Muslim and Terrorist are not Synonymous

Posted by Sumaira Shaikh Sep 3, 2006

With all the "terror" fervour that has stimulated around the world, and as men with Arabic scarves and AK-47s in Afghanistan appear on the screens of televisions worldwide, some have come to the conclusion that what George W. Bush identified as the enemy is the Muslim.

Soon after 9/11, hate crimes were on the rise, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment was common to read on websites and to watch on TV. Somehow no one stopped to think that an Arab does not translate into a terrorist and a Muslim does not translate into a terrorist either.

An Arab can be Christian, Muslim and some Jews also identify themselves as Arabs. Arabs span across 22 countries and have emerged from countries with different histories. In sum, they are a diverse community with different backgrounds, but also hold a strong sense of unity and solidarity with each other, regardless of the differences.

Muslims on the other hand, are not necessarily only Arab. A Muslim can be Indonesian, Indian, Arab or Albanian--in sum, there is no one definition of what comprises a Muslim. Like Christianity transgresses beyond national borders and has a following of billions, Islam, has a following of roughly 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide. And clearly, 1.2 billion Muslims cannot be all terrorists.

What needs to be understood is that ignorance is not really bliss when it comes to labeling and stigmatizing communities, because it does not help multiculturalism and it isolates a community that is trying to integrate and find its spot in Canadian society.