Indicative of the confused and paranoid bigotry that has seeped into the fabric of American life in the post-9/11 world, students at the University of California at Irvine have denounced the desire by some Muslim students to wear a stole at graduation on the basis that the stole condones terrorism and suicide bombings.

Never mind that stole in question features strictly religious inscriptions — one side of the stole would have the innocuous and pious phrase “Lord, increase my knowledge” sewn into it. The other side would feature the shahadah, which is the Muslim confession of faith.  

Larry Mahler, the president of the UC Irvine chapter of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi referred to the episode about the stoles and stated: “I am offended by that … What they are doing is ratifying the suicide bombing that killed innocent people.”

The inappropriate and unconditional politicization of religion is troubling enough, but this incident at UC Irvine is born of ignorance fanning the flames of religious intolerance. It points to a blunt equation: Islam is terrorism.

The term “terrorist” is problematic in itself — after all, it is the contingency of politics that may define one group as “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan and another group as “terrorists” elsewhere — and the inherent association of Islam with extra-legal violence is deeply troubling and shameful. It speaks not only of ignorance and religious intolerance but a sad readiness to associate the religion of 1.3 billion Muslims with terrorism.

Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan and an expert on Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia, provides insightful commentary on the situation at UC Irvine and a thorough explanation of what the shahadah is.  

To associate Islam with terrorism in the way that the students at UC Irvine have done is to forgo understanding, encourage bigotry, and promote the polarization of communities.

Mimi Hanaoka