Islamophobia: a prejudice against or irrational fear of Islam; believing it to be inferior to the West and a violent political ideology rather than a religion.
Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Florida, organized “International Burn a Qur’an Day” for Sept. 11, 2010 to commemorate the victims of 9/11. This would have been nothing short of an Islamophobic act and probably the most heinous threat yet.
Burn a Qur’an Day connects 9/11 directly to Islam, reinforcing stereotypes and promoting a negative view of Islam. This act blatantly says Islam and all Muslims are to blame for the acts of 19 hijackers. Imagine 1.5 billion Muslims being blamed for the horrible acts of 19; it does not make sense mathematically. It would also have disregarded the hundreds of innocent Muslims who also died on 9/11.
Even threatening such an act is wrong, especially since Islam does not condone violence or the killing of innocent civilians.
Islam is among Judaism and Christianity as the third monotheistic religion and in that sense shares similar beliefs and even prophetic stories. It is ironic that Jones was planning to burn the Qur’an because Jesus (in Arabic, Isa) is mentioned in the Qur’an several times and Muslims believe him to be a prophet of God. This should raise some serious flags because this shows Jones has probably never read the Qur’an and probably has little to no knowledge of Islam. The planned event was fuelled by ignorance and hate.
I say hate because Jones has said, “Islam is of the devil,” and that he wants to take a stand against “radical Islam.” Does he not realize that the very acts he planned to commit are just as extremist, just as hateful and just as devastating as “Islamic extremists,” who are actually acting against Islam?
In fact, United States army general David Petraeus and President Obama warned this event was a provocative act. It would endanger the lives of Americans in Afghanistan because extremists would use it to gain more supporters by inflaming public opinion. This is not to suggest that Muslims are quick to get violent, but rather, we must realize that there is already ongoing violence in Afghanistan and this event would only worsen the situation.
Moreover, many Jewish and Christian groups, along with Muslim groups, have condemned the act and called for its cancellation.
Many U.S. government officials have also voiced concerns. State department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said, “We would like to see more Americans stand up and say that this is inconsistent with our American values. In fact, these actions themselves are un-American.”
Crowley is right because this is not just a question of the blurred lines of the right to freedom of speech, but a question of religious autonomy, religious freedom and religious tolerance. It is also freedom from prejudice and hate because this is a fundamental aspect of democracy. Does America not pride itself on its constitution, giving people rights without the fear of persecution, without the fear of discrimination, without the fear of having your most holy book burned and your heart along with it?
Even though the event was finally cancelled by Jones, it still does not deflect from the danger of this threat and the growing animosity towards Muslims in the West, especially when one considers Jones’ political intentions of using the Qur’an burning as bargaining power to move the Ground Zero Mosque elsewhere, which I also believe to be unjust.
To Jones I have one message, the message universal to all religions, the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. That is why as a Muslim I would never respond by burning the Bible because I know how devastated I would be if this happened to me and other Muslims in the world.