what do you think when you look at me a
woman of faith an expert maybe even a
sister or oppressed brainwashed a
terrorist or just an airport security
line delay that that one's actually true
if some of your perceptions were
negative I don't really blame you that's
just how the media has been portraying
people who look like me one study found
that 80% of news coverage about Islam
and Muslims is negative and studies show
that Americans say that most don't know
a Muslim I guess people don't talk to
their uber drivers well for those of you
who've never met a Muslim it's great to
meet you
let me tell you who I am I'm a mom a
coffee lover
double espresso cream on the side I'm an
introvert I'm a wannabe fitness fanatic
and I'm a practicing spiritual Muslim
but not like Lady Gaga says because baby
I wasn't born this way it was a choice
when I was 17 I decided to come out no
not as a gay person like some of my
friends but as a Muslim and decided to
start wearing the hijab my head covering
my feminist friends were aghast
why are you opressing yourself the funny
thing was it was actually at that time a
feminist declaration of independence
from the pressure I felt as a 17 year
old to conform to a perfect and
unattainable standard of beauty
I didn't just passively accept the faith
of my parents I
wrestled with the Quran I read and
reflected and questioned and doubted and
ultimately believed my relationship with
God it was not love at first sight it
was a trust and a slow surrender that
deepened with every reading of the Quran
its rhythmic beauty sometimes moves me
to tears I see myself in it I feel that
God knows me have you ever felt like
someone sees you completely understands
you and yet loves you anyway that's how
it feels and so later I got married and
like all good Egyptians started my
career as an engineer I later had a
child after getting married and I was
living essentially the Egyptian American
Dream and then that terrible morning of
September 2001 I think a lot of you
probably remember exactly where you were
that morning I was sitting in my kitchen
finishing breakfast I look up on the
screen and see the words breaking news
there was smoke airplanes flying into
buildings people jumping out of
buildings what was this an accident a
malfunction my shock quickly turned to
outrage who would do this I switched the
channel
I hear Muslim terrorists in the name of
Islam Middle Eastern descent do you hide
we should bomb Mecca oh my god not only
had my country been attacked but in a
flash somebody else's actions had turned
me from a citizen to a suspect
that same day we had to drive across
middle America to move to a new city to
start grad school and I remember sitting
in the passenger seat as we drove in
silence crouched as low as I could go in
my seat for the first time in my life
afraid for anyone to know I was a Muslim
we moved into our apartment that night
in a new town and what felt like a
completely different world and then I
was hearing and seeing and reading
warnings from National Muslim
organizations saying things like be
alert be aware stay in well-lit areas
don't congregate I stayed inside all
week and then it was Friday that same
week the day that Muslims congregate for
worship and again the warnings were
don't go that first Friday it could be a
target and I was watching the news
wall-to-wall coverage emotions were so
raw understandably and I was also
hearing about attacks on Muslims or
people who were perceived to be Muslim
being pulled out and beaten in the
street mosques were actually fire bombed
and I thought we should just stay home
and yet something didn't feel right
because those people who attacked our
country attacked our country I get it
that people were angry at the terrorists
guess what so was I and so to have to
explain yourself all the time isn't easy
I don't mind questions I love questions
it's the accusations that are tough
today we hear people actually saying
things like there's a problem in this
country and it's called Muslims when are
we going to get rid of them so some
people want to ban Muslims and close
down mosques they talk about my
community kind of like were a tumor in
the body of America and the only
question is are we malignant or benign
9 you know a malignant tumor you extract
all together and a benign tumor
you just keep under surveillance the
choices don't make sense because it's
the wrong question Muslims like all
other Americans aren't a tumor in the
body of America or a vital organ Muslims
are inventors and teachers first
responders and Olympic athletes now is
closing down Moss going to make America
safer it might free up some parking
spots but it will not end terrorism
going to a mosque regularly is actually
linked to having more tolerant views of
people of other faiths and greater civic
engagement and as one police chief in
the Washington DC area recently told me
people don't actually get radicalized at
mosques they get radicalized in their
basement or bedroom in front of a
computer and what you find about the
radicalization process is it starts
online but the first thing that happens
is the person gets cut off from their
community from even their family so that
the extremist group can brainwash them
into believing that they the terrorists
are the true Muslims and everyone else
who abhors their behavior and ideology
are sellouts or apostates so if we want
to prevent radicalization we have to
keep people going to the mosque now some
will still argue Islam is a violent
religion after all a group like Isis
