The Power of Fear

When I was younger, I was praying in a masjid with my dad. One specific part of that day that I still remember is an old man who had come to pray at the masjid. At first, he seemed like an ordinary man, who had joined us as people who had come together to pray to Allah. It was a hot day and there was not enough space inside the masjid for us to pray so we had to go outside. While we were praying for forgiveness for our sins to Allah, the man just stood there and started yelling, “Don’t pray here, here lies unholiness!” I was 7 or 9 and the fear that I felt during that time was something I will never forget. I felt paralyzed because I was afraid, he was going to harm someone. This man had the mindset that he was right and disrespecting a group of people practicing their religion was wrong and inhuman. When I heard about the New Zealand mosque shootings, it reminded me of the event that happened in my life. Although no harm came to me, while the New Zealand attack had 49 people dead, the fear I felt during that time gave me a glimpse to what those people must have felt during the attack. I can only express my sorrow and sympathy for the people grieving for their friends and family who were victims of the attack. When I hear about events like this, they are all stepping stones to how people feel that Muslims are terrorists and should be killed because of it. It reminds me that because of my religion, people treat me or my family differently. For example, when I was two, my dad went to India to visit his family, he was not allowed to come back to America for two months because his name was Omer. For years I have not been able to understand why people hate Muslims and think they are bad people. Fear twists people's minds to take desperate action and turns it into a vicious cycle of hatred. Fear can make a person commit murder believe violent acts against humanity is right,