Did you ever receive a tweet, or a reply to your tweet, that degraded Islam? If you have, you are not alone. Hundreds of Muslims on Twitter receive such tweets on a daily basis. From our beloved Creator, Allah, being ridiculed to our sublime Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH), being mocked; you will find that Islamophobia does not only exist in the real world but in the twittersphere as well. If you tweet about music, adultery or any other evil, no one disrupts but start tweeting about the beauty of Islam and, all of a sudden, haters start popping up from all corners. The question is….How do you fight them?
The easiest, most effective way to fight such Islamophobic tweets is to use that special weapon we call ‘Ignore‘. Yes you heard me, ignore. Do nothing. Don’t reply, don’t retweet, don’t quote, don’t show emotion, just ignore. I recently got a rather disturbing reply to one of my tweets as you can see in the image below…
You might ask “Why did you ignore?” Well here’s why…
1. Twitter debates have no happy ending – If I did reply, then what? I’ll tweet, he’ll tweet, I’ll tweet, and he’ll tweet. I will tell him about the beauty of my religion, he will tell me why I’m wrong and why he thinks Islam is a religion of violence. I will tell him the Quran states that Jesus (PBUH) is a Prophet and not a God; he will say the Quran has been written by man. The fact that he replied in such a rude manner shows that this man is not intending to change or learn, he just wants to insult. The point is, we’ll go in circles and in the end, there’s no winner. I will hate him and he will hate me. I would have replied to his tweet intending to give Dawah but instead ended up instilling more hatred for Islam in his heart and taking him further away from Islam. That is why I say…Ignore!
2. Why give an opportunity to swear Islam – Islamophobic tweeters are not decent. They will look for every opportunity to swear and insult our beautiful religion. Take a look at the man’s reply in the image. The fact that he used the word “Shit” in his first reply shows me that he is not shy to swear. He done it and he will do it again. Had I replied to his tweet, there’s a 90% chance that he would have replied back with an even bigger insult to Islam. The more I replied, the more he would have sworn and shown disrespect to Islam. So why give such people the opportunity to swear? Rather…Ignore.
3. Don’t spoil your day – Some Islamophobes will send you nasty tweets to irritate you with the hope of spoiling your day. By replying and entering into an unnecessary ‘religious war’, your day will eventually be spoilt. Why give them what they want? Don’t spoil your day. You don’t deserve it. Ignore.
4. Don’t feed his ego – Islamophobic tweeters want you to reply. Your replies are what they feed on. If you don’t reply, they starve. By replying, they get the feeling that their tweets are being taken seriously thus developing a sense of pride. The more you reply, the more their ego is fed. When you ignore such tweets, the sender cannot stand it. They can’t take it, they hate it, and they start boiling inside knowing that no one takes them seriously. They get the feeling that they so small that they weren’t even noticed. Instead of allowing your blood to boil rather let the Islamophobic’s blood boil. Ignore.
Of course, not every non-Muslim that discusses religion can be classified as an Islamophobic tweeter. Some are really sincere and they can be really friendly and understanding. Some really want to know more about Islam. So you can’t go around ignoring every tweet that you receive. But how do you distinguish the sincere ones from the Islamophobes?
Personally, I look at the tweet I was sent and the user’s previous tweets. If the tweet I was sent or the users previous tweets contain any vulgar, insults or vice in it, I ignore. By looking at a person’s tweets, you can make out what kind of tweeter he/she is and you would then have an idea of how the person would reply to your tweet. If you think the person is sincere then go ahead and reply. But what do you tell a sincere tweeter about Islam? And how do you answer their questions?
The best would be to refer this person to a scholar. You can send the email address of a reputable scholar or direct the person to an authentic website. Most of the time however, a person would not feel comfortable chatting with a scholar. Just like how you, as a Muslim, would be uncomfortable chatting to a priest or pastor. In that case, if you know the answers to their questions go ahead and answer the queries. If you don’t know the answer then say you are not sure. Rather say you don’t know instead of teaching people the wrong stuff. If both you and the questioner are of the same gender that it would be better to swap Email addresses to make communication much easier. It’s not very easy to explain Islam 140 characters at a time.
If the person asking you a question is of the opposite gender then immediately refer the person to a scholar and stop tweeting to that person. Your intention might be clean but the questioner’s might not. How can you spread Islam while going against the command of Allah?
Many Muslims think they calling people towards Islam but little do they realise their efforts to spread Islam is actually causing Islam to be sworn at much more. I think they need to read this. Share it with as many people as possible. What tips do you have for us in fighting Islamophobia on Twitter?
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