bases its brutality on the Koran now as
a Muslim as a mother as a human being I
think we need to do everything we can to
stop a group like Isis but we would be
giving in to their narrative if we cast
them as representatives of a faith of
1.6 billion people
Isis has as much to do with Islam as the
Ku Klux Klan has to do with Christianity
both groups claim to base their ideology
on their holy book but when you look at
them they're not motivated by what they
read in their holy book it's their
brutality that makes them read these
things into the scripture recently a
prominent Imam told me a story that
really took me aback he said that a girl
came to him because she was thinking of
going to join Isis and I was I was
really surprised and asked him had she
been in contact with a radical religious
leader he said the problem was quite the
opposite
that every cleric that she had talked to
had shut her down and said that her rage
her sense of injustice in the world was
just going to get her in trouble and so
with nowhere to channel and make sense
of this anger she was a prime target to
be exploited by extremists promising her
solution what does he mem did was to
connect her back to God into her
community he didn't shame her for her
rage instead he gave her constructive
ways to make real change in the world
what she learned that that mosque
prevented her from going to join Isis
I've told you a little bit about how
Islamophobia affects me and my family
but how does it impact ordinary
Americans how does it impact everyone
else how it is consuming fear 24 hours a
day affect the health of our democracy
the health of our free thought well one
study actually several studies in
neuroscience show that when we're afraid
at least three things happen we become
more accepting of authoritarianism
conformity and Prejudice one study
showed that when subjects were exposed
to new stories that were negative about
Muslims they became more accepting of
military attacks on
some countries and policies that curtail
the rights of American Muslims now this
isn't just academic when you look at
when anti-muslim sentiment spiked
between 2001 and 2013 it happened three
times but it wasn't around terrorist
attacks it was in the run-up to the Iraq
war and during two election cycles so
Slama phobia isn't just the natural
response to Muslim terrorism as I would
would have expected it can actually be a
tool of public manipulation eroding the
very foundation of a free society which
is rational and well informed citizens
Muslims are like Canaries in the coal
mine we might be the first to feel it
but the toxic air of fear is harming us
all
and assigning collective guilt isn't
just about having explained yourself all
the time
dia and his wife Yost were a young
married couple living in Chapel Hill
North Carolina where they both went to
school Diaw was a an athlete and he was
in dental school talented promising and
his sister would tell me that he was the
sweetest most generous human being she
knew she was visiting him there and he
showed her his resume and she was amazed
she said when did my baby brother become
such an accomplished young man just a
few weeks after Suzanne's visit to her
brother and his new wife their neighbor
Craig Stephen Hicks murdered them as
well as yo sister Roseanne who is
visiting for the afternoon in their
apartment execution-style after posting
anti-muslim statements on his Facebook
page he shot Leo eight times so bigotry
isn't just immoral it can even be lethal
so back to my story what happened after
9/11 did we go to the mosque or did we
play it safe and stay home well we
talked it over and it might seem like a
small decision but to us it was about
what kind of America we wanted to leave
for our kids one that would control us
by fear or one where we were practicing
our religion freely so we decided to go
to the mosque and we put my son in his
car seat buckled him in and we drove
silently intensely to the mosque and I
took him out I took off my shoes I
walked into the prayer hall and what I
saw made me stop the place was
completely full and then the ax men made
an announcement thinking and welcoming
our guests because half the congregation
were Christians Jews Buddhists atheists
people of faith and no faith would come
not to attack us but to stand in
solidarity with us
I just break down at this time these
people were there because they chose
courage and compassion over panic and
Prejudice what will you choose what will
you choose at this time of fear and
bigotry will you play it safe or will
you join those who say we are better
than that thank you
and this one
so Dahlia you seem to have struck a
chord but I wonder what would you say to
those who might argue that you're giving
a TED talk you're clearly a deep thinker
you work at a fancy think-tank you're an
exception you're not the rule what would
you say to those people I would say
don't let this stage distract you I'm
completely ordinary I'm not an exception
my story is not unusual I am as as
ordinary as they come when you look at
Muslim Muslims around the world and and
I've done this I've done the largest
study ever done on Muslims around the
world people want ordinary things they
want prosperity for their family they
want jobs and they want to live in peace
so I am not in any way an exception when
you meet people who seem like an
exception to the rule oftentimes it's
that the rule is broken not that they're
an exception to thank you so much thank
you so much valium oh go ahead
you