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An essay about islamophobia
An essay about islamophobia
Short Note On Islamophobia
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In today’s world people judge others just by looking at them and making decisions based on their appearances and actions. Misconceptions are caused by making assumptions firsthand, receiving incorrect information from a source or seeing a few members from a specific group commit an action which is attributed to the whole group. Most of the assumptions made are almost incorrect because the people who judge do not follow through to see what the truth is regarding their observation. Misunderstandings are caused by how the spectator interprets the expression of the group causing confusion. These misunderstandings often times go viral and are sometimes even carried on from one generation to another. Several religious groups are often perceived in a different light than their true identity. American Muslims, followers of Islam, are one of the major groups who are victims to this mass misconception.
One of the major misconceptions regarding American Muslims is that they are terrorists but the FBI database clearly states that 6% terrorist acts in the U.S. are due to Islamic groups. Many people assume that Islam teaches its followers to practice terrorism. In actuality, Islam does not teach terrorism but rather the literal meaning of Islam is “peace”. As USA article mentions, "Islam does not support terrorism under any circumstances. Terrorism goes against every principle in Islam. If a Muslim engages in terrorism, he is not following Islam. He may be wrongly using the name of Islam for political or financial gain” (USA Today). From here we see that terrorism is not a teaching of Islam, but, rather prohibited. Islam is an encompassing religion which covers all aspects of one’s life from financial well-being to diet and to marriage. In a s...
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... your own bride.The groom must pick a specific type of bride if not arranged. Many have believed that Muslims are alike but they all differ one way or another. Society should take their time to educate themselves about a specific group before heading towards conclusions.
Work Cited
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Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
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.
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
I feel the biggest misunderstood culture today is the Muslim culture. Muslims are always ridiculed and stereotyped as terrorists and are always getting racist jokes thrown at them. Whenever people see someone of the Muslim culture on the street, they’re so quick to judge them and give them dirty looks as if they are aliens from a different planet. Everyone thinks Muslims are terrorists that hate America, when in reality, that is just a big stereotype that is far from the truth. I feel most of these stereotypes and racist jokes about Muslim Americans come from the fact that we have troops fighting across seas against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and people seem to link all Muslims with those two terrorist groups, which is a very racist accusation of anyone who believes that. Muslim Americans are stereotyped as terrorists who hate America, when in reality, the Muslim people and culture are a very peaceful people.
Did you know that there are currently 1.5 billion Muslims living throughout the world. One in every five people in this world is a Muslim nation. It is proven that Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world and also happens to be the most widely and openly misunderstood faith as well. Americans have misconceptions about Muslims concerning the rights of Muslim women and whether Muslims believe in the existence of Jesus. "When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, a Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian.
Recently we have been living in the fear of terrorism and tragic and in the most recent acts of terrorism around the world we have created the stereotype that all muslims are terrorists, because many of the acts of terrorism happened to be done by those of a muslim extremist group, but not by standard muslim communities. The first reason that supports the that not all Muslims are terrorists is the number of attacks that happen in the United States is actually carried out by non-Muslims, the Huffington Post states, " According to the FBI, 94% of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States from 1980 to 2005 have been by non-Muslims. "
The media has the ability to shape a terrorist story and make it appear to benefit whom they wish. The misconception of the Muslim community, specifically the Islamic faith began after the 9/11 event. The media has magnified our fears towards the Muslim communities because of the Islamic radical, whom the media have used to paint them as a whole. The aftermath of 9/11 overlooked to acknowledge any Muslim American first responder. According to the FBI 2014 statistical reports Anti-Muslim hate crimes used to be the second-least reported, but in 2001, they became the second-highest reported among religious-bias incidents, after anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War, and the Roots of Terror (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005), 5.
“To emphasize the terrorists rational qualities and views the terrorist as a cool, logical planning individual whose rewards are idealogical and political rather than financial” (Johansen 117,121,131). Most terrorists are often very well educated and skilled for political analysis. A terrorist is labeled a “fanatic”, which is a generally extreme held belief that more than likely ends iin self harm or selfdestruction. They view this world at only their perspective, to an absolute extreme. Commonly in almost all terrorists they are willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice, to kill themself in order to avoid capture. Most Muslims believe that Jihad means nothing more than a daily struggle, but for radicals it is safe to say they think “ Jihad authorizes defensive war against those who would oppress Muslims or oppose Islam” (Johansen 117,121,131). “On February 28, 1998, a FATWA was issued by Osama Bin Laden and four other leaders of extreme Islamist groups, that called for every Muslim to engage in Jihad to kill the Americans and plunder their money” (Johansen 117,121,131). Many Muslims did not listen to Bin Laden because they know Allahs will, But some fanatics did. Which would later result in the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks on the United
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
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.
Eight of the nine women were ultimately allowed to make their own decision without their parents forcing the choice on them. Six of the nine interviewees stated that they had no reservations about choosing to wear a hijab and did not mention family adding pressure onto the decision. However, Yousra Omer described a situation in which she involuntarily had to begin wearing the hijab at age 11 due to her parents and sister. Although she had no reservations about wearing one as a symbol of her religion and culture, she worried about the underlying judgments that would come from it and also disliked that she was denied the opportunity to make this personal decision on her own. In addition, Khawla Suhaila did have reservations about the decision because of societal pressures and wanting to fit in but found that her mother and sister’s support, along with self-reflection, helped her to finally choose to wear the hijab on a regular basis. As mentioned before, Ms. Gilani does not wear a hijab, which was a decision affected by her experiences of being called a terrorist when growing up and the implications it would have on her financial security. Her parents did believe in modesty but still did not force her to wear a
G. Esposito, John L (2002) Islam; What Everyone Should Know. New York. Oxford University Press Inc.
Saleh, Leena. "Beating the Bully." Islamic Horizons, 1 Mar. 2013. eLibrary. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,