By Burcu Arik
ISTANBUL
Violence by the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group has increased pressure on the Muslim population in the United States and provoked Islamophobia, American Muslim scholars have claimed.
"There has been an increase in the number of hate speeches against Muslims in the U.S. after the bloody events of ISIL", said Nihad Awad, executive director and founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Awad was speaking at the first Latin-American Muslim Leaders' Religious Summit in Istanbul on Wednesday. Defining Islamophobia as an "irrational fear of Islam" Awad said people were "misinforming the public to create fear about Muslims."
Awad said: "According to surveys, just 27 percent of the American people have favorable views of Islam because of these latest events."
Earlier this year ISIL beheaded American reporter James Foley, followed by the murder of 31-year-old Steven Sotloff, a U.S.-Israeli freelance journalist captured by the militant group in Syria last year.
Awad, strongly condemning ISIS and its actions, said: "Our voice should be louder than ISIS but unfortunately as we say in the West: 'If it bleeds it leads'."
"Bloodshed makes the news. However, the peaceful lives of Muslims all around world does not make the news – what makes the headlines is only the bad news, unfortunately."
Naeem Mohammed Baig, head of the Islamic Circle of North America, criticized the media, saying: "Misinformation plays a key role in provoking Islamophobia."
He said: "The source of information is the media. The American media especially promotes Islamophobia by bringing so-called experts on Islam.
“They come and they just share one or two words from the Holy Quran and they say that Quran is saying 'kill people'."
According to Baig, the best way to handle Islamophobia is by Muslim's own actions. "The majority of Americans say that they have no knowledge of Islam. If we can introduce Islam and Muslims properly, the general opinion of hatred in the U.S. may decrease drastically."
"People need to learn and understand Islam," he said.
www.aa.com.tr/en
