By Ijaz Ahmed

“Go back to where you were born!” Similar expletives have been directed at various groups of people throughout our nation’s history. Many including European immigrants, the Japanese, Jews, and now Muslims have become the victims to such demeanor. The constitution of the United States stands tall amongst the world nations in that it offers freedom that most in the world can only dream of. The freedom of religion, in particular, is not celebrated in other parts of the world as it is here in the US. However, the hands of ignorance have begun to envelope this freedom under the guise of security. It is under this guise that Donald Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and Ted Cruz said we should monitor Muslim neighborhoods. There are still many who believe Islamphobia is not real, in spite of the numerous accounts of racial and xenophobic remarks against Muslims and Muslim look-alikes (i.e. Sikhs, Hindus, etc.).Recently, an Italian Ivy league economist was interrogated for doing math on a plane.

Despite the actions of Muslims throughout the years demonstrating their loyalty and love for this country, certain local communities across the US have begun creating barriers and restrictions on their religious rights. For example, the ex-Mayor of Bernards Township in New Jersey, M. Ali Chaudhry, has been struggling to approve the building of a Mosque in the same town he once served as Mayor. After multiple meetings and revisions of the proposal spanning roughly four long years, the township planning board denied his application, citing issues such as parking and traffic. The controversy even compelled the town to modify their existing laws to inconvenience the construction of future religious buildings. Other places of worship have been previously built in the town with no problems whatsoever.

The local residents seem to disfavor the building of a mosque. A local volunteer firefighter said: “Eleven brothers died on 9/11 and now you want to put a mosque next to my house with the insignia of the people who did that.” Even a town official spoke in favor of Ben Carson’s remarks that a Muslim should not be president of the US. The Department of Justice is currently investigating the issue to determine if civil rights were violated.

In Dudley, MA, Muslim communities trying to purchase land for a cemetery have been greeted with backlash from the local community. Individuals yelled, “You’re not welcome here!” and “People don’t trust Muslims. Their goal is to populate the United States and take it over.”

The underlying culprit of this backlash is Islamaphobia, which stems from fear and ignorance. Although M. Ali Chaudhry from New Jersey, has opened his doors to the community for dialogue with the residents, he is only one person and can only do so much. Furthermore, Muslim leaders have only recently begun to converse with the local residents of Dudley to reach a compromise over the cemetery project.

Muslims have every legal right to build a mosque, as long as they meet the requirements of the respective town and state. To facilitate the process, Muslims must reach out to the community and explain the main purpose of building their mosque, which is to help and serve the community at large. Muslims in the US should make a concerted effort to combat the Islamaphobia that is plaguing these communities. If the local residents understand the true purpose of a mosque and the duty Muslims hold to their country of residence, then they ought to in all fairness welcome the construction of a mosque. The true Khalifa of Islam and head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has stated that a mosque should be “an abode of peace, security and shelter for all of humanity.”

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which has been in America for almost 100 years, participates in Fourth of July parades, volunteers to help homeless and veterans, and members even serve in the armed forces. His Holiness, the Khalifa of Islam, has highlighted the importance of all Muslims to be loyal to the country that they live in, something that the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), himself emphasized.

The recently launched True Islam campaign (trueislam.com) is an attempt to combat the evidently existential Islamaphobia that continues to spread across the country. The more Americans are educated about Islam and other religions, the more equipped they will be to make informed decisions about their growing communities and the future of this great nation.