By Usama Khan; Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Pre-Medical, Ahmadi Muslim, Writer, Sleep Researcher, Musician

Huff Post: You’re seven times more likely to be shot by a right wing extremist in the United States than you are to be shot by a Muslim extremist. But I guess facts don’t stop many Americans from being deathly afraid of all Muslims. I know it’s crazy to think that just because a few radical extremists do something horrifying, the faith of Islam is not to blame. But as an American who is part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the world’s largest organized sect of Islam, I can wholeheartedly say that there is nothing in Islam that justifies any acts of terror. In the Quran it says that if somebody kills another person, “It shall be as if he has killed all mankind.” (5:33) This is just one of many parts of the Quran which tells Muslims to not use violence unless in the case of self-defense. But if any members of Daesh are naïve enough to think that the atrocities they are committing are acts of self-defense, they are out of their minds. The concept of “Islamic terrorism” as brought about by many Islamophobes, like Donald Trump, can be simply attributed to often uneducated people being brainwashed by hate preachers. Additionally, if Islam is a violent religion, then out of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, why do only the most uneducated ones who live in war torn areas become terrorists? It’s easy to blame Islam, but when viewing the bigger picture it’s obvious that these other factors are the true causes of extremism.

However, if you’re one of those Confederate flag toting “True ‘Muricans” who still think that Obama is a Nigerian Muslim, you might not be fully convinced by my argument. You might think that all Muslims, including myself, are terrorists. As ridiculous as this may seem, people that fit this description do in fact exist and are incredibly common. How else do you think Donald Trump is leading the Republican polls? The reasons for this are clear. Muslims are a minority in the United States. Approximately over 60 percent of Americans haven’t met a Muslim. With statistics like these, it’s not surprising to see that the general public is afraid of what they don’t understand. But being surprised at this statistic isn’t going to do anything. We need to educate and inform the American public that Islam isn’t the cause of terrorism; it’s the misinformed and brainwashed extremists.

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