“If a person commits an act of terrorism, it does not negate or change the principles of the religion he claims to follow. If a Catholic Irish republic army terrorist encourages terrorism. Similarly, if a Muslim commits an act of terror, it does not mean that Islam condones or encourages terrorism” (Khan, 2003, pp 102)
It is difficult in this world to form an opinion about an issue without experiencing some sort of stereotyping. Stereotyping is defined as a generalization of a group of people, wherein a very simple pattern is used for judging an entire group. In recent times Islam has fallen victim to stereotyping, non-Muslims particularly in the west have a misconception that Islam is a very closed and non-secular religion, that it promotes violence and that most Muslims are terrorists or have a radical inclination. Such stereotyping leads to a multitude of evils such as discrimination against Muslims, their exclusion from social and political processes, and presumption of guilt by association and even hates crimes.
This essay is an endeavor to discuss some basic causes of stereotypical images of Islam and their effects on the society in general and the Muslim community in particular.
Islam is a religion that encourages peace and understanding among people of all beliefs, and it strongly prohibits any forms of violence or aggression against all people, regardless of their faith or race. Islam is one of the largest growing religions in the world; “a comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today.” (“Mapping the global Muslim population”, 2009). The followers of Islam are called Muslims and According to the Quran “they believe that the...
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The Sun.3rd March 2011.Muslim kills 2 US airmen in German airport shooting. Retrieved from: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3442750/Two-US-airmen-killed-in-German-airport-shooting.html
Khaleej Times.3rd March 2011. 2 US airmen killed in Frankfurt airport shooting. Retrieved from: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/March/international_March121.xml§ion=international
Moore. K, Mason. P, Lewis.7th July 2008. Images of Islam in the UK. Retrieved from: http://cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/resources/08channel4-dispatches.pdf
Kemick. A .2010 Stereotyping has lasting negative impact. Retrieved from http://www.research.utoronto.ca/feature-stories/stereotyping-has-lasting-negative-impact/
Kitwood, T. (1983) ‘Self-conception among young British- Asian Muslims: confutation of a stereotype’, in G. Breakwell (ed), Threatened Identities, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.
On September 11, 2001, since the terrorist attacks, many American Muslims have been stereotyped negatively in the United States. Salma, a Muslim woman, says that the way Muslims have been recognized in the media has played a big role in the antagonisms directed to her. “I don’t know how many time I heard my classmates accuse me of being al-Qaeda or a terrorist” (Mayton 2013). Salma, along with other Muslims, even after a decade, are still struggling with trying to find their “American” and “Islamic” identities, while facing verbal attacks for their ethnicity. Too often, the general Muslin population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
category ‘Arab–Middle Eastern–Muslim’ enemy and rendered persons associated with this category as embodying a ‘culture’ and/or ‘religion’ th...
Sheikh, K. Z., Price, V., Oshagan, H. (1996). Press Treatment of Islam: What Kind of Picture Do the Media Paint? International Communication Gazette 56(2), pp. 139-154
As the racial targeting, hate-crime increased, racial discrimination bullying, becoming victims of prejudice, and having unequal publicity because of bias racial after 9/11 towards the Islam-Americans. It was often proven how Islam-Americans have become pariahs in all religion that are in the categories of Islam, because of the similarity in the image that a Sikh-American or Muslim-American holds. However this bias view in society towards the Islamic-American is certainly wrong because it has created an unfair environment in communities for them which leads them to become and feel pariahs, as it should be change by speaking up, changing the way we socialize around the topic as it may spread.
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
...” (Woodward, 2001, p. 66). Moreover, Mark Gould (2005) argues that it is true that Jihad exists in Islam, but Muslims are not to use violence in all situations. (p. 16) “For example: Muslims are simply reacting to external impingement on Muslim lands.” Likewise, force cannot be used unless when reacting to a articular incident. (Gould, 2005, p. 16).
Muslim children face high level of discrimination at their schools as they are welcomed with negative comments about their religion by the children of other religions. Though abnormal but normally Muslim students are labeled as Terrorists and they are often verbally coerced and mocked to migrate back to their native countries. The overall conclusion can be drawn as the study that United States suffered a lot during the attacks of 9/11 but the ones who are still facing the aftermath of that incident are the Muslims around the globe and especially those present in United States. Various reasons other than 9/11 attacks behind Muslim stigmatization around globe include stereotyping against Muslims in terms of non-flexibility, uncommon culture, simple life style and aggressive behavior.
Robinson, B.A. (2002, October 14). Islam: Is it a religion of violence or of peace.
G. Esposito, John L (2002) Islam; What Everyone Should Know. New York. Oxford University Press Inc.
Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world but it is still one of the most misunderstood religion by many. The Non-Muslims who are unfamiliar with the faith tend to have misunderstandings about its concepts and teachings. These misconceptions misguide Non-Muslims from learning what Islam really is about. Islam simply means submission to God and peace, but many believe that it promotes terrorism, oppression of Muslim women, and that the religion has too many restrictions.
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
“Stereotyping is a three-part process” (Floyd, 61). In the first stage, we identify a group to which we believe another person belongs. For example, if a man is wearing a turban, one might assume he is a Muslim. In the next stage, we recall a generalization others often make about the people in that group. For example, many people in the United States generalize all Muslims as terrorists or haters of America. The last stage in the process of stereotyping is applying the generalization to that person. “You are Muslim, therefore must be a terrorist.” Obviously, these assumptions are not accurate, but are examples in the process of stereotyping (Floyd, 61).
My research has led me to the conclusion that conflict between Muslim groups and the Western societies is purely political, but tinged with misinterpretations of the Quran by Islamic radicals. The false justifications these groups make about the Quran explicitly directing Muslims to attack anyone of a different religion is motivated by a few key instigators political ambitions and want for power. It is because of these few groups of radicals and their own misinterpretation of the Quran that lead Westerners to view Muslims with distrust and suspicion. There is a strong need to practice religious tolerance and identify that the problem lies within a few groups of disgruntled individuals. Islam is a religion that preaches peace among those that follow its guidance and tolerance for peoples of other religions.
But a closer look at the Islam shows us, that in assessing the role of Islam, the stereot...