EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There is currently widespread discrimination against Muslims around the world due to numerous terrorist activities that occurred over the past decade. However, it is important for us to understand that although many of these activities were carried out by Muslims, we cannot stereotype all Muslims to be terrorists. Unjust discrimination against them may trigger more problems. Thus, a good approach to fix this problem would be educating the public not to stereotype as some Muslims may be the victims themselves.

THE ISSUES AND WHO ARE INVOLVED
The world has been plagued by terrorism, especially so over the past decade and this has led to widespread discrimination against Muslims. This is due to the fact that many of the terrorist acts were carried out by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah whose members are mainly of Muslim religion. However, there are much overlooked facts such as majority of the Muslims are actually not involved in those terrorist acts and some of the Muslims may even be victims of those terrorist acts themselves. One example of discrimination against Muslims would be the Oklahoma City bombing incident executed by Timothy McVeigh, an American, whereby Muslims were suspected for the bombing even before investigations started. Another would be the very recent French study led by David Laitin of Stanford University in California which shows that Muslims in European countries are more likely to be unemployed compared to people of other religions. Thus, such unreasonable discrimination against the Muslims has made me come to a decision to write about this topic as I feel that it is unfair for Muslims to be stereotyped just because of a few groups of terrorists who share the same religion as them.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO TALK ABOUT IT
In the second example stated above, discrimination against the Muslims in European countries has lead to a high unemployment rate among the Muslims in Europe. People with Muslim names or originating from Muslim majority countries are unlikely to be called up for a job interview. On top of that, study had also shown that Muslims aged 16 to 24 had the highest rates of being unemployed compared to those of other religions in the same age group. According to Dr Valfort, he said that employers tend to recruit people who are similar to themselves as to avoid any risks from hiring people who are of different religion from them. This, however, can result in very serious repercussions. A worst case scenario, a down-to-earth Muslim may really turn to terrorism if he feels that the main reason for his unemployment is due to unjust discrimination. Hence I feel that it’s essential that we talk about this topic and find ways to improve on it where possible.
Other than facing discrimination in the employment sector, Muslims also face discrimination in the housing and the education sectors.
For the housing sector, many European countries do not provide adequate amounts of housing for the lower income groups, which comprises mainly of Muslims. On top of that, those Muslims who are lucky enough to have a home to stay in also suffer from poor living conditions as there isn’t much focus placed on improving their housing conditions.
As for the education sector, studies have shown that Muslim students are facing false accusations of being terrorists by their own schoolmates in schools as well as getting beaten up on several occasions for no apparent reason. These incidents are uncalled for and may lead to very serious consequences if not kept under control. Hence I feel the importance to talk about it so as to find a way to stop such incidents from recurring.
Apart from European countries, discrimination against Muslims is also evident in the United States. Study has shown that discrimination cases are still on a rise in the United States and a very good example would be that Muslims in their workplace are constantly labeled as “Osama”, “al Qaeda”, “Taliban” and even “terrorist” by several of their co-workers and supervisors. These innocent Muslim workers try their best not to stir up trouble until things get overboard for them, after which, they will then step forward and complain. Astonishingly, this still led to more than 800 complaints filed last year alone which shows something – the problem over there is really bad. Thus, I feel it’s important that we talk about this as I feel the discrimination against these Muslims is too unreasonable.

WHERE CAN WE START TO FIX THE PROBLEM?
Over the past years, the media has portrayed Muslims in a negative approach in many occasions. For example, the German media associated Islam with terrorism and this has inevitably led to a negative impact on the public mind-set towards Islam and Muslims. In addition, the British media has been reinforcing prejudice and doubt against Muslims to the public through many of their unbalanced and irresponsible reporting.
In my opinion, the media can play a very important role in fixing this problem. First and foremost, it can start by being responsible for their actions and only report incidents which they have concrete evidence on instead of basing just on speculations. A very good example of this would be the Oklahoma City bombing incident executed by Timothy McVeigh whereby the media wrongfully blamed “Muslim terrorists” without any concrete evidence, an example of the media doing irresponsible reporting. Furthermore, the media should also portray both side of every story. Instead of just focusing on who the terrorists are, they should also educate the viewers on who are the victims; many a time the Muslims themselves are also victims of these terrorists attack.
Schools should also expose their students to other cultures and religions from the very start in order for them to better understand people of other races and religions. This is because schools are the foundation of the education system where everyone has to go through. One of the ways they can go about doing this is to expose their students to more case studies relating to the different religions which would in turn broaden the horizons of the students.
Hence, I believe that if both the media and school start acting responsibly and educating the people, this problem with discrimination against Muslims can actually be resolved over time.