Opinion: Getting to Know One Another Best Way to Combat Anti-Americanism and Islamophobia

July 15, 2005

Source: Yahoo! News/USA Today

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050715/cm_usatoday/notinthenameofislam;_ylt=AjgFouYZxcNzptlgroN2P.is0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-

On July 15, 2005 USA Today ran an opinion piece by Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), on the July 7 bombings in London. Hooper writes, "In 2004, CAIR launched a petition drive, called 'Not in the Name of Islam,' designed to disassociate Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims... This week, we turned that petition into a television public service announcement that is being distributed nationwide. Arabic and Urdu subtitled versions will also be made available to television stations in Muslim countries. (To read the petition or to view the PSA, go to www.cair.com.) Mutual misunderstanding is the fuel that propels the twin phenomena of anti-Americanism and Islamophobia. Muslims have a religious duty to speak out against terrorism. People of other faiths have a similar duty to hear mainstream Muslim voices and to help avoid a downward spiral of mutual mistrust and hostility. The best way to break that cycle of mistrust is to know each other as individuals."