After the horrific attacks in Brussels last week, once again there was the feeling of a backlash towards the Islamic community. Even under the comments sections of the stories this site ran, some people had made ridiculously generalised and ignorant remarks about Muslims.

Lovin Dubai contributor Ola Kseroof explains what it feels like to be a Muslim, when one of these terrorist attacks occurs…

“Why do innocent Muslims find themselves on the defensive, these days? Why are they on the receiving end of these new crusades against Islam? All in such a technologically advanced era – where truths can be discovered at the click of a button. The way all Muslims are being generalised as ‘bad guys’ because of the small number of fanatics is abysmal.

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I feel like it’s becoming redundant to even try and ‘stand up’ and defend Islam every time the news screens display acts of terrorism against innocent Western people in Europe or the U.S, because so many people’s minds are already made up…”All Muslims are to blame” seems to be there train of thought.

I will not go down the road of defending Islam, go into detail about how Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace but I will say this: yes, like all other religions, it does have extremist followers. All I ask is not to put us all in the same box.

The loss of innocent lives is heartbreaking and heinous. No words, actions, or penance can justify it. But this does not justify trashing almost two billion human beings around the world (22% of the world population) because they belong to the nation of Islam. Nor does it justify comments like this one, which was posted under a news story by this very website…the Islamophobia and hatred can be detected in every single letter.

Which brings me to my next point. In a country far far away called the USA, renowned for its ‘freedom of speech’, there lives a toupee, underneath it, a huge ignorant giant. We will call him by the name of Trump, this is a man who is fuelling feelings of xenophobia, racism and in particular Islamophobia…and no one seems to be stopping him.

He is simply free – even as a presidential candidate representing Americans, of which 2.7 million are Muslims – to declare all Muslims terrorists and to ban them from entering the Land of the Free. What’s most disturbing is, how many normal people are rallying behind him.

Us Muslims are sorry for the loss of innocent lives, of course we are. But I feel like every single Muslim, practicing or not, has to apologise for what a few extreme Muslims are doing. And what is even sadder is that these criminals are not even real Muslims, because they don’t represent the real Islam and the message of peace and tolerance.

My personal experience is that we no longer hear about the good work of Muslims, we only hear about the terrorism and then the backlash and attacks on innocent Muslims because of it. No one thanks the silent Muslim communities for their daily contributions to their societies. Many fanatics on social media and small parts of the media, cannot wait to disgrace and shame all Muslims when any terror attack takes place, but we never stop to thank the millions of Muslims who served and entertained humanity over the years.

If you agree with the idea that all Muslims are bad and must be stripped of their passports and be locked in one place, then, I ask you to stop being so ignorant. Where does this stop? Are we on the way to a type of ethnic cleansing? In the end, how different are you from a Nazi or a member of Boko Haram or indeed ISIL? Don’t they all have their roots in fanatic and extreme ideas… just like Donald Trump’s… and yours?”

Tell us what you think about Ola’s views? Do you agree or disagree? E-mail us at hello@lovindubai.com

Now read: Muslim woman takes a stand on Facebook against Donald Trump’s ludicrous statement