It has come to the attention of the world that North Carolina is putting in all the efforts possible in order to ensure that Sharia Law would not be upheld in their state. While the United States of America boasts a reputation for being the land of the free and home of the brave, the latter part of that statement is very loosely applied these days. One can understand the underlying fear many Americans may have when they hear of this religion of which the only thing they can associate it with is terrorist bombers and threats, the fact that they felt the need to actually go out of their way to make sure sharia law would not be applied is pushing things a little.

As a bystander, the initial reaction is to stop and try to figure out exactly where this threat of Islamic law is coming from. Who are these big men in beards and white flowing dresses that are coming to take over the country and stone your women? Even before considering this point, it would be important for each and every one of these people to do a little bit of research (EEP!!) on sharia law to fully understand the extent of it. This would also help in destroying any predisposed notions they have that Islam actually encourages terrorist and infidel hunts. Talk about making people feel alienated, why would Muslims want to impose sharia law in the US?

In discussing this issue, we come to realize that as much as we like to think that these cities that our parents or ourselves immigrated to are home, they really aren’t. Although we are welcomed here and treated fairly and many people from the motherland wonder day and night whether our winters resemble what they saw in the movie Serendipity, it’s issues like this one that emphasize the point that sometimes, we aren’t exactly welcome. This is not to say that I encourage the application of sharia law across the world, this law is meant to be applied on Muslims in order for us to have a proper way of life based on our religious beliefs.

Imagine living in a city where people fear you simply because of the stupidity of the outlier in the bunch; one idiot blows himself up and leaves millions of people to clean up his mess while hoping he burns in the pits of Lucifer’s lair. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again; Muslim’s public relations really needs a facelift and this is the biggest challenge of living life on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. We’re always on our toes watching what we say and how we say it out of concern that some comment or joke we make may be taken out of context and blown out of proportion. Some may think that I’m blowing things out of the proportion but the fact of the matter remains that when anyone reads that republicans are attempting to ban sharia law, we all just want to shut our mouths and stay as low key as humanly possible because no one really knows what the next bright idea they come up with will be.

While many of us know that this law will not amount to very much given the fact that the “Supremacy Clause” in the US stipulates that the law of the land is the one that will be applied in the country and will supersede any other law in the courts, it saddens many of us when we feel that our presence has created some form of a threat to the local people. We do in fact come in peace and merely wish to lead normal lives, pay our dues and even give back to the country that has given our families so much already. Many of us have even assimilated ourselves to this culture and have surrendered many habits that relate back to the motherland although we still keep our superstitions and our ability to overpower a conversation with our supersonic voice options and strong political opinions.