In an attempt to counter the growing Islamophobia in the United States, 100 Imams have called for a peace rally in New York City on April 9.

An Imam is the equivalent of a Catholic priest or Jewish rabbi in the Islamic religion. They are the leaders of their religious commu­nities.

These leaders will be acting on the initiative of the Muslim Peace Coalition USA in this rally to op­pose wars, condemn terrorism and fight Islamophobia.

Islamophobia is a major prob­lem in America now-a-days, ac­cording to Ahmed Sleem, a pre-pharmacy senior from Alexan­dria, Egypt, member of the Mon­roe and ULM community and vice president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA).

He said that Islamophobia is the result of misunderstandings and propaganda against Muslims for at least the last 15 years.

However, the MSA is working to clear up mis­unde r s t and­ings about Muslims with their lectures and events.

Though not a member of the MSA, Christian Rubio of the Foreign Languages Department has aided in this en­deavor.

He recently presented a paper on the Muslim presence and in­fluence in Spain from 711 until to­day.

“For many centuries, the Iberi­an Peninsula was a place where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in peace, and it’s because of [Muslims] that the Western world has received many contributions,” Rubio explained.

However, with the Peter King trials on American Muslim ex­tremism, tensions are rising all over the United States.

In regards to this, Sleem said, “Islamophobia is similar to the Red Scare, and Peter King is an­other form of Joseph McCarthy.”

Congressman Keith Ellison stated that Homeland Security in­vestigated the ‘IRA not Irish,’ the ‘Mafia not Italians,’ and the ‘KKK not Christians.’”