North Texas Daily

Editor’s note: The authors of this Letter to the Editor represent the UNT Muslim Student Association, a campus organization dedicated to the practice and education of modern-day Islam.

Not All Muslims the Same

For the billions of Muslims there are worldwide, we only have a set image of us that is presented in the media. And that is of the bearded gun-toting suicide bomber, or of the Saudi woman who isn’t allowed to drive. If we were accurately shown without some sort of shock factor or bias, people would be amazed at how mundane we really are. People would also be amazed by the amount of diversity there is in our community. We aren’t all the same skin color, and we don’t all speak the same language. Islam is a global religion. You can’t paint us all with one brush.

-Biology senior Raabia Ansar 

Islam a way of life

Islam is a religion that quickly spread from the beginning of its time. Islam originated in present-day Saudi Arabia, and within a century spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula, Southwest Asia and into North African countries. These nations contained a long history of different cultures, traditions and customs. Because Islam is considered not only a religion, but a way of life, it was integrated into the lives of people with different lifestyles. Oftentimes the news will take one custom found within a group of Muslims and make a generalization about Islam as a whole. These controversial topics are often part of a nation’s culture and not Islam. This causes falsehood and confusion because Muslims worldwide have false labels placed on them.

-Biology senior Salwa Mohamedaman

Islam is peace

Even with about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, the media portrays Muslims as violent haters who want to watch the world burn. Obviously that’s not true. The media compels us to constantly remind everyone that just because these terrorizing hate groups may look similar to us, because they speak a language that many of us do, or because they’re from the same countries as our ancestors does not mean we are fundamentally the same. They’ve swayed too far from the actual teachings of Islam and distorted it completely on the global stage; thus, we do not associate with them. We don’t consider them our brothers or sisters. Our goal is to differentiate between us and the radicals until the world knows Islam is peace.

-Biology junior Mifrah Maqbool

Raabia Ansar is the UNT MSA’s marketing director. She coordinated with the others to produce this Letter. She can be reached at Raabiaansar@my.unt.edu