Paris. Brussels. Sydney. Orlando. Manchester. Now, London.

Since the rise of ISIS, there has been a seemingly continuous wave of attacks in several major western cities. With it, has followed a sharp rise in anti-Islamic sentiment, suggesting that perhaps there is now a clear-cut “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West.

This week’s tragic attack in London only fuels such a notion, that it truly is “Islam versus the West.” In the U.S., a drastic rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric has culminated in an unprecedented travel ban; in Europe, there’s been a rapid rise of right-wing parties squaring off against Islam as public enemy number one.

But for Canadians, after the recent attack on a Quebec City mosque that killed six, we must know better than to let that become our narrative. The attack on the mosque in Quebec — just like the heinous attack in London — was a result of misguided people.

In reality, terrorism has no religion.

IRA, FLQ, Ku Klux Klan, ISIS. They’re all the same — terrorists motivated by socio-political goals, not spiritual aspirations. Militants, not men of faith.

So we must know our real enemy. It is not Islam, rather it’s the extreme-leaning people of all backgrounds. Because of groups such as ISIS, it’s terrorism by so-called “Muslims” which has become the most widely known.

But according to a study conducted by the U.S. government, more Muslims are victims of terrorism than non-Muslims. The study said that a staggering 82%-97% of all terrorism victims were Muslims. Just last week, a massive attack in Kabul killed 90 people, mostly Muslims.

Muslims are suffering daily from the ceaseless fighting between ISIS and other groups.

That’s why in the West, in line with the dictates of justice, and in pursuit of totally neutralizing ISIS’s ability to draw foreign recruits, we must now separate ISIS from Islam.

We must end the narrative that groups like ISIS — who have utterly terrorized countless Muslims — have anything to do with Islam. It’s time to restore to Muslims the dignity that groups like ISIS have snatched from them. When will questions of whether Islam is peaceful, be supplanted by questions about how Islam fosters spirituality in over 1 billion people?

At a time when President Donald Trump has moved to impose a travel ban on Muslims from seven countries, and when Europe is seeing a rise in right-wing anti-Islamic sentiment, Canadians should take the lead for the whole of the western world to follow.

The reason people from so many different cultures across the world integrate so well in Canada is because of the dignity with which this country — from government, to common people — treats newcomers. As an Ahmadi Muslim whose family migrated here in the 1980s, I know that this warm embrace from the Canadian people is what melts the hearts of all immigrants, including Muslims. It creates a spirit of gratitude, loyalty and love for this country, that makes them proud to be Canadian.

We give everyone respect, and that’s what makes it work here — like nowhere else.

— Ahmed Sahi is a freelance writer and journalist based in the Greater Toronto Area. He is the former Chief Editor of Muslim Writers of Canada. He can be reached at ahmedsahi89@gmail.com