Isis vs Islam: The group is not the religion

After the recent terrorist attacks in Paris by ISIS, international leaders responded with varying messages, from support for the Muslim community in America to condemnations of the religion and its followers.

However, many followers of Islam say ISIS does not represent Islam or what it truly stands for. Asad Ashim, a third-year engineering student, compared ISIS to extremist groups present in other religions as well.

“Muslims have been outsiders in the United States for a long time,” Ashim said. “People here are more prone to say ISIS is Islam because they do not know a lot about it. In my opinion, that is like saying that the KKK or the Westboro Baptist Church represents Christianity when they don’t. Just like ISIS, they are extremist groups even though they both consider themselves Christian.”

The Westboro Baptist Church, one of the groups Ashim compared ISIS to, is a Christian church in Kansas. It is known for its hate speech towards people within the LGBT community as well as Jews and politicians. One of their most common practices is picketing the funerals of dead soldiers as well as the funerals of gay murder victims.

Fatma Ismail, president of the Muslim Student Association, said she hates how ISIS claims to be followers of Islam.

“Seeing that the attacks in Paris were done by a group of people who like to claim that they are following my religion or that they represent my religion is extremely disappointing,” Ismail said. “I hate that people see this attack and blame and don’t want to associate themselves with the regular Muslims that they see every day.”

Fatime Al-Hayani, retired professor of Middle Eastern studies, said a double-standard exists in United States society when choosing who to label as terrorists.

“You see all these massacres we are having in the United States that are not by Muslims? Do you ever hear them say ‘Christian terrorist’? No. But the minute it’s done by a Muslim, it’s a Muslim terrorist,” Al-Hayani said.

According to the New York Times, since the attack on the Twin Towers, there have been 26 deadly terrorist attacks in the United States and all were done by homegrown terrorists, or terrorists that were born and raised in the U.S. Of those 26 attacks, seven were related to Islamic extremists while the other 19 were led by right-wing extremists.

Ismail said despite labeling themselves a group that follows the teachings of Islam, ISIS violates Islamic law by going against the rules of war written in the Qur’an. According to Ismail, far from denying this fact, ISIS even admits that their actions go against Islamic law.

“In their books they say that what they are doing is not Islamic, they admit it, but they say that sometimes you have to break the rules of a religion in order to win,” Ismail said. “But what are they fighting for? They kill more Muslims than anybody else. Anyone who is against them is out.”

To Ashim, education is the best way to combat false ideas and information. Ashim said it is important for people to learn about Islam so they understand the difference between followers of Islam and the members of the extremist group.

“If people don’t know what Islam is they are going to blame all Muslims and that is just not the case,” Ashim said. “In Islam you can’t commit suicide, but there are suicide bombers. You can’t kill woman and children, yet they do. There are countless teachings which ISIS goes against which to me, means that they are not truly Islamic. People need to take the time to actually learn about and understand the religion.”

Al-Hayani said there are ways for people to fight back against the stereotype being spread, and the difference between Islam and ISIS is easy to distinguish to those who have looked into the religion.

“Understand what Islam is. Read about it, talk to the people who really know Islam and not the people who know nothing about it,” Al-Hayani said. “All I want people to do is not to listen to the lies they hear on the news. They need to go to the basic sources and find out what Islam is really all about.”