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This piece originally was submitted as an entry in Civil Beat’s Emerging Writers contest.

The villages on this side of the river became a mere landscape of dirt roads, poverty and people. Houses were made of mud with tin roofs. Boys no older than myself and men who looked like grandfathers slaved away, mixing cement to build the rain catchment systems that were their only hope for clean water. People with dirt-smeared faces walked along the muddy path without shoes.

No, once we got off the country road, it was not a pretty sight. Yet we continued on, determined to oversee the quality completion of the rain-catchment project our funding had instigated.

We walked into their village, and the people all turned their dusty heads and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of us, the people of another color, of other beliefs, from a far-away land. My dad spoke, through a translator, to the people about the systems and our hopes that it benefit them greatly.

I looked at the people, searching for pained, saddened features. Instead, I looked up to see them touching us, blessing us. They smiled with reverence and thanks toward a family who lived modestly in America, but who seemed like royalty to those before us. When we came to these people, they smiled at their first sight of light skin, light hair, and light eyes. They smiled at the fact that we were helping them with their only source of drinkable water. And they smiled despite the fact that they were in the midst of impoverished lives.

“May Allah bless you all,” said a dark woman with a kind, sun-dried face.

We had brought them joy, and that joy reached my lips as well, curving them into a crescent of happiness. They had blessed us in the name of Allah, the god of Islam.

Bangladesh is a mostly Muslim country, so this made sense. Yet could we have been safe surrounded by all those of that belief? Remembering the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 made it seem like we shouldn’t. And to top that, Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Paris, killing 128 people, had just occurred. Muslim terrorism is not an outdated idea; it still stands as a danger today, as was proven when Paris experienced its worst attack since World War II.

Why is the word “Muslim” looked upon with such fear?

The attackers in Paris had shouted “Allahu akbar!” (“God is greatest!”) as the attack began. In this case, they are referring to the Muslim god, Allah. Hm, there’s that name again. It was also just recently mentioned as part of a blessing towards my family that was given by humble, impoverished Muslims. So are these poor Muslim people of the small village I visited the same as the Muslims that had called out to the same god whilst committing mass murder?

Of the same belief? Yes, they are broadly the same. However, these are completely different people we are talking about.

If one considers those of the female gender, or perhaps the Asian race, there is an infinite variety of characteristics and behavior. Each category is a great, singular similarity that encompasses all who fall under it. However, those sorted in these categories don’t necessarily have anything else in common.

Why, then, is the word “Muslim” now looked upon with such fear? It’s not as if all Muslims want to kill others in the name of Allah. Some merely send blessings of their god as they see fit. This does not seem such a crime. So, then, it would seem obvious that those of the Muslim religion consist of countless types of people, only one type being a group of terrorizing individuals willing to kill themselves and others for their godly quest.

America, of all nations, should understand this concept, being that it is a nation created by the bits and pieces of so many different, and often conflicting, groups. If America can rest content in its image of diversity, so should the Muslim idea be treated in the same way. Muslims are people of varied backgrounds and outlooks, who believe in the same god.

“Muslim” should not be a word used to instill fear; it should be considered with appreciation of the human diversity of the billion souls it comprises today, the same diversity that encompasses the entire human race.