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Understanding the culture of islam
Understanding the culture of islam
Understanding the culture of islam
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Muslims are one of many that are discriminated based upon their religion because of events that have happened in the past that still take effect in society today. Such events like 9-11 and the attack on the pentagon, which were caused by Al Qaeda. After this event, Americans began to targetmore Muslim people based on their religion, which is a form of generalization. With discriminating these people’s religion, American began to stereotype Muslims because American’s are intimidated by Muslims based on the event on September 11, 2001.
The religion that most Muslims believe in is Islamic, a religion where they believe that there is only one God, Allah; the Arabic word for god (dictionary, 2014). This religion is to be the second largest religion in the world with 1 billion followers (BBC, 2014). Just like Christians or Catholic, Muslims have book of laws like The Bible, it is called the Qur’an but they also have the Sunnah. These two books are the basis of the practice and beliefs of Islam. The Sunnah is the traditional part of the Muslim law that is based on the words and acts of Muhammad, and preserved into the traditional literature (dictionary, 2014). Muhammad was the person who first founded the religion of Islam, which is accepted by Muslims across the world as the last of the prophets of God (Britannia). Also, within the Sunnah is the five basic Pillars of Islam. These are the most important practices of the religion because it is the obligations that every Muslim must they must be satisfied with in order to live a good and responsible life; according to Islam (BBC, 2014). The five pillars consist of Shahadah, Salat,Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj. The Shahadah is when they recite the Muslim profession of faith, the Salat is when perf...
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... January 30). Muslim Woman Sues State OverDrivers License. Orlando Sentinel. 30 Jan. 2002. Retrieved From http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2002-01-30/news/0201300347_1_state-of-florida-freeman-florida-license>.
Sunnah [Def.1]. (n.d.).In Dictionary Online, Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sunnah.
Nasr, S. H. (2013). Muhammad and the Qur’an.In Encyclopedia Britannia.Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/396226/Muhammad/251799/Muhammad-and-the-Quran.
Mecca [Def.1]. (n.d.).In Dictionary Online, Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mecca.
Koran [Def.1]. (n.d.).In Dictionary Online, Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Koran.
Hijab [Def.1]. (n.d.).In Dictionary Online, Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hijab?s=t.
They also consider him to be the last prophet of God through the teachings and the example of Muhammad. They refer to their god as Allah. The basis of Islamic life is centered on Allah, whom we must be submitted to and served. They believe that the previous messages and revelations have been partially misinterpreted or altered over time with evolving cultures and translating languages, but consider the Arabic Qur'an to be the unaltered and final revelation of Allah. Religion is practiced with the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and required acts of worship.
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 antagonism directed at her. “I don’t know how many times 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 Muslim population gets lumped in with the immoral acts of a few because of the lack of knowledge about their culture.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all people wearing turbans are stereotyped as Muslims and terrorists when that is not always the case. The attitude many people display towards Muslim Americans is not the same as it was before 9/11. There are now many negative stereotypes against the Muslim religion, that are not always true, and the effects on the Muslim American people can be harmful and cause many personal and emotional issues. Life became more difficult, after 9/11, for Muslim Americans and it made the American dream more complex for Muslims to achieve.
This study examines stereotyping of Arab Muslims in the New York Times for the past forty years. Theorists suggest that stereotyping of a minority group effects the public's opinion of that group. Other communication media theorists say that only under extreme conditions will the negative stereotypes reflect the publics' opinions of the portrayed minority group. The parallel theory between propaganda and stereotyping by the mass media is examined. Theorists including Thomson, (1977) & Myers, (1992), related to mass media effects strongly agree claiming that repetitive and non-contradictive images in the media are an effective form of propaganda. The research samples are random article reviews of the New York Times for the past forty years. Using every fifth year and 2 random numbers ranging from 1 to 12 is used to select an article search date. Islam was the search term. The Gudykunst & Kim( ? ) method of analyzing a stereotype is used to evaluate the 8 New York Times articles. The results indicate 95% of the articles were "vague," labeling entire group rather than individual. Out of the total 100%, 70% of the article used unfavorable trait characteristic labeling.
