Terrorists do not represent Muslims

A recent letter writer offered his insight into the common complaint that people are vilifying Muslims.

His initial claim is that "we responded the way nations under attack should respond."

The problem I see with this statement, however, is that in the case of terrorism, there is no real country to be targeted. Rather, frustrated nations, such as the United States, following the doctrine of attacking the attacker, have gone from country to country trying to stamp out a movement that is, contrary to popular belief, not unique to any single country or group of countries.

The problem here is that the terrorists are acting in the name of a religion, and Muslims are scattered all over the globe. So what does this mean? It means that there is no way to get rid of terrorism until we get to the root of the problem first, because as we invade countries, we simply fuel the misguided anger of religious extremists who feel as though the whole world is ignoring them and treating them unjustly.

To this point, then, it seems as though the Muslims are completely to blame. However, the truth of the matter is that the terrorists are utterly lost and misguided, and believing Muslims are as horrified and appalled by the attacks as any other citizen of our wonderful country.

As such, all those who kill innocent people in the name of God are not only misguided, but are also committing an act that is very strongly looked down upon within the very religion that has recently come under fire for fueling terrorism. Slaying innocent people, including women, children and, surprisingly, other Muslims, is never the answer.

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For this reason, it seems very probable to me that the main goal of the terrorists is simply to glorify themselves as martyrs, even though the religion they identify themselves with is an incessant advocate of peace and pacificity, as can be seen in the Quran and other Islamic texts.

As a practicing Muslim, I find myself in a very strange situation because the fact that I wholeheartedly condemn the terrorist attacks, and everything the terrorists stand for, does not seem to be able to overshadow the fact that these terrorists are "acting in the name of Islam."

Completely involuntarily, Muslims find themselves being targeted and criticized because it has not occurred to people that the terrorists are not, as they state, acting in the name of Islam, but are rather foolishly acting under the influence of their own anger and trying to find some larger justification for their actions.

To put it bluntly, Islam is not a militant religion. It does not teach us to kill those who disagree with us, it does not teach us to respond with violence, even when treated unjustly, and it pushes for universal acceptance and peaceful coexistence. As such, terrorism is brutal, savage and unjust, and there is nothing glorious about it.

As a final point, I would like to actively refute the writer's comment that the "silence" of the Muslim community in regard to the acts of terrorism comes across as "tacit support." Muslims do not encompass the same ideals as the terrorists, and I personally do not even consider them to be Muslim, a feeling that is widely shared among the Islamic community.

As such, the crimes that they commit in the name of a religion that does not exist - for there is nothing in Islam that would justify their actions or tell them to act as they do - are as offensive to the Muslim community as they are to any other American citizen.

There are two reasons, however, why this message has not reached a wider audience. Firstly, there is no centralized figure in Islam who has the authority of, say, the Pope, who can come out and condemn the attacks.

Secondly, there has not really been any great effort on behalf of the media to inform the public that the Muslims and the terrorists do not believe the same things, and that they should not be associated.

I am a Muslim who was born and raised in this country. I consider this country to be my own, love everything it stands for, am thankful for the liberties and freedoms I have been given, am angered when the country is physically or verbally attacked, have lost loved ones to terrorism just like anyone else may have, have been afraid with everyone else, and have suffered alongside my fellow Americans.

I think that it is time to remind everyone that Muslims strongly condemn the terrorist attacks, and, thus, should not be treated or viewed any differently than non-Muslim citizens, especially at this time when we all need to come together and be united in the fight against terrorism.

Mansoor Arain is a member of the Islamic Center in Santa Maria.