With the growing Islamophobia in the US, abroad, and the claims that Muslims and Islam are not compatible with American ideals or principles it became important for Muslim-Americans (and Muslims all over the world) to be given a voice and to highlight their contributions to their societies.
Muslim-Americans and most Muslims around the world are a community that like many other minorities in America would like to live normal lives, raise their kids, send them to school, and are positive forces within their communities. Most live their lives as every day citizens while proudly adhering to their Islamic beliefs and principles.
That was the initial idea of Muslim Heroes. A website which the main purpose of is to highlight the great work that every individual is doing in their own respective communities regardless of profession, educational background, ethnicity, culture or nationality.
It is the hope of Muslim Heroes to show Muslims and people of other faith that Muslims do in fact have great leadership today.
Muslims cannot always look to the past for great leadership, but must also look to our present time for leadership and for great leaders in order to improve the condition of the Ummah and ultimately the world.
We have great leaders in our past–be they Prophets, scholars, scientists, etc. but Muslims must look to today at our community for leaders and role models for the Muslim community in order to work towards a better future for Muslims and the world. It is the hope of Muslim Heroes to show the world that great leadership exists today amongst Muslims too.
Muslim Heroes was created in order to highlight the positive contributions that many Muslims have made to their communities, societies, and the impact they’ve had on the world with their work and contributions.
The actions of extremists abroad cannot reflect on those Muslim-Americans and Muslims living in Europe and America – or any other part of the world – who loyally serve their country and communities in the military, federal and state governments, and are hard-working employees in every field–be it a school teacher, university student making change at his or her university, or a Muslim doctor running a free health clinic.
Included in the list of Muslims will also be internationally renowned Muslims who have made a positive impact in their respective communities in which they live. One does not have to be extremely well-known or even hold a high position to be considered a hero, thus Muslim Heroes encourages nominations to include heroes from all walks of life and are not necessarily well known, yet make positive impacts in their communities.
Many terms have been thrown around such as “Shariah”, “jihad” “women’s oppression”, “stoning” amongst other terms. These terms have been taken out of context for political purposes and have only further shown the unfortunate exsistance of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism in America. It is important to realize that generalizations cannot be made about a religion with 1.5 Billion followers. Just as any other religious group has be they Christians, Jews or people of other faiths—all have extreme elements within their midst, but that fringe element does not reflect the whole.