The first thing that every person says when you mention stereotypes being mean or hurtful to people is that stereotypes don’t really affect anyone or the way that people act towards them and treat them. However, after 9/11, Muslims in America quite often felt that the people around them were constantly judging them. This however is true for in the story
A Muslim does not have any relation to an Arab, yet people do confuse the two. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Allah is not the God for Muslims; he is the creator of all creatures including mankind. Islam means to surrender freely to the Commandments and will of their God. This compliance comes from within, from belief in and conviction to Allah. It should also come from love, trust, and affection. Muhammad meditated in a cave on Mount Hira, when he had a revelation. He believed that he was called by God to be a teacher of new faith. Muhammad wrote the Koran, and it is what the people lived by. The scriptures are based on how to avoid punishment from Allah. It emphasizes if you follow the right path, Allah will reward you in the end. The 5 pillars of Islam are the basic fundamentals of Muhammad’s teachings. The 5 Pillars consist of; Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, Sawm, and Hajj. The Salat is the most exaggerated, where prayer is done five times a day. The 5 pillars are taken very seriously every day. Islam is one of the most popular religions to this
Before the September 11, 2001 bombings, not much social psychological research had focused on Muslim-Americans. As a result of the attack, Muslims quickly became a salient group in American society. At the unfortunate expense of prejudice towards Muslims, 9/11 also led to an increase in research regarding Muslim-Americans (Amer and Bagasra, 2013). Therefore, in analyzing the intergroup relationship between Muslim-Americans and White-Americans we will use 9/11 as the origin of group conflict. Before discussing the driving theories behind the intergroup relationship, it is important to note a certain level of ambiguity in the definition of these groups. We are aware that some Muslim-Americans may in fact also be White (mainly due to religious conversion). Therefore as an operational group, when referring to White-Americans we mean to indicate non-Muslim White Americans.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Living in America we deal with a lot of diversity, especially those in the criminal justice degree program where situations caused by diversity can lead to a problem. Stereotyping is one of the biggest problems that we deal with, particularly in law enforcement. There have been many allegations of police officers accused of going after individuals and accusing them of a crime based on the sole fact of what their religious beliefs might be. This has been going on for a long time; however in recent years, it has gotten worse. The main job of police officers is to uphold the law, not to break it. Although stereotyping is not against the law, police officers have taken an oath to protect all human beings, regardless of their race or religion and stereotyping based on religion should not take place. Just because an individual is of a certain race dose not give us the right to stereotype them as a bad human being.
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.
Islam is a religion that is based on the submission oneself to the will of God, who is called Allah. Muslims are the people believe in that, regardless of their culture, background or ethnicity. It is believed that God’s prophets brought a message for the people to worship one God without intermediaries and that prophet Muhammad was the end of G...
Islamophobia did not suddenly start after the horrific 9/11 event. Like anti-Semitism , it has long and deep historical roots; however, its contemporary resurgence has been triggered by the 9/11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As a result of several people’s inane folly, Islamophobia distorts the photograph of the entire Muslim community wherever they live; Muslims today are guilty until proven innocent.
Islam the complete ‘surrender to Allah’ is a living religious tradition with the principal belief in one God – Allah. Islam has remained the same in its principle beliefs of Allah, His Angels, His Prophets, His Books, The Last Day and his complete authority over destiny and has also changed over time to ensure that Islam remains a living religious tradition. Over its history Islam has had many significant people including Al Ghazali and Aisha Bint Abu Bakr who have ensured that Islam remains living in the hearts and minds of its adherents. In addition to significant individuals participation in the Five Pillars e.g. the Hajj ensure that Islam will continue to be the living religious tradition that it is.
The worship of Allah is principal in a Muslim’s mind at all time. There are also five formal acts of worship which help strengthen a the faith and obedience of a Muslim. They are frequently called the “Five Pillars of Islam”. The Five Pillars of Islam are the framework and guidelines of the Muslim life. They are the testimony of faith, prayer, supporting the needy, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and the once in a lifetime trip to Makkah for those who are able to do so. These Five Pillars are the thing Muslim’s do to please God and to keep themselves well and happy in this lifetime and for the future ones to come. It was Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, who was reported to have said, “Islam is based upon five pillars”.