When Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested that Muslim Americans should be tracked by the government and wear badges of special identification to make sure they won't commit acts of terror, a 22-year-old Muslim girl from Corona, Southern California had the perfect response.
The young girl shared a photo of herself wearing a peace sign on her Facebook page and then writes, "Dear @realdonaldtrump, My name is Marwa, and I am a Muslim. I heard you wanted us to start wearing ID badges, so I decided to choose one for myself. I am not easily identifiable as a #Muslim just by looking at me, so my new badge will let me display proudly who I am."
Marwa Balkar explained that she chose the peace sign because it best represents Islam, the religion that taught her to oppose injustice and seek unity. She said that Islam taught her that "killing one innocent life is equivalent to killing humanity."
"I heard you want to track us as well. Great! You can come with me on my Cancer Awareness walks at the local middle school, or you can follow me to work where it's my job to create happiness. You can also see how my local mosque makes PB&J sandwiches for the homeless and hosts interfaith dinners where everyone is welcome," she continues.
"Maybe then you'll see that me being Muslim doesn't make me any less American than you are. Maybe if you walk in my footsteps, you can see that I am not any less human than you are. Salaamu alaikum."
Her post has received over 500,000 likes already, including one from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. It has received over a thousand comments of praise and admiration. One woman writes: "Marwa you have more love and compassion and integrity in your heart than Donald Trump has and we can only pray that one day his eyes and ears will be opened to the truth. Good on you for being a remarkable human being. Bless you heaps."
