Muslims and Islam- when most people hear this they automatically think of terrorists, but this is not true. Many Muslims are being discriminated because of the recent shootings and events that have occurred throughout the past month. Although these shooters may have been Muslim, they are not a representation of a whole population.

Many Muslims have a hard time coping because people blindly judge them. Before discriminating, judging, and saying that all Muslims are bad people, we should first know the facts. There are two main groups of Muslims: the Shiite and Sunni.  The Shiites and Sunnis both believed in the prophet Muhammad and the only difference was their views on who should rule. The Shiites believed that the descendants of Muhammad should rule, while the Sunnis believed the ruler should be elected by the people. The main group of terrorists that many people are talking about is ISIS. ISIS is neither Shiite nor Sunni; they are jihadists. Jihadists are a group of Muslims that cause war in order to spread their beliefs. These groups are completely different from each other. In fact, the Shiite and Sunni, who have always been at war with each other are joining together to fight ISIS.

According to Yahoo news, Donald Trump released a statement on Monday arguing that the United States should prohibit Muslim immigrants from coming into the country until everything concerning terrorism was settled. This bold statement angered many. Although Trump’s intention is to protect the United States, there are numerous ways to do so without discrimination. For example, instead of stopping all Muslims from entering the U.S., we could increase security to ensure that those coming in, Muslims and non-muslims, would be checked to further protect our country. I believe the United States is the land of the free, meaning that everyone has the right to come here without being religiously discriminated against. The actions of ISIS and other terrorist groups are not an accurate depiction of Muslims, and therefore, it’s unfair to blame the actions of a few on an entire community.