It all started in September 2010, during the Park51 “Ground-Zero Mosque” controversy. The same rhetoric spewed out of the mouths of the Islamophobes seeking to spark more anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiment in America. We’d heard it all too many times before in fact, for the past nine years we’d heard the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric being spewed by Islamophobes.
The same broken record was being played, yet the Muslim American community danced to the same tune they had been dancing to for the past nine years. So nothing changed. Why is that? Why have Muslim Americans and Muslims in general been unable to overcome the same broken record rhetoric of Islamophobes’ attacks filled with mistruth, lies, and misinformation? Why had it become so hard for the Muslim American community to clarify to America and the world that they in fact were peaceful, loyal citizens, and not terrorists? It is was because for the past nine years we had been saying who we were not over and over, but were not saying who we are.
Thus, sparked the idea of Muslim Heroes, a simple blog (that now formed into a full-fledged non-profit) started out in response to the Park51 controversy to respond to the Islamophobes’ questions of “Muslims are not loyal citizens and want to implement shariah,” “Muslims are not loyal citizens, they’re violent extremists,” “What good have Muslims done for the world?” Now the ultimate question is if Americans and the world are getting the message from most Muslim Americans of their loyalty and peaceful beliefs is: “If Muslims are not terrorists, then who are they?” This is where Muslim Heroes answers that question.
In a time with so much misinformation, distortion of truth, and economic and political instability we have heroes who serve their communities whole-heartedly and sacrifice their time, energy, and often times health to work towards a better world for others and future generations. Be you Christian, Jew, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhis, Baha’i we need to serve a higher purpose and seek to serve others and not just live for ourselves. In Islam, Muslims are ordained by Allah (God) to serve others via charity, feeding the poor, teaching others good and forbidding evil, taking care of the orphan.
We are often encouraged by society to satisfy ourselves instantly through fast-food, commercials, ads, media, movies, magazines, etc. However, when we break away from satisfying ourselves and sacrifice on behalf of others and our community that is when we transcend ourselves into something greater. When we see a problem we solve it.
Muslims like other faith communities are inspired by their faith when serving others. For example, the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him :
“If you see an evil, correct it with your hand; if you cannot correct it with your hand, correct it with your tongue (words); if you cannot do it either, feel that it is wrong in your heart.”
Thus we as Muslims are commanded and driven by our faith to serve not only Muslims, but people of different faiths, cultures, ethnicities, and races than themselves.
At Muslim Heroes we seek to highlight the great work Muslims around the world are doing for their communities around them. Everyone has a hero within them it’s just a matter of finding that hero within ourselves and igniting that passion within ourselves to serve others and create a better world for our future generations.