Born and raised in the ethnic background of historic Lahore world seemed a happy place with news of occasional skirmishes that weren’t too powerful to squish my happy bubble of existence. It was the head-on collision with practical life that washed away all notions of a perfect world.
A front row seat showed bigotry, racism, manipulative strategies and lack of empathy in all its glory, and I was all but left speechless. As it turns out, humanity is a victim of its basest emotion. We give in to anger, despondency, and many a time to thrills that bring remorse to our otherwise sensible or occasionally, questionable judgement.
An emotional upheaval is easy, it just needs the right amount of incendiary words, and viola, you have a full-blown, highly charged homo sapien on the go. From the time when Pharaohs reigned supreme to an era where transsexuality is deemed as part of a civil revolution and a possible recipient of legality, our fervour has pushed us into hyper mode. Thus we side with the might and not the right. Anthropologically, pheromones govern animalistic actions and behavior; I wonder what name we would impart to our demeanour a couple of decades later, and what scientific epithet would be used to identify the moral degradation.
Recent times continue to test human perseverance in the wake of global terrorism and subsequent exploitation. Words are used to lash out and dissected in ways that bequeaths them such power that they become an all-inclusive dilemma in themselves. No matter what the motive is, words create a following, and our world that is an amalgamation of many societies, sects and religions. Words carry as much weight as air for our survival.
Present times, unfortunately, are all about alliances with the right kind of crowd. A few years ago, garb wouldn’t have determined how a person was received or treated. With the exception of a Nazi symbol on arm, all mannerisms, attributes and idiosyncrasies were accepted. Now because of the highly anticipated presidential election in the United States, one of the biggest menace that has reared its ugly head through the subversive election campaign run by the Republican nominee Donald Trump, many white Americans now fear and hate the very sight of Muslims. Any beard that crosses the widely acceptable margin of a facial stub is chastised with a meaningful glance, its recipient deemed as the next gen terrorist irrespective of the fact that the bearded guy may well be a Sikh. Just as anyone residing in the USA may classify wearing saris to be staple Indian women clothing, likewise certain images are now associated with Muslims paving the way to persecution.
People freak out if they see a veiled woman, and voice their concerns to implement stop-and-frisk. Some religious practices dictate women to cover themselves. Hasidic Jews have long practised this mannerism so have the Christian nuns. It never signified that they were restricted or their rights were being trampled under the guise of religion. A huge number of women in the west, of any creed or culture, prefer to remain home or work from home or are just content to live off the money that their husband make. Does it make them oppressed or a subject unable to use free will? Then why I ask is the uproar on women wearing burkinis when all it does is cover her up modestly. Why is there a commotion when a Muslim woman decides to stay home and look after her husband and children? Are individuals targeted because they fit a certain profile? They are.
Paranoia is a mangy beast that threatens to destroy the very semblance of humanity and replace it with fear. It’s what gets the job done but at the cost of social change towards a sect or an entire race. The election cycle will be over in less than three weeks but the damage inflicted has long-term reverberations. Trump glided through the primaries to nab the Republication nomination by vilifying Muslims after any deadly terror attack. His hateful rhetoric gave way to offensive and despicable behaviour by his followers who would pick at Muslim women at his rallies and verbally abuse them. The point blank shooting of the Queens Imam, the deliberate attempt to light up a hijab-clad Muslim woman in Manhattan, the desecration of mosques, and the increased amount of bullying reported against Muslim children are some of the ramifications of Trump’s narrative.
People of colour have always been separate from the mainstream America. Not many will back this claim but the past and the present are clear indicators of how slavery came into being; how police still picks up on, beats and falsely places the blame on black persons; how every Muslim is conceived to be a member of some kind of a Muslim brotherhood; and how having the word Mohammed in someone’s name automatically qualifies him for a ‘random’ checking at airports.
Sure, laws can be passed to build walls, and immigrants deported and barred from entering the country, but does it truly help to abridge the ever-growing gap between communities? The stereotypical approach to terrorism has widened the chasm between common folk as people of religion realise that this is the same mode of classification that destroyed nations rather than helped them to eradicate the problem. As Trump unhealthily points out that Muslims need to report other Muslims, what message resounds other than that our sect is one that harbours terrorism and endorses immunity to the cause? The despicable actions of radical Islamists do nothing but make life a living hell for the ones who are actually a part of a constructive religious movement. Admonishing the entire Muslim community in the wake of this internal strife would never act as an effective balm, and using them as bait to gain approval ratings would be a swift drop down the proverbial rabbit hole.
Muslim organisations and educational websites like whyislam.org, US Council of Muslim Organisations, Council on American-Islamic Relations and ICNA are working to denounce radical agendas, and establish means to eradicate its corroding effects on peace loving Muslims all over the United States. On the edge of a precipice lies the sanity of a nation, and continued prodding might send its people over the edge. Commendable are not the actions that seek to manipulate and fracture; real effort is required to root out the insurgency from within the heart of this nation. And that cannot be achieved by alienating Muslims from the mainstream populace.
The writer is a freelance columnist and a translator