Verona Area Times -- OP-ED Contributor

Islam and ISIS: Not the Same

By Sileen Alomari March 2,2017

According to poll by Shibley Telhami, %61 of Americans had unfavorable views towards
Muslims. Too many people confuse Islam with ISIS; Islam is a religion that promotes peace
and it is the antithesis of ISIS and ISIS is a terrorist agenda.

Islam and terror has been an ongoing topic for a long time. Many think they are connected
and many think the opposite. After the terrorist attack on November 13, 2015 in Paris,
Hossein Hashemi, a Muslim Youtuber, did a social experiment . He asked people about what
they thought of Muslims. One woman said, I believe terrorism does not have a religion
(Legendary Inventor). If a person does a terrorist act under the identity of a religion doesnt
mean thats what the religion is about.

In a time like this, people and countries ought to be working together to make the world a
better place. Writer Joshua Muravchik quoted for the Secretary of State John Kerry as saying
"the biggest mistake we could make would be to blame Muslims for crimes... that their faith
utterly rejects" (Muravchik 37). Now is not the time to blame people for something they
didnt do. The Islamic religion doesnt say kill people because they are gay or kill people
because they are not religious. Sadly, many think Islam is based on just war and hatred.
Islam is known as the religion of peace. The purpose of this religion is to spread love and
peace among people from different religions, colors, etc. A
ccording to Quora, a
question-answer website, Islam has the same roots as the word salaam which means
Peace in Arabic, thus, its the Religion of Peace (Aboukhadijeh)

Yes, the Quran does have sword verses but it also has peace verses just like any other
religion. Those sword verses are not meant to be used at anytime and in any situation.
There are rules on when they are justified, but, many Muslims or extremists misunderstood
those sword verses and some of them started coming up with rules just so that they can
justify their inhumane actions of terror under the name of Islam, The Religion of Peace.

All of the peace verses in Islam say that Muslims should visit their families and friends.
Muslims should give Zakaat, money donated to people in need.. Muslims should educate
others about Islam peacefully. Muslims should respect women and give them their rights.
Everyone is equal to God, it doesnt matter if you are rich or poor. Those are only the few
basic aspects of what Islam is truly about. ISIS always does the opposite of those peaceful
things. ISIS rape women, they kill people, they torture people, and they love blood and war.
It is absolutely humiliating for Muslims to think that people think of them or their religion
in that horrible way. People think of them as rapists, killers, and blood-thirsty, when all they
want is peace..

The Islamic religion is not just about peace, its also about science. There are many recent
discoveries that were mentioned in the Quran about 1431 years ago. For example, science
recently discovered that there is a barrier where two seas meet. This barrier prevents the two
seas from mixing waters together since they both have different temperatures and salinity
(Anderson). That was mentioned in the Quran 1431 years ago (Imran). He releases the two
seas meeting side by side, between a barrier so neither of them transgresses (Quran,
55:19-20). That is only one example of the many examples that prove Quran and Islam are
connected to science.

All religions have extremists, not just Islam. Those few extremists groups shouldnt be mixed
as the whole religion. According to T he Huffington Post, a Florida man stole $7 billion
because Jesus wanted him to be rich. He said that the scheme he did helped him obtain the
wealth that Jesus Christ created for him and that belonged to him(Moyes). He also said,
Jesus Christ created wealth for everyone (Moyes). This mans actions dont represent
Christianity. As said before, all religions have extremists, whether about war, beliefs, or
actions.
 ISIS is the extremist group of Islam, therefore, it doesnt represent the religion or the
people who practice it. ISIS does all of its actions to get attention and to get power
over the world but its still an unknown reason of why they do it under the name of
the Islamic religion. They claim to be Muslims and, unfortunately, many believe that
they are Muslims. When people connect Islam and ISIS and assume that they are the
same, they are causing more problems and hatred towards Muslims.

In conclusion, many think Islam and ISIS have the same goals but many others
disagree. Islam urges to spread peace among people and ISIS does the complete
opposite. There are about 2 billion Muslims in the world, if they were all terrorists,
then no one will exist by then. Thats why ISIS doesnt and never will represent Islam.

Sileen Alomari, a freshman at Verona Area High School. Graduating in 2020.

Follow Sileen on Instagram (sileen_omari) and F

acebook (Sileen Al-Omari).