Written by a Christian.

If most people nowadays hear the word “Islam” or “Muslim”, what is the first thing that pops up in their minds? Could it be terrorist? Could it be fanatic? Psychopath? Could It be the image of a Arabic person with a bomb strapped to their chests? Or even a gun? I myself would’ve told you just a couple of years ago that this was how I saw them. But then, I met one of my best friends, Lemiyah*.

Lemiyah, a laid back Muslim, put me off that image.

So, after the suicide bombing in Manchester at the end of a Ariana Grande concert, while most of the world was mourning for the lives of 22 youngsters at the hand of the Islamic State (ISIS), I was thinking “what will everyone say now?”

ISIS, like most terrorist associations, has slandered a big part of what the Muslim religion is about. The image of Muslims is tarnished. And non-Islamic people? They are scared of the unknown. The question on everyone’s lips is: what will they do next? Who will they kill next?

“See, what people don’t understand is that Islam, our religion, teaches you a lot about love and acceptance and our god, Allah, we believe that he is the most gracious, most merciful. He is all forgiving, all powerful. He’ll forgive any sin if you just repent. He is so understanding and patient and nowhere in our Quran does it state that if you kill someone you go to Jannah, which is heaven. You don’t. It says the same thing in our Quran. It says you are not allowed to take a life. That is not your place. You are not allowed to play God.” says Lemiyah.

So what does this mean in a nutshell? It means that the fanatical Muslims are very, very wrong. And they are influencing the rest of the world, making non-Islamic people think they are bad people, that they are dangerous. Now, I’m not saying terrorists aren’t dangerous. They are very dangerous. But, they are also wrong in their beliefs. They think somehow if they do the things they do and they persist in it that they will earn a special place in Jannah. But, that’s not how it is.

“Where people have a misconception is that they think Islam is a violent religion. But, it isn’t. The only thing is that you get these Muslim people which is like ISIS which I think are mad people, absolutely crazy people, because their views on Islam, it’s violent, it’s uncanny. Only because they believe, in all honesty, is that if you see a non-believing Muslim, an infidel, you must kill him instead of trying to convert him to our religion. We’re not the kind of religion where we force people to take part of our religion. Where we want you, where we fight for you, no. If you want to be a Muslim, join us. We will help you understand Arabic. We’ll be there for you. You know, it’s not the kind of basis where you, if you’re a Muslim, this is how it is. You know, people have that misconception of Islam because of the way ISIS is boasting it. You see, ISIS is on the basis of ‘I will kill in the name of Allah’ and that’s not what you’re supposed to do. You’re not supposed to be killing in his name. You’re not allowed to use his name in vain. So if you say you’re killing in the name of God, you’re using his name in vain. You’re not allowed to do that.”

As a Christian, I can agree. For years we have believed that if you use the Lord’s name in vain you will be punished, as it states in the Bible. So why would the Muslims believe differently if their beliefs are so close to ours?

Do we not also believe the basis of the Muslim religion? Instead, what we are doing in our fear is much worse than we thought. We are shunning our fellow humans.

“I heard in America that uh...a hijab is a scarf, right. That is a hijab. I’ve heard in America that if people wear their scarf, their hijab, when they go outside or they go to a Mosque or any place of worship that the ladies especially, they get called rude names, you know, they get scared. I know of a few Muslim people in America who are actually scared to wear their scarves and actually wear their cloak, their bias because they feel like...they feel unsafe. With their own religion, they feel unsafe.”

And now, it’s not just America. It’s everywhere. If I listen daily, to the people around me, all of them have this misconception about Islam.

My family, my friends, they all think that Islamic people are violent and they are out to get Christians. But, that’s not how it is. On the contrary, Muslim terrorists are the only people that I can say, out of keen observation, are causing trouble for Christians and other religions.

Just last year, people in Iran, were hiding from ISIS because they can’t give up their religion. They don’t want to lose Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Why? Because, ISIS gave them a choice: you either convert or you die. And what kind of choice is that? If I listen solely to Lemiyah’s earlier statement, you soon realize, even if you did start following the Islamic ways according to them, you would still not go to Jannah. Because, at the end of the day, they are very wrong. And there is nothing in this world that can change that it seems.

With the bombing of Manchester and shooting on the London Bridge, they kept believing that the West is wrong, that they are “heathens” or as Lemiyah states it, “infidels”. And every other bombing and shooting and violent act. But, in the end, who are really the infidels? Us or the terrorists?