Muslim Americans' Jihad Against Terrorism
Muslim Americans are finding themselves these days between a huge rock and many hard places. On one hand their faith is hijacked by brainwashed extremists who are trying to blow themselves up, killing innocent lives and killing with them the true essence of their religion. While on the other hand they are facing huge challenges trying to integrate within a society that is looking at them with suspicion and sometimes with hostility.
Muslim youth, in particular, have been under tremendous pressure and some feel alienated because of the 
relentless attacks on their religion and their values. Whether by the media following a terrorist attack or at their schools by their fellow students, their loyalty to their country is being questioned and the peaceful nature of their faith is suspected. Some react by isolating themselves from the society, and some may become radicals.
The anti-Islam industry is flourishing since bashing Islam sells and improves ratings. Books about Jihadism, Terrorism, Extremism and Islam are flying off the shelves. None of the so called “terrorism” experts, strangely enough, are Muslim scholars, yet they are flocking to media outlets to analyze the signs of radicalism among Muslims, and to discuss the inherent violent qualities of Islam. The Homeland Security Department has used the last Christmas Eve airline incident to move its profiling policy one notch up by scrutinizing and screening visitors from 14 mostly Muslim countries and Cuba, while requiring more passengers to go through total body scan. There have been reports of the FBI recruiting individuals with criminal records from the Muslim community and entrapping foolish individuals using questionable and unethical tactics.
Muslims are often asked by the media and the public: What are you doing to fight terrorism? And why aren’t you condemning terrorism?
The fact of the matter is that Muslim Americans and Muslims throughout the world are doing a lot, but their contributions to the fight against terrorism is often unnoticed or completely ignored by the media, policy makers and the general public.
All major Islamic organizations have condemned terrorist acts committed by Muslims and all violence against civilians not only in the US but anywhere in the world. The websites of national and local Islamic organizations, like ISNA, CIOGC and MPAC, are crowded with statements and press releases against terrorism. The highest scholarly authority of Muslim American, The Fiqh Council of North America, issued many fatwas, or religious edicts, unequivocally prohibiting suicide bombing and all terrorist acts or violence against civilians stating: “Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is prohibited in Islam - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.” The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person, unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a person, it is as though he had saved all mankind." (Qur’an, 5:32).
The real problem is not the lack of condemnation but the lack of noticing. Condemning terrorism is not newsworthy, which means the moderate mainstream Muslim voice does not reach the general public and policy makers, while the loud voice of a few extremists resonates in our ears day and night. It is not surprising that the perception of Islam has been becoming increasingly negative since 9/11, as it is often elicited by the opinion polls.
When the Muslim voice heard by the public is that of angry, irrational and violent voices of extremists, while the peaceful, rational and mainstream voice of the majority is nearly completely muted, it is translated into the absurd notion that somehow Islam, which literally and practically means peace, condones violence.
Even noble Islamic words like "Jihad" are abused by the media to become the equivalent to terrorism or “holy war”, while the real meaning of exerting maximum effort to change self or society for the better by perfecting personal values and promoting common good, is completely ignored.
Muslim Americans have been waging several “Jihads” since 9/11 to protect national security, reclaim their faith from the hands of extremists, provide healthy education, social services and civic engagement to Muslim families and youth while striving to prevent a small number of alienated and confused Muslim youth from falling victims to extreme and radical ideologies, now rampant and readily available online. Muslims have been doing all of that because they believe in a better future for their families and for their communities, and because it is part of the Islamic tradition to always strive to do good in spite of their limited resources, political naivety and their young infrastructure, even though their Institutions have faced closures, in the case of Islamic charities, and legal challenges, in the case of other major national organizations.
Like other people of faith, Muslims believe that with hardship comes ease, and with perseverance comes success. For now Jihad will have to continue until we win the battle of hearts and minds over extremism and until the aspirations of Muslim Americans for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness become an American reality.