To Muslims, the Arabic Quran is the holy and unaltered word of God.
When handling the noble Quran, we first clean ourselves via ritual ablution. When reading the Quran, we hold it or set it on a small stand known as a “ra’el.” We won’t allow it to touch the ground.
The religion of the Quran is the rock beneath our feet. It is the cornerstone of our lives and faith.
What happened in Afghanistan pains us. I don’t know a single devout Muslim who would not fight to pull a Quran out of a fire. The Quran is who we are and the Quran is who I am — or at least who I strive to be.
But what transpired at Bagram air base was not a reflection of U.S. foreign policy. It may have been an accident. It may, more likely, have been the hateful whim of a shallow person.
But the idea that this was an intentional act carried out to disrespect or demoralize our ascribed enemy is highly suspect.
Regardless of my feelings concerning the wars or U.S. involvement overseas, I know this Quran burning is incongruous with the ethos of the American military. I also believe the apologies issued by Gen. John Allen, President Obama and others are most likely sincere.
But those apologies have fallen on deaf ears.
While serving in the Army, I had the honor of praying behind Lt. Col. Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad.
Muhammad, one of the highest-ranking Muslim Americans in the U.S. military, routinely made trips to Afghanistan and Iraq to work with Muslim communities in those occupied countries. Muhammad made it his mission to repair damaged Qurans and mosques. He fed people after Ramadan.
He fought to gain the trust and good faith of the people.
Muhammad is one side of the same coin as these Quran burnings. Both impact the way we are perceived. Make no mistake about it, this is a war of perception.
That’s why we have to stack the deck in our favor with goodwill ambassadors like Muhammad. And we’ve tried, but we haven’t tried hard enough.
In 2008, a soldier in Iraq used a Quran for target practice. Needless to say the results were similar. Why didn’t we learn from that? A full four years later, the same sort of incendiary actions are going on.
Had we fought this war with more Col. Muhammads and far fewer Quran burnings, the people of Afghanistan wouldn’t be deaf to our apologies.
Had we stopped our ignorance from speaking louder than our sincerity, we would be in an entirely different position.
By all accounts this war seems to be drawing to a close. I hope our ship of reconciliation has not sailed.
I hope this isn’t just another coal piled on the heads of the Afghan people, and I still hope some wrongs can be undone.
The actions of men like Muhammad were real and sincere, but they were lost in the white noise and the arrogance and ignorance of war.
Demonstrating our goodwill to the people of Afghanistan has been and should remain a prerogative in our remaining time there.
If we become comfortable with being viewed as oppressors, then we truly have lost this war, and we will be in danger of becoming what our opposition accuses us of.
We cannot fold our hands and resign ourselves to failure. We cannot lose sight of the good things we have done. We cannot let the progress we have made be washed out or shouted down by petty oversights or malicious acts — both for our sakes, and for the people of Afghanistan.
Nicholas Pierce is a 22-year old history junior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_nabdulpierc.
 
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Contact Nicholas Pierce at [email protected].