ISIL. Al-Qaeda. Those are some of the names of violent terrorist groups that roam throughout the world. While political parties feel differently about how to resolve the efforts against those extremist groups, there is one idea I would like to bring up.

They are absolutely not authentic followers of Islam. Further, they should not be referred to as “radical Islam,” “Islamic terrorists;” as Islam is not about that.

They twisted something that was peaceful and turned it into sick, violent groups that are a danger to the freedoms of others.

I have seen op-ed articles suggesting that Islam and terrorist groups are one and the same. I have been greatly suspicious of these articles for some time, but never found someone at the student level to speak with in-depth with about it until recently.

Zain Siddiqui, a senior at California University of Pennsylvania, spoke about his experience with Islam, college, and social media.

“My experiences with people and my religion at Cal U is have been pretty positive,” Siddiqui said. “Our generation has really stuck up for fighting against Trump’s ideas [on the suggestion of banning Muslims from entering the U.S.]” Siddiqui said this in the context of young people on social media.

Siddiqui said he had a strong support system with other Muslims against a stubborn neighbor his family had in Pittsburgh. Siddiqui stated that people told him to “go back to his own country”. However, he said he was taught to ignore the comments. He said learning the practice of ignoring the comments proved effective.

He said the majority of the harassment he has received outside of Cal U comes from people who have a preference for judging others, and having no previous education about the person’s culture.

“I don’t know of Islamic clubs for students on campus, but I wish there was one to get involved with,” he said, referring to when he started school at Cal U.

Siddiqui explained that groups like ISIL take the word “infidel” in the Quran, and place it in an entirely different context from what Islam represents.

“That word is spread too much around,” Siddiqui said. “It is just abused really.”

While Siddiqui has not really had any discrimination with his religion at Cal U, it does occur in small numbers, according to the office of social equity at Cal U.

“I have had two instances of it,” said John Burnett, director of the social equity office.

“One was a faculty member that felt treated differently due to being Muslim and another was a student who felt a professor’s comments in class were inappropriate towards Muslims and people of the Middle East,” Burnett said.

“Our campus experience has been more positive than negative,” Burnett said.

Although Burnett said that the campus has meditation rooms for all faiths, Siddiqui said he was not familiar with these rooms.

As of January 2016, there does not appear to be any Islamic student groups in Cal U Org Sync.