Understanding What We Fear

I wrote this in the fall of 2006 for a journalism class. Enjoy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People tend to fear what they do not understand. Americans; business travelers; fathers; mothers; daughters; sons – innocent people had the chance to witness firsthand the meaning behind that statement.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a group of “Islamic terrorists” hijacked several commercial planes and drove them through America’s heart. While the bleeding has since stopped for many, now five years after the attacks, the lingering fear and paranoia of another attack remain. Muslims and Muslim Americans have become the recipient of wary stares and grave misunderstanding.
For Saif Syed, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who would one day like to work in patent law, wary stares and mistreatment are commonplace.
Since 9/11, the misunderstanding of Muslims has reached epic proportions, Syed explains. Before then, not many people even knew what Muslims were, let alone how to spot one. But now that their calling card is out there, Muslims like Syed are the victims of profiling.
“People tend to believe that we do not know science, we do not know math," Syed said. "Instead, all we do is fight and oppress our women. That’s the picture that is depicted about Muslims.”
One of the more hurtful experiences of when this stereotyping was put into action came during Syed’s senior year (2001-02) at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee.
About one month after the attacks, Syed decided that he would go to the city library to work on his homework. He set out from his home with some books in hand, and on this particular walk, he encountered an elderly lady coming from the other direction.
As they converged, the woman raced from the sidewalk to instead walk on the road. Of course, as soon as he passed her, Syed recounts, the woman returned to her place on the path.
“Those sorts of things hurt more than the media reports or anything else because those are your personal relations,” Syed said.
His mom is having a difficult time coming to terms with the post 9/11 view of Muslims.
“My mom is constantly worried about me, about my safety,” Syed said.
She doesn’t want Syed to have a beard because, she says, it makes him stand out. Not only does she think that her son should shave, she also worries that Syed’s phone is tapped, or that he’ll go to jail for resembling a terrorist.
Common misconceptions arose surrounding the Islamic faith after many Muslims chose to terrorize America and die for what they “believed in.” The problem with that, Syed says, is Islam is not based on the principles of violence and holy wars at all.
“I believe that [was] an act of desperation, not religion,” Syed said. “They misrepresented the idea of jihad, which does not translate to holy war. It translates to struggle. Jihad refers to the struggle of the inner soul; the struggle to pray five times a day; the struggle to smile; [the struggle] to keep going with life when it’s so tough – that’s what it refers to.
“It does not take a true Muslim long to realize that what happened was obviously wrong.” Although Syed feels the presence of a cold stare on his back or hears the mutterings of an Osama bin Laden joke as he walks past, he casually ignores them. Of course he is somewhat hurt by the musing, but also he knows his place in the world and attributes faith in God as his inspiration. "These reactions [towards me] have helped me rather than held me back and [they have become] a fuel to do more outreach and more education,” Syed explains. “Muslims believe that any calamity can be a tragedy or a blessing. It’s a tragedy if it pulls you away from God; it’s a blessing if it draws you near to God.”
The outreach and educating Syed does is mostly through the Muslim Students’ Association, or MSA. Representing the only voice of its kind on campus, the group gives Syed, the active president of the group, and other Muslims a chance to unite and practice their faith freely.
More importantly, MSA provides outreach services to the Muslim and non-Muslim community alike, all while educating those who will listen to who Muslims are as people and what the faith of Islam is all about.
"I like to do what I do, and I leave the rest on God,” Syed said. “I’m not sure how things match up, and even if they don’t, I’m OK with that. I just like to do my best and if it doesn’t happen it’s from God, and if it does happen it’s from God. I leave it at that.”
The hope is that through education and joint communion, people will see that Islam is not a violent religion and that Muslims are truly loving, religious-minded people.
If such a standard of life can be attained, people like Syed’s mother, victims of discrimination and terror, and even that elderly lady who preferred to stroll among cars instead of Muslims will perhaps one day fear a man with a beard or a woman with a hejab no more.