Islamophobia

AKHIRA MAHAL | MFA, ENGLISH

We cover our heads to shield ourselves from fire, from damnation of a nation that believe we cover and cower from bombs that we send, but the only threat is the one sent from them. The message that terror only comes from lips of a foreign land, and Arabic is the language of the devil’s heathens. As-salamu alaikum is not a saying of doom— it’s a Muslim’s way of saying peace be with you

But we’re still taken out, one by one, out of our homes, away from our freedom. They tell us go back to where you came— but this is the land I was born and raised. Here I can raise my hands in praise of a flag, yet I’m investigated when I praise all that God has granted?

I strip myself bare for thirty days straight— No grudges. No food. No water. No hate— only praying five times a day on my knees, yet I’m still accused of plotting and asked may I search you please?

I am not the media’s twisted portrayal of what you see on tv. I am a human being.