Muslims Do Not Equal Terrorist

From our world history textbook I found the chapter about Islam interesting. Last semester I took an Islam religion class which really gave me a better understanding of their religion and life style. I think a lot of people especially here in the United States base their views of what Islam is on what they see and hear from the television and radio. A lot of people believe that if you look like you’re from the Middle East than you’re a terrorists. The biggest stereo type of a Muslim is being referred to as a terrorist. In fact if you study the Muslim religion they do not play an emphasis on violence. In the textbook it says, “The Quran authorized armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil as a means of establishing Muslim rule and of defending the umma from threats of infidel aggressors. (Strayer, pp306)” This is what is taken out of context by the group of radicals that we see on TV. To be able to go to heaven when you are a Muslim you need to follow a strict lifestyle filled with prayer, giving to the poor, orphaned, and widowed and living your life the right way including morally making the right decisions. I learned for my Islam class that when judgment day comes, god looks at your book to see if you lived and made the right decisions in life. Depending on your choices in life and what is in your book, you will be sent to heaven or hell. What I do not understand is for example: suicide bombers take their lives because they are promised by someone that Allah will send them to heaven and given certain things, but by a suicide bomber killing himself and innocent others is not leading a life of right decisions, so what would make the suicide bomber think that Allah will look at their book and say “Ok you killed innocent people for no reason you can go to heaven.”? I know that after 9/11 Muslim people were being targeted here in the US as being terrorists. When I watched the news it made me sad to see some of the innocent people being harassed here in the United States, but the media plays a role in how we treat people. Evidence of this is after 9/11 Muslims in the East Bay were being targeted, their homes and places of employment were being vandalized and they would get death threats and be verbally and physically abused in public. If you think about it are we not terrorists too in our own country? We terrorized anyone who looked Middle Eastern after the 9/11 attack. If we wind up going to war with Korea should we all just start terrorizing anyone who looks like they may be Korean here in the U.S? Even to prejudice in the United States I think could be a form of a terrorists attack especially if it is against a large group of people. Perfect example Arizona. If you look like you are illegal a cop can stop you and ask for proper documentation.