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Muslims around the world will celebrate the holiday ofEid-al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on Friday. Ramadan is atime when Muslims fast and focus on God.
For Muslims in the United States, it is also a time to reflect and fightmisconceptions and negative stereotypes of Islam.
Muslims feel Islamic extremists hurt their community
Ahsan Mahmood Khan is the President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim CommunityLos Angeles East Chapter. He says the news does not reflect who Muslimsare.
“You hear a lot in the news about (the Islamic State group) ISIL or ISIS andwhat is going on in the Middle East. It is just terrible, and we hear this in thenews every day.”
He says it is very similar to what happened after the September 11 terroristattacks against the U.S. in 2001.
Mohammed Zafarullah is the imam of the Baitul Hammed Mosque. He saysIslam is a religion of peace. But extremism has led to misconceptions aboutIslam.
“Those people who are doing these kind of things, they say they are Muslimbut according to our religion, they are not a real Muslim because that is …they have their own agenda, which they are using in the name of the religion.”
A 2011 study by the PewResearchCenter showed that Muslims in the U.S. are concerned about the acts of Islamic extremists. The study explains howlife became more difficult for Muslim-Americans after the September 11attacks. Some Muslims reported that people looked at them with suspicionand called them offensive names.
More than half of the Muslims surveyed also said they believe governmentpolicies singleout Muslims in the United States for increased monitoring.
Even more challenges for Muslim women
Muslim women in the U.S. face other challenges in their daily lives. Peoplecan notice them more easily because of their hijab – the head covering wornby some Muslim women.
Mozna Khraiwesh is a Muslim woman from Jordan. She and her husbandcame to the U.S. in 2002. They live in WashingtonD.C. with their two sonsand one daughter.
“People right away, some of them of course you can’t generalize--noteveryone is the same--but majority whenever they see you wearing hijab, theyassume right away that you are a woman oppressed, treated unequally, withno rights, which is, unfortunately, it’s totally the opposite.”
She says sometimes people look at her differently at grocerystores.
“And it used to bother me a lot. Now I start to train myself how to deal with it. And sometimes I feel sorry for these people, because they don’t know. Andmaybe we have, as a Muslim, we have to do more to show who we are and topresent ourselves in a good way, so maybe to get them in a better way.”
Edina Lekovic is the Director of Policy and Programming at the Muslim PublicAffairs Council. In an interview with Share America, she said American Muslimwomen in positions of leadership play an important role in fighting thesestereotypes.
She added that it is important to show people that Muslim women are “notsecond-class citizens” and “are active members of the communities andsociety.”
Islam is already the fastest-growing religion in the world. And several studieshave shown that the number of Muslims will equal the number of Christians by the year 2050.
Triwik Kurniasari wrote this story for Learning English with additional reportingfrom Elizabeth Lee and Adam Brock. Hai Do was the editor.
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Words in This Story
stereotypes – n. often unfair and untrue beliefs that many people have aboutall people with a particular characteristic
fast – v. to eat no food for a period of time
misconceptions – n. mistaken ideas
generalize – v. to make a general statement
suspicion – adj. a feeling that someone is doing something wrong
single out – v. to treat someone in a different way that others
oppressed – v. to control
grocery stores – n. stores that sell food
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