Fighting humanity's common enemy should rally Muslims as well

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at a news conference at the Green Valley Ranch resort in Henderson, Nevada November 16, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

With world leaders rallying together to counter the Islamic State group’s terrorist attacks, some presidential candidates in the United States have been quick to take a hard line against Muslims.

Both Ben Carson and Donald Trump of the Republican camp have called for the US to block support for Syrian refugees. Trump was reported as saying he would confine the refugees inside their own country, while Carson reportedly said that Muslims should be disqualified from the US presidency.

As these two candidates are the Republican frontrunners in the presidential race, their words could be representative of and even influence public sentiment. America’s evangelical Christians, the main force of Republican support, even propelled the retired surgeon to the top of the polls ahead of the usual occupant, Trump, in some states.

Maryann Riley, 79, the head of a local Republican women’s club, was quoted by The Times website as saying, "I think he’s right about Muslims," said the experienced social worker. "They don’t share our values."

Her sentiments against Muslims are echoed across the Atlantic as the British media have reported declining public support for accepting Syrian refugees.

Such sentiments reflect the Western world’s shock at the bloody attacks on Paris that have claimed 129 lives, while the almost daily deadly explosions inside Iraq and other parts of the Middle East are mentioned only in passing, if at all, by most Western media outlets.

It is sad that the deaths of people in these countries from terrorism do not evoke the same sense of outrage simply because they are regarded as not sharing the values of people in Western countries. It is a tragedy for humanity that peoples not sharing the same values should be victimized without a blink of the eye even as the human world takes pride in equality of all beings and democratic progress.

The truth is the Muslim communities of the world share the sufferings brought by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They are also victims of ISIS attacks. In India, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen party president Asaduddin Owaisi was quoted by The Hindu on Tuesday as saying that the ISIS group had killed close to 150,000 Muslims. In Kosovo, visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan stressed the high number of Muslim victims of the ISIS group, according to AFP reports.

Terrorist militants and Jihadist suicide bombers are destroying not only people’s lives in Syria and Iraq but also their hopes for life, which has driven millions to join the ranks of refugees within and across national borders.

It should be clear to all: Terrorists from the ISIS group that claim responsibility for the deaths in Paris, the ISIS branch in Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that cheered the downing of a Russian passenger jet, and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement that have killed hundreds in Chinese cities and towns, and members of other terrorist groups differentiate no values, respect no law but that of Jihadists, and know no boundaries in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. They have become today’s common enemy of humanity.

As the Jordanian king said during his Kosovo visit, "We are facing a third world war against humanity and this is what brings us all together."

Standing together with other peoples against terrorism, the US Republicans and other people in the West should not only stand next to Russian President Vladimir Putin who vows "payback" to ISIS for the loss of Russian lives, they should also stand next to the Arab communities and China, among others.

As for Carson, who has corrected his mistaken suggestion that China is militarily engaged in the Syrian civil war, both he and Trump would do themselves a favor by reaching out for Muslim support.

The author is a senior editor of China Daily.