January 15, 2015

Last week’s terror attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was a disturbing reminder that violent extremism continues to be a challenge for the world. In order to change the manner in which the media tells stories about Muslims, we need to speak out and share our perspectives on the issues that impact us most. Over the past week, we have been busy helping the public understand where American Muslims truly stand on the Paris attacks and blasphemy. We have appeared in the media dozens of times including on Fox News, CNN, HuffPost Live, NPR and ABC7 to name a few.

MPAC took on some of the biggest proponents of the false narrative that Islam and Muslims are to blame for terrorism. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly invited Haris Tarin, Director of the MPAC Washington, DC, office to discuss terrorism in the wake of Charlie Hebdo. The way the media responds to our repeated statements about the facts underlying these issues differs. For example, Media Matters for America highlighted Tarin’s explanation that “many Muslims are not only denouncing terrorism, but are actually dying in the fight against it,” while O’Reilly's approach was to shout above his invited guest. You can watch the complete interview here.

In remembering the legacy of Dr. Maher Hathout as the voice that stood firmly against extremism of all sorts, the City of Los Angeles hosted a memorial service on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall this past week. During the service, Rev. Ed Bacon, the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, stated that Dr. Hathout “would be one of the strongest voices against what happened in France this week. He strongly objected to the hijacking of Islam by violent terrorists." The memorial began with Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Sikh leaders standing shoulder to shoulder, in observance of a moment of silence for victims of the attacks in France. Following the moment of silence, MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati offered a prayer calling “that we overcome the evil and darkness and the despair of this senseless, barbaric act.”

We recently held a community forum called, “The Crisis of ISIS: The Community’s Role and Response,” in partnership with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) and the Islamic Society of Orange County (ISOC). Nearly 150 attendees gathered on a Friday evening to discuss how to address the issue of ISIS and its negative effects on American Muslims and the world community. Al-Marayati said, “The root problem with [ISIS] is their ideology of compulsion which stems from some Muslim countries that practice this ideology. We, as American Muslims, have the opportunity to declare freely and openly that we are Muslims because Islam stands for freedom.”

We must not only continue to engage each other, but also the larger society on these issues that are confronting our country and community. It is imperative now more than ever to speak out and amplify our voices to challenge false perceptions, combat the allure of violence in some quarters, and to push forth the true ideals of all humanistic people.