Peace Be Upon You

“Asalamu Alaikum!” (Peace be upon you). This is what Muslims say when they greet other Muslims or when they greet Christians and Jews who speak Arabic. When a Muslim says these words, they are talking to the person or people they are greeting, along with the angels. This is a powerful statement that reflects the nature of Islam. A Muslim is someone who finds or has found peace in his/her heart through submitting to God. We believe that Christians and Jews are our brothers and sisters because we are all “people of the book” and we all have the same God.

It breaks my heart to experience and watch my fellow Muslims experience hate crimes, dehumanization, and discrimination of all kinds in America, a country that values and celebrates diversity. Many Muslims have emigrated to this country for political freedom, job opportunities, and education. However, even though we Muslims love this country and its peoples, we are dehumanized on a daily basis. I cannot bare to watch the propaganda shown in the American media at this time, which dehumanizes Muslims (in particular Arab Muslims), resulting in many American people becoming more and more angry and hating Muslims so much that some of them have chosen to deeply hurt us verbally, emotionally and physically. The propaganda in the American media is full of deceptions about Muslims, Arabs, and peoples in the Middle East in general. I understand the purpose of propaganda – uniting a people together to fight “the enemy.” But we are not your enemy... Muslims are not “the enemy.” Demonizing an entire people is like what the Nazis did to the Jews during and prior to the Holocaust, and what the Americans did to the Japanese last century.

That is what many Americans are doing to Muslim Americans and Arab Muslims right now and have been doing for the past years. This country has dehumanized us for so long and to such an extent that people forget that yes, Muslims are humans, yes, they do have emotions and feelings, yes, they are cultured and civilized just as yourselves, and no, we are not “terrorists.” That is a name that we have been branded with to dehumanize us. The “enemy” identified with us are radical terrorists. They represent Muslims no more than the Ku Klux Klan represents Christians.

We students, with the benefit of higher education, should not succumb to the temptation of stereotyping any people, religion or culture. You have no idea how much it hurts me when people look at me like I am a terrorist, just because I am a Muslim.

I am a Muslim. I have a heart. I have feelings. I believe in justice and equality. I respect everyone, no matter what they believe, where they came from, or what they look like. I treat people how I would want to be treated, and I believe in peace. I am a student at UCSB and I have experienced a lot of intolerance because I am a Muslim, and I have witnessed other Muslims being treated unkindly and disrespectfully on campus and in Santa Barbara in general. You may remember one of my fellow Arab Muslims (also a colleague) who was walking down the street in Goleta, was pulled into a car, taken to a place where there would be no witnesses, and was almost killed. He was later found beaten and stabbed several times. Why did those young Santa Barbara men do this? What was his crime? Why did Nazis pick up Jews off of the street in Germany before WW2 and beat them almost to death? Why?

I peacefully ask Santa Barbarans, UCSB students specifically, to please be respectful and kind to the Muslims around you. If you have a lot of anger and have not found peace inside your heart, I beg you to use whatever method you choose to help you find inner peace. When you see a Muslim woman wearing a hijab (head shawl), please be kind to her and smile. Thank you to those of you who already do. :) There are almost 2 billion Muslims in the world. Most of them are in Asia (Indonesia, China and India are at the top of the list), not to mention the Middle East. So if you intend to travel the world, you will eventually find yourself in a Muslim culture. The Muslims you visit will most likely be very warm, welcoming, and hospitable. Can’t we show the same kindness here?

If you want to learn about or meet Muslims to understand us better, then I suggest meeting with the UCSB Muslim Associated Students.
Peace Be With You.

- Anonymous