March 15 is International Combat Islamophobia Day as declared by the United Nations with an overwhelming vote by 115 nations. No nation voted against it.
If Muslims don’t use this day eventually, the day will be forgotten with no educational benefit to combat Islamophobia.
The UN designated this day at the request of Muslim nations to coincide with the day in 2019 when a white supremacist murdered 51 Muslims and injured 89 others in New Zealand while they offered Juma prayers. That white supremacist terrorist quoted Anders Brevik, the Norwegian terrorist who killed 77 Christians because he felt they were “soft” on Islam. He also quotes Indian fascist organization RSS, which killed Gandhi but is in power now through its political arm Bharatiya Janata Party.
President Prabowo Subianto, leader of the world’s largest Muslim country, Indonesia, says that in today’s world Muslims have no human rights.
With so many well-established Islamophobes in the administration of President Donald Trump, it is likely that Islamophobia will be weaponized as some of his signed executive orders reflect. May Allah protect our children, who face the most bullying as compared to others in the United States.
So, let's plan now to combat Islamophobia. Let’s use March 15 as a major outreach and educational effort by Muslims.
Action Ideas:
- Organize a public program about Islamophobia in your public library or school.
- Approach your mayor and the governor of your state to issue a proclamation on International Combat Islamophobia day.
- Make March 15 the theme of an interfaith iftar or an open house for the neighbors.
- Imams and preachers need to deliver sermons about educating the community regarding Islamophobia, its harm, and how to combat it. The talking points and thinking points listed below can be used for a sermon.
- Plan a family gathering to understand Islamophobia. Jewish children are raised to understand antisemitism, spot it, and report it. That is why statistics on antisemitism always seem to be ahead of all forms of racism.
- Report Islamophobic incidents, be they verbal, physical, online, or in-person. You can report a hate crime to your local police, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division. Report it even if you are unsure. More here. You should additionally report to CAIR, ADC, as well as to SPLC.
- Ask your local mayor, police chief, or human rights commissioner to include the term Islamophobia in each place they write the term antisemitism.
- Get your Masjid to organize some programs during the second week of March. You may decide to start from March 8th, which is International Women’s day, and continue programming until March 15th.
- Former President Joe Biden issued a report on fighting Islamophobia. Ensure that you read it and make a copy available to your city hall for their consideration. It is no longer available on the White House website. But we have preserved a copy right here.
- The United Nations body UNESCO has an eBook for educators on fighting Islamophobia. Please share this report with your children's school. It is available in English and Spanish as well.
Talking points
with neighbors, media, interfaith:
- War-terror-Islamophobia is a vicious cycle. It reinforces itself. We must all oppose war and terror both to defuse Islamophobia and other forms of racism.
- President Donald Trump just bombed Somalia. America has been bombing Somalia for the last 30-plus years, but it is still there. Remember the statement worth repeating that, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
- As Brown University research determined, the war on terror, which we define as the cycle of war-terror-Islamophobia, is responsible for the death of at least 4.5 million people.
- In schools across America, Muslim children are targeted and bullied. One survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) found that 56% Muslim children surveyed in California don’t feel safe at school.
- President Trump’s anti-immigrant and anti-diversity rhetoric and actions will further make Brown and Black a target of profiling and officially sanctioned harassment.
Thinking Points
For the Reflections of Muslims:
- Allah in the Quran states that “They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it” (Quran 61:8).
- God tells us: “And never think that God is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them for a Day when eyes will stare [in horror]” (Quran 14:42).
- Remain focused on the positive: “It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though those who associate others with God dislike it” (Quran 61:9).
- Allah considers striving on His path with our money and time to be the greatest success as compared to earthly results (Quran 61:10-12).
- God considers defending oneself against tyranny to be an essential quality of a successful believer (Quran 42:39)
- In personal cases, Allah recommends that when an ignorant person quarrels with you, just walk away saying peace (Quran 25:63)
- God Almighty wants us to follow the Prophet’s beautiful path by adopting his mission of upholding justice, living justice, and establishing justice (Quran 57:25, 22:78)
- Motives must be winning over people, not strengthening enmity. (Quran 41:34) Fifty-three percent of those who know a Muslim person say they hold no prejudice toward Islam.
- Forgiving when you are capable of responding to an attack in the same way is a high virtue in Islam and a path to a more peaceful life.
May Allah protect us and our neighbors.
May God open our hearts toward our neighbors and may Allah open their hearts toward Him.
May Allah does not punish us due to the fault of some of us.
May God bless us with Sabr (patience) and Tawakkul (trust in God) in their fullest meanings.
Spread the message brothers and sisters.
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