The world is aghast at the acts of terrorism committed by Islamic State (ISIS). Videos and images showing their hideous, violent crimes have been watched and shared widely in the past months. Hatred and sadness are felt across continents. And as the flames of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris are still burning, Muslims around the world find themselves having to answer hard questions: Is Islam a religion of violence? How much is the religion the cause of all this?
"We are the defendants," said Furqan Isamael, a 35-year-old Thai Muslim. "It's hard to refuse that some acts of terrorism have been committed by Muslims. However, the rest of us, most of us, are not terrorists. We want to be safe. We want peace, like you all. We want people to know us in other ways."
To turn crisis into a sort of opportunity, Furqan, the founder of Halal Life group, has launched the campaign "Mai Mee Tee Wang Sum Rub Kwam Run Rang ("No Space For Violence"). Halal Life is one of a few Thai-Muslim groups trying to promote meaningful communication between Muslims and non-Muslims, and counter bad publicity against their religion.
When Life met up with Furqan and two other members of Halal Life, they sported campaign pins on their backpacks and a T-shirt saying, "I am Muslim, not a terrorist". They came across as educated, open-minded and friendly.
"It's not an easy task, but we know that there are problems concerning the perception of Islam. As we have the means and the ability to do something, why don't we try to help correct this?" Furqan said, adding that the campaign plans to send out two big messages: first, to communicate that they don't agree with any kind of violence, and second, to promote Muslims who interpret and apply the religion's messages in the right way.
The campaign will be promoted through various media channels from this week. Activities will be documented on Facebook, and talks held in universities and elsewhere across Thailand (there have already been a few panel discussions, after the Charlie Hebdo killings). Articles on peace from moderate Muslims will be published in the free-sheet monthly Halal Life, which has been running for five years. They are also in the process of planning a short film based on the same topic.
The Halal Life group has launched a "No Space For Violence" campaign. The group has also published Halal Life magazine for five years.
Furqan and his friends are an example of Muslims who, finding their faith and identities undermined by waves of global terrorism, step up to use modern media to voice their worries, concerns, and to show that they're part of society. Halal Life also has one Buddhist member to help ensure that their message is getting through to the wider population.
"We have to use media in the right way, because it has such power upon people's thoughts," said Furqan. All members of the group specialise in various kinds of media.
Halal Life admits that, while most Muslims are against violence, they often try to discuss the "whys" and "back stories" leading to it — in other words, find excuses — instead of just declaring that they are against the atrocities.
"Yes, there are some reasons that push terrorists to commit violence, but we need to realise that by blaming others, it means we refuse to examine whether the act itself is right or wrong," said Furqan. He said that by pushing guilt away, it's sending the wrong message to non-Muslims about the teachings of Islam.
"We still believe that Islam is good, but we need to admit that people who believe in the faith are different," said Ekamol Boonchom, another member. "People tend to judge groups as a whole rather than see people as individuals, ignoring the truth that each person has different views, characteristics and so on."
Another heavily-discussed problem is that sometimes people misinterpret verse in the Koran.
"Islam believes that this world is just temporary; the real world where God awaits is in the next life," said Sitisak Wongkasorn, a 39-year-old group member. "But in order to reach the next life, we can't just blindly focus on the next world and destroy everything that blocks us in this one. It's our actions in this world that guide us there."
"Let's cross our fingers that, one day, our voices will be loud enough to be heard," added Ekamol.
Halal Life is not the only group trying to send out the right messages to society. The independent movie Ameen, directed by Thai Muslim Hamezi Akey-Rat and to be released this March, is another example of a young Muslim who wants to promote the true essence of his faith.
Hamezi made the film to creatively fight back against the 2012 anti-Islamic "movie" Innocence Of Muslims, a hate-filled YouTube clip produced by a US resident. The clip provoked outrage across the Muslim world, including a protest outside the US Embassy in Bangkok.
"We want to convey that using stereotypes is not fair," said the first-time director. "If someone who believes in a specific religion has done something wrong, it doesn't mean that the rest think the same."
The 90-minute movie, gentle in approach though a little preachy at times, shows Islamic practices through a fictitious story about a man who's lost his memory. He has no idea about Islam, and no prejudices against it. Set in the northern city of Mae Hong Son — to show that Muslims aren't only from the South — the man starts to learn about Islam through books and local people, who uphold the true ways of Prophet Muhammad.
"I don't expect the movie will change the world in the blink of an eye," said Hamezi. " But I hope whoever gets to watch the movie will have the right point of view about Islam and develop ideas about how to live together peacefully."
A Thai expert in non-violence is respected scholar Chaiwat Satha-Anand, founder and director of the Peace Information Centre at Thammasat University. In the wake of horrors conducted by ISIS and growing global antipathy towards Islam, he agrees that it is paramount that attempts are made to create understanding among peoples, including among Muslims themselves.
"Understanding among Muslims is even more important than understanding between non-Muslims," said Chaiwat, who sometimes contributes articles to the Bangkok Post.
Echoing Furqan, the lecturer agrees that Muslims have dual status in global conflicts: as culprit and victim. Some Muslims try to reject the first status.
"I don't mean to say that others have no prejudices against Muslims," said Chaiwat. "But if these people [Halal Life group] can highlight prejudices against Muslims and show how Muslims at times refuse to confront criticism directed towards them, their actions are valuable."