Hijacking A Faith

Hijacking a Faith

Individuals can create an impression on an entire community. One single act of harm can taint the majority of a community for the worse. From the perception that all blonde women are dumb to the stereotype that all Jews are cheap - it is clearly shown how one perception can taint a whole community. In the article "US Muslims Fear the Enemy Within" Stephen Collinson describes the US Muslim population as scared of the possibility of one of their own turning against them. Nevertheless, this is a conflict not only recognized by Muslims but by people of all backgrounds. Nobody wants to see one of their own turn against them. Therefore, this article seems to be about this notion of US Muslims turning against their home country, but is truly about how the "Terrorist" perception of Muslims hurts their chances of successfully integrating into society.

Perception is everything. If you want to be more integrated you must make sure that others like you. My high school teacher once told me "it's not who you know or what you know; it's who knows you and who likes you". If the Muslim faith keeps getting portrayed as the "terrorist" faith then nobody will give them a chance to integrate well into society. "We will not allow our faith to get hijacked by criminals" (Collinson, 2). The Muslim community wants to show the US public that they do not stand up for these acts of terrorism. "Some American Muslims leaders complained this week that their frequent denunciations of terrorism had not filtered through to the US public" (Collinson, 2). The Muslim community is trying to differentiate itself from the few weak links that give it the "terrorist" name. Without successful integration into society there is no possibility of furthering yourself politically or socially, which is everyone's goal.

Without successfully integrating yourself; be it socially or politically; it hurts American unity. In Anna Quindlen's "A Quilt of a Country" her main point is that due to the many different nationalities within America, unity is hard to come by. Quindlen argues that "the clinging to ethnicity, in background and custom, has undermined the concept of unity" (Quindlen, 455). This relates to Collinson's argument that without people letting go of the "terrorist" perception, nobody will let them integrate, creating a space between them and other citizens, therefore lacking unity. Before and especially after the events of September 11th, Muslims have been under a magnifying glass. Everyone suspected every single one of them to be terrorists. Americans prided themselves by attacking and making the Muslims a scapegoat for what happened. "Pride seems to be excessive, given the American willingness to endlessly complain about them, them being whoever is new, different, unknown, or currently under suspicion" (Quindlen, 456). Them, being the Muslims, who unfortunately were tainted with that