I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist

„I am not saying that every Muslim is a terrorist. But every terrorist is a Muslim.“, that’s what I heard somebody saying in the media. When people say that these terrorists, especially ISIS and Taliban, are Muslims, I could also point at a donkey and say it is a horse. There is no right to call these people Muslims. If I call ISIS Muslims, it is an insult to all Muslims. If I call them non-Muslims, it is an insult to all non-Muslims. If I call them humans, it is an insult to the whole humanity. If I call them animals, I’d be insulting all animals, because even the animals will only hunt, when they need to. They are not slaughtering innocent creatures. There is not one word which I would want to use to describe ISIS and Taliban, because no word is suitable for a description without being insulted.  

Islam is not about killing innocent people in the name of religion. ISIS and Taliban are talking about the Jihad. "The fight for the religion." But what they don't understand is, that Jihad is not the fight for religion in the sense of killing non-Muslim people. Jihad is the fight with yourself. Jihad means "to strive" or "to struggle". To reach up to God, you have to find yourself. You need to find out who you are. Only then, when you found your true self, you found Islam. Islam means peace. Only then you found Peace with yourself. 

They call it martyrdom to die in a suicide bombing. But the real martyrs are the innocents who are being killed in these attacks. Who is crying for the suicide bombers? Nobody. Nobody remembers them. Nobody wants to remember them. Nobody regrets their loss. But for the innocents, who died, thousands of tears are cried and people remember them. Their loss is leaving a whole in society. There is regret for their loss.

They say Islam is in danger - fight for it. Islam is in danger in which sense? I can't see danger for Islam, as I can't see danger for Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism or any other kind of religion. The only danger that Islam is enfacing is ISIS and Taliban. The ones who use the name of Islam to strive for power and to spread fear. I can see danger for humanity and that’s what is making me afraid.

It is making me angry, that just because of these people I had to leave my country. Wherever I go, I will always face prejudice and suspicion, just because of my religion. These people are ruining the real Muslims honour; they are stealing their right to live a peaceful life without harassment.

I am deeply sorry for the wrong picture of Islam, which is being spread all around the world, making all Muslims terrorists. I am proud to be a Muslim. I am proud to be a human being. I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist.

(Iftikhar Hussain, 24 years old, originally comes from Pakistan and is living in Germany for more than two years now.)