Emre was a tall, handsome Turkish man in his early 20s. He was just like any other young adult; he went to school, spent time with friends and dreamt of the future.
I met Emre while studying abroad in Istanbul, Turkey, and got to know him as I was writing a story on religious identity.
Emre practices the Five Pillars of Islam. He prays five times a day—or tries to, depending on his busy school schedule— regularly reads the Quran and does not drink alcohol.
But he still struggles to disassociate himself from the negative image of the Islam religion that an overabundance of bigotry and ignorance has pushed into the mainstream psyche.
“Do I look like a terrorist to you?” he once asked.
Of course Emre didn’t look like a terrorist to me, but if he had asked someone else, his dark skin, brown eyes and praise for Allah might have instantly equated him to the stereotypical image of a terrorist.
In the 10 years since 9/11, you would think that the ignorant stereotypes of Muslims have dissipated. But just as Emre shows us, the fight to gain equal standing in the eyes of many Americans and people across the world, is far from over.
Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician from the Netherlands and leader of the Party for Freedom, is intent on exposing the “threat of Islam.” Wilders has gained notoriety for bigoted, hateful speech that brands Islam as a nasty menace with an agenda of world domination.
He maintains that the Quran should be banned and that the U.S. should take actions to close mosques and Islamic schools. Furthermore, Wilders contends that there is no difference between those that practice moderate Islam and extremists or terrorists.
“A tolerant society is not a suicidal society,” Wilders said at a protest in opposition to the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. “It must defend itself against the powers of darkness, the force of hatred, and the blight of ignorance.”
In one respect, Wilders is right. We do need to defend ourselves from ignorance and hatred. Wilders would characterize Islam as such, but in all actuality, his own rants and hateful speech are what’s really dangerous.
Wilders capitalizes on a nation that does little to inform themselves of the real facts about Islam, a religion that carries a message of peace.
"O mankind! We created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know and honor each other (not that you should despise one another). Indeed the most honorable of you in the sight of God is the most righteous,” (Quran 49:13)
Granted, there are verses of the Quran that do indeed condone violence. However, is that any different than Leviticus Chapter 20 of The Bible, a verse that upholds the practice of stoning people to death?
“He wants to throw out the whole Quran because of some things that are objectionable – but you could say the same thing about the Book of Joshua,” writes Robert Leiken, author of the book, Europe’s Angry Muslims.
These are the distinctions that Wilder fails to see. Worse than that, he paints a tainted picture for the rest of the world.
It’s time for the rest of the world to guard themselves with the facts.
Reach the columnist at eeeaton@asu.edu.
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