What happened in Paris was a tragedy in every definition of the word. Three teams of armed ISIS suicide bombers attacked six locations around Paris on Friday Nov. 13. At least 128 people lost their lives and hundreds more were wounded. These attacks have brought out the best in people as French citizens opened their doors to families in need of a safe haven. However, it also brought out the worst in people as Muslims started to hide due to ignorant persecution. Muslims all over the world took to social media to proclaim, “I am Muslim and I condemn the Paris attacks.” The Muslim faith is one of peace; although, ignorant people claim otherwise.

I read a post on Tumblr that said, “My sister and I were watching the Paris Attacks on the news. She turned to me and said, ‘Should I say I’m not Muslim anymore?’ She is SEVEN.”

  It breaks my heart that people that young already feel the prejudice against their religion. “Whoever kills an innocent person it is if he has killed all of humanity.” -Quran 5:32. Get educated people! The Muslim faith is a peaceful one. Even though ISIS tries to proclaim otherwise. People are being biased with the knowledge they gain from one group. How can people make assumptions about one whole religion if they don’t even know what the religion believes?

  There are hundreds of stories of Muslim women getting harassed because of their hijabs. Muslim women wear the hijab as a sign of modesty and privacy. It’s not an act of terrorism. A white women who put on a hijab for a day saw the difference a simple piece of clothing can make. The people who usually greeted her in stores and restaurants ignored her just because of what she decided to wear. When was the last time we judged people on what they wore or the color of their skin and it turned out to be a good thing? We believe we are living in a time where we can express ourselves freely with no judgement, I mean gay rights were just declared! It’s when I see things like this that I know we have a long way to go before we except everyone, but it’s a step.

 For some, this is becoming an opportunity to show the compassion and understanding that there still is in the world; but, it’s not enough. People need to understand the difference between Muslim and ISIS because there is one. We do not believe that all white Christians are the KKK and we don’t think all Germans are Hitler. So why is this any different?