islam. The people in support of Islamophobia declare Muslims as terrorists, as they fear Muslims, that could kill anyone at any time.
Liking & Disliking:
Islamophobia is a form of racism; people hate Muslims because they do not like them offering prayers in mosques, slaughtering animals on the eve of EID, etc. People even do not like to sit with them, as they remain in fear that they could attack them and that they are habitual in killing people. Some people purposely target Muslims and spread negativity about them, as do not like the religion of Islam, and they do not like Islam to spread among the people, because the studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.
History:
If we trace the history of Islamophobia, then we see a boost in favor of Islamophobia after the event of 9/11, when some terrorists attacked the USA. The intelligence says that the Muslims were involved in targeting the World Trade Center in NewYork, USA; therefore, hatred and fear started to spread against the Muslims first in the USA, then from there to worldwide. People are under the impression that since Muslims follow the belief of JIHAD, which means fighting for the cause of Allah; hence they support terrorism. There are some specific guidelines mentioned in the Holy Quran, as well as disclosed by Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) about JIHAD and under what circumstances JIHAD is permissible, if Muslims take any action following the circumstances only then it would be declared as JIHAD, but people in support of Islamophobia say that Muslims are terrorists and they are targeting places in support of their belief of JIHAD. But what people do not see is that people kill Muslims all over the world more in numbers.
Positive Change:
Nowadays, conferences are held annually worldwide just to explain the position of Muslims, that they are not terrorists, they are peace-loving, how people are racist to Muslims, and what difficulties Muslims face daily when they live in a non-muslim country.
Hope:
Due to some recent conferences, people have started raising concerns about Islamophobia, therefore, the United Nations in 2022 declared 15 March as an International Day to combat Islamophobia. The date, March 15, was chosen as it is the anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings, in which 51 people were killed during Friday prayer. If we keep on spreading a positive image of Islam and Muslims,
then we hope to see peace among people all over the world.
