Muslim group sticks it to terrorists with ‘Hey ISIS, You Suck’ billboard

A new anti-ISIS campaign launched last week in Chicago takes on terrorists in a very, shall we say, succinct way.

A group of American Muslims put up a billboard that exclaims: “Hey ISIS, you suck!!!”

It is signed by #ActualMuslims and includes a quote from the Qur’an: “Life is sacred.”

“Obviously Muslims know that ISIS sucks,” Leena Suleiman of the nonprofit Islamic media organization Sound Vision told NBC Chicago.

“It’s about shouting out: ‘ISIS does not represent me, I’m Muslim, I say the word ‘sucks,’ I’m like everyone else in my country. We want to scream it from a billboard.”

A group of young Muslim American fathers on a WhatsApp group in Chicago came up with the campaign, according to the Sound Vision website.

“Our aim was to remind people that we are actual, everyday Muslims, who want to live our lives, practice our faith and do the best we can as Americans,” organizer and third-generation Muslim American, Omar Ali, wrote in The Islmanic Monthly.

“Our message was to speak to the common American folks to make them aware that ISIS does not represent us, or our faith.

“Designing, creating and implementing the billboard idea was truly a grassroots effort by a group of Muslims from Chicago who, like me, sincerely want to let the world know that we are Americans and love this country and will not allow an extremist fringe group to hijack our faith.”

The billboard stands on a busy stretch of highway on Interstate 294 that’s often gridlocked with commuters heading into downtown Chicago or O’Hare International Airport, the NBC station notes.

It’s already gotten quite a few looks.

Sound Vision put up the billboard as part of its ongoing campaign fighting Islamaphobia and challenging radicalism among Muslim youths, according to Salon.

“We launched the campaign in light of the constant pressure on American Muslims to condemn ISIS, especially since Muslims are the biggest victims of ISIS,” Suleiman told Salon.

“That’s been a huge problem in the media. The very fact that ISIS is a menace to humanity, and foremost to Muslims, and not just to people of other or no faiths, is a huge piece of the puzzle that is consistently and unfortunately overlooked.”

Sound Vision has launched an effort on its website to bring more “ISIS Sucks” billboards to other cities.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Muslim group sticks it to terrorists with ‘Hey ISIS, You Suck’ billboard."