What the West is doing in the Middle East is not unique. They did it elsewhere many times. There is nothing exceptional about it, and there is nothing about it that needs a new explanation. They are doing it to us for the same reasons they did it to others; indeed, for the same reasons they have done it to one another.. It is very simple, and very obvious.
Even in the time of Rasulullah ï·º, the Romans did not threaten the Muslims because they were Muslims, but because they were a growing rival. Yes, what made them a rival was Islam; Islam united and organised them, and presented a very different system which could potentially undermine the stability of the Roman Empire; but it was this threat that prompted Rome’s aggression,and nothing else.
The Muslims were certainly not the first nation to be attacked by the Romans.
We are talking about a power struggle, an imperialist struggle for domination; no more no less. It matters to them that we are Muslim simply because Islam happens to be the belief system that challenges their dominance in the region. In other regions, they are challenged by different belief systems. At the end of the day, it is independence, disobedience, and self-determination that they cannot tolerate.