By now, few people are in the dark about what is going on in Boston, Massachusetts. The amount of information available to people, however, has remained limited. Knee-jerk media reports had earlier suggested that a Saudi man present at the Boston Marathon was somehow involved in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil in recent times. However, when evidence surfaced that he was just as innocent as anybody else, the media was heavily criticized for being biased against people who are from Muslim countries. The criticism intensified when rumors spread that two Russian men were in fact involved in the terrorist attack. In an interesting turn of events, however, some media channels have revealed that the YouTube channel one of the two Caucasian suspects suggests that he was influenced by Islamic fundamentalists.
It is still extremely unclear whether these men carried out these attacks. The FBI has been reluctant to call them anything more than suspects, and until any court of law finds them guilty of conducting terrorist activities, it would be wrong to call them terrorists. The American people are proud of their constitution and the fact that it gives everybody the right to due process of law. Unfortunately, both men were shot down by FBI agents in their attempt to secure the American people. We will never know the exact motivation behind the attacks so we are forced to rely on what little information we have. This YouTube channel makes up the majority of that information.
If nothing else, the Boston Marathon attack has reminded many Americans that Islam is inherently violent. Such a deduction, in my opinion, is extremely unfair. I am not going to defend my point by arguing that Islam is inherently and entirely peaceful, because such a claim would be difficult to support. Even if one of the two suspects was inspired by the tenets of Islam, which I will not deny, Islam does not necessarily preach violence. All Abrahamic religions have vast room for interpretation, and that is what makes them so popular among followers. Whether it is Christianity, Judaism or Islam, religion can be interpreted to almost anything you want it to be.
Muslims have been living in America for decades now, contributing actively towards the betterment of society. I hope people realize that statements like ‘Islam means terrorism’ and ‘All Muslims are terrorists’ (just a couple that I picked up from the YouTube channel) only make them look like prejudicial, ignorant people who walk into the shallow path of stereotypes. Muslims are more than a single interpretation of Islam. Let’s not forget that. I live in a country with a Muslim-majority population. I live in the most dangerous city in the world (Time Magazine, 2012). I attended a silent protest to pay respects to the victims of the Boston Marathon massacre, even though no one from my city was even remotely responsible for the tragedy that occurred. Do all Muslims really want innocent Americans to be killed?
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