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Rabat – Stereotypes about Islam and muslims have long existed throughout Euroepan history. Often negative, irrational hostility and hatred of and toward Islam is still a hot topic all over the world, especially in the West.
Discriminations against Muslim communities intensified in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, and Muslims across the world have since been fighting back against bias to correct the persisting negative narratives about their faith and values.
Amid what many experts have called the normalization of anti-Islam sentiments in Europe, Soundous Boualam, a Brussels-based Moroccan influencer is part of the consortim of Muslim voices regulalry taking to social media to counter misleading and sometimes outright hateful narrativees on Islam and Muslims.
Boualam sat in an interview with Morocco World News to share her story of an Islamic upbringing and how the content she creates and shares online is inspired by and rooted in her faith, especially her knowledge of the Quran.
“Around two years ago, I was going through a lot of personal issues, then I decided to re-study Islam and the holly book,” Boualam said, emphasizing that the Islamic education she received at school has been of a great impact in giving meaning, purpose, and direction to her life.
She taught herself the Quran and gradually started selecting the verses that spoke to her the most in terms of lifestyle and behavioral tips. Boualam was positively influenced by the Islamic moral values and wanted to share with the world the true values of the religion beyond what is often portrayed through the lens of the media.
After spending 10 years in Europe, the 29-year-old woman came up with the concept “God Loves Us” last year. Ever since, she has been speanding a large portion of her waking hours preparing and creating YouTube videos aimed at showing how islam allows people to have a perfect lifestyle.
“I was so amazed at how all the positive concepts feature in Islam that I wanted to share everything. But I couldn’t,” Boualam said, adding that her sister Oumnia, a business and branding coach, helped her niche down her content.
The vlogging lifestyle was “not meant for me,” the influencer stressed, detailing that making shorter videos on Tiktok and Instagram reels are more comfortable and more engaging.
In her videos, Boualem addresses how Islam can concretely help people behave and communicate based on displaying responsible behavior in life, while also promoting kindness to everyone, charity, forgiveness, patience, and acceptance of one another.
Islamophobia in Europe
The rise of far-right politicians and leaders in Europe has drastically intensified animosities towards migrants, or more increasingly and more viciously, towards Islam and Muslims.
With most European countries being home to a relatively polarized society, Boualam said, there are those who actually defends muslims since they are an integral part of the society, but not Islam itself. On the other hand, there are those who focus on Islam as an ideology that “theatens” their countries’ “authentic” values and identities.
For long decades, discrimination against Jews, also known as antisemitism, was – and still is – rampant in Europe. History is now repeating itself in this era with Muslims.
As European politicians spread false, hate-filled narratives about the religion, the continent has been witnessing an anti-Islam snowball effect where people follow what their leaders utter.
While many far-right politicians in Europe argue that Islam in not compatible with European values, Boualam counters by noting that Islam is universal and “promotes diversity, embraces different cultures, and hold no ill-will towards other religions, contrary to what far-rights politics promotes, which mainly consists of hate and sticking to a homogenous society that won’t exist ever again.”
When asked about her experience with racism, she said that when she first started her YouTube channel, she featured on the French television Euronews. The public reaction, however, wasn’t very welcoming.
“Someone had a blog with a large audience where they encouraged Islamophobia. They posted about me saying that Europe is now promoting Islamization,” she said, underlining that the comment section to that demeaning blog post was also full of hate toward her and her religion.
Of her online content, Boualam outlined that while she mainly receives hateful comments from non-Muslims, she is also targeted by Muslims who “debate what I preach and tell me to cover myself since I don’t wear hijab.”
Determined to spread a positive message about her religion, Boualam highlighted that she wants people to understand that “Islam is an empowering religion, the pride and self-love Muslims receive from it would be enough to enable them to face the hatred.”
With social media being a tool to debunk stereotypes about Islam and other beliefs, the Moroccan Instagrammer with a mission to give confidence to people from the MENA region to be proud of their identity and communicate it to the world, aims to further raise awareness about the persisting bias while introducing non-Muslims – and Muslims – to Quran verses that would enable them to adapt a healthier lifestyle.
Read Also: France: Islamophobic Campaign Continues Targetting Mosques
