The Muslim Problem Of United States

On my way to The United States about five years ago, I was anxious and excited to experience the American public. In comparison, Iran was a third world developing country and the societal situation and eight years war since the revolution still had everyone on the edge, and given that, I was expecting every single American to be super friendly, kind, and well educated. After all, even the Iranian people knew of the basic history of terrorist organizations and how they completely differ, in every way, from the Muslim norms. It’s my fifth year in The United States now, and it pains me to say that I felt safer in a third world battered developing country ruled by autocrats. I have met many generous, genuine and well-educated Americans, but I’ve also met some of the most vile, racist and bigoted individuals as well, that frankly induced the same amount of fear in me as any jihadi terrorist. In no way could I have ever imagined such individuals existing in the American public, as I never encountered anyone with such racist or bigoted ideals in Iran. Even the hardcore extremists in Iran don’t have a supremacist ideology that is found in these individuals, since they put their extremist ideology behind a nationalistic and political view. It was soul crushing to meet such individuals, and it has becoming worst and worst every day, with now one of them being the frontrunner candidate for presidency. Donald Trump’s plan to ban all Muslims for the time being is questioning not the nationality, not the allegiance, not the ideology, but the faith and identity of 1.3 billion people worldwide. When I was in Iran, of the first religious lessons in school were the difference between believers, and those who seek to use our faith for evil deeds. Of the first lessons taught were how “killing any individual is equal to killing the whole of mankind, and how saving an individual is equal to saving the whole of mankind” as stated in Quran 5:32. Muslims have been fighting these terrorist organizations long before United States War On Terror. These terrorist organizations never existed before America’s intervention in the Afghan-Soviet War, where the CIA created such organizations by training and hiring leaders such as Bin Laden as stated by The Guardian, to fight the soviets. Right now, almost all the forces fighting ISIS practice the Muslim faith. To ban all Muslims from entering United States is to equal all Muslims with these terrorist or extremist organizations, and to see that almost half of United States supporting that plan is quite heart breaking. Currently, according to PewResearch, the Muslim population of United States is about 3.3 million, less than 1% of the total population, and extremist slogan made by someone like Trump can bring an atmosphere that Jews experienced during the years of Nazi Germany. All things considered though, I have the right to practice my faith in The United States, and rights and opportunities such as this are what make America great. My hope still remains that soon; the American public will come to realize the facts and not the propaganda presented to them.

Ahmad Mir Mohammad Sadeghi