At the time, a man named Osama Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the terrorist act and generated fear and panic across the world. With a banner entitled “fighting terrorism”, the president of the United States at the time, George W. Bush, won re-election and carried out dozens, perhaps hundreds of missions in the Middle East to combat “religious fanatics of Islam”. But what is Islam? And is there any reason for so much fear on the part of the Western world?
Along with Christianity and Judaism, Islam is one of the three largest religions in the world. As in every religion, it has millions of adherents and various fanatical groups. The man in the turban and long beard has become a pejorative synonym for danger that threatens the safety of good people. Those responsible and the reasons for the origin of this label generate controversy, as well as everything that involves religion. The almost antagonistic difference between what Islam is for a non-adept Westerner and for a practitioner of that religion is as great as comparing what a woman sacrificed as a witch and a priest thought of Catholicism in the thirteenth century.
In the same way that Westerners are revolted by acts defined as “terrorism” carried out by Islamic peoples, they are also annoyed by the so-called “imperialist” practices of Westerners in the homelands of Islamic fanatics. In the same way that thousands of innocent people died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, other thousands of followers of Islam died victims of attacks by allied countries in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Afghanistan, etc.
The roots of Islam show that the religion had much more tolerant and peaceful aspects a few centuries ago than the Catholics themselves, for example. A religion exists according to the practices spread by the people of the time. Therefore, its characteristics change over time. Changes can be for better or worse, depending on the present moment. If there is dialogue, conflicts, etc. Such things can assuage or incite the tempers of any religion.
Because of this pejorative label, the Islamophobia, which means hatred, aversion and/or contempt for people who adhere to that religion. Like all prejudice, whether xenophobia, racism or any other, Islamophobia is an outdated characteristic, but it is still present in many layers of our society. In the same way that you, a Christian, are not responsible for the absurdities caused by the Catholic Church in the past, people who adhere to Islam cannot pay for the criminal acts of other people. Empathy, that is, the perception of knowing how to put yourself in the place of others is a universal law, therefore, any kind of “phobia” with another race, culture or gender is an offense to human intelligence that should not be tolerated by anyone.
Text written by Diego Rennan from the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team.
