Islam is the second most popular religion in the world, made up of 1.6 billion Muslims, representing approximately 23% of the earth’s population. With these statistics, there should be a clear understanding of the Muslim faith. However, despite its huge following around the world and the growing Muslim communities, Islam is foreign to most North Americans who are familiar with Christianity or Judaism. Islam and Muslims have become an area of major concern to the people and media, especially after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. There are many misunderstandings about religions in general, but Islam especially. Many believe that the western world is advanced, enlightened and liberated, while Islam is primitive, ignorant and oppressed. Some misconceptions about Islam are due to the wrong beliefs and actions of Muslims, and others are due to a …show more content…
Many have the idea that women in Islam are disrespected, mistreated, or oppressed. Most are not aware that Muslins worship the same God as Jews and Christians do. It is also a stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists or promote violence. Most misconceptions of Islam are due to the lack of knowledge and misleading media reports; a problem that leads to prejudice and increasing fears.
When a person thinks of Muslim woman they may picture a woman who is devalued and underappreciated. People often blame the Islamic religion for the injustices towards women, when in all actually they are imposed by the politics and society of Islamic nations. Muslim women’s dress, role in the household and in society are common misconceptions of the Western world. The Western society’s stereotypical view of Muslim women is misplaced. People picture a woman covered head to toe in
The first religion and its views on women that will be discussed in this essay is Islam. Islam is a religions founded in Saudi Arabia almost two thousand years ago, by the prophet Muhammad. In fact, Muhammad dedicated much attention towards women in the Koran, the holy book of Islam. However, even though much was dedicated to women in the Koran, it was not dedicated to them in the sense of equality. Women in Islamic culture were apparently much lower on the totem pole than men, "The men are made responsible for the women, since God endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners...If you experience opposition from the women, you shall first talk to them, then [you may use such negative incentives as] deserting them in bed, then you may beat them (129)." Excerpt...
Fatemeh Fakhraie’s essay “Scarfing it Down,” explains how Muslim women suffer because of what they wear. Fakhraie blogs about Muslim women in her website she explains; “Seeing ourselves portrayed in the media in ways that are one-dimensional and misleading." Several people judge Muslim's by their appearance because they assume they're a bad person. The author of this essay wants the reader to know that Muslim women wearing a hijab are not a threat to the world.
The article “My Body Is My Own Business” by Naheed Mustafa is about an Islamic women’s principle that putting on her usual headscarf, or Hijab, actually empowers her as a female, contrary to the popular principle that the hijab represents male oppressiveness. She ex...
For some women wearing a veil is not something that is forced on them but rather a choice of their own. Martha Nussbaum and Maysan Haydar are both authors that try to explain their reasoning that veiling isn't an oppressive tool used against women. Martha Nussbaum's article “Veiled Threats”, is a political and philosophical take on why banning the burqa is a violation of human rights. On the other hand Maysan Haydar’s article “Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering”, is a more humorous and personal take on why veiling shouldn't be as judged or stereotyped. Though Nussbaum and Haydar have equal goals this essay is being used to understand the main argument, claims and whether or not each article has any weaknesses.
Ever pass by Muslim woman in a hijab at the mall or park and think how oppressive and restraining her culture must be? Maysan Haydar, a New York social worker who practices the Muslim tradition of veiling, believes otherwise. In her article, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering,” Haydar highlights on her experiences as a Muslim living in an American culture, where showing more skin is the “norm.” Haydar speaks specifically to a crowd who unconsciously makes assumptions about certain Muslim practices, in hopes of sharing the truth behind them. Haydar suggests that, contrary to popular belief, not all Muslim women cover themselves strictly as an “oppressive” religious practice, but that some women, like herself, find
Ray Douglas Bradbury was one of the most distinguished science fiction writers of the last century. Having been penniless during the Depression, Bradbury did not attend college but instead spent countless hours in the library teaching himself everything he believed he would have been taught by a professor (Norman “Obituary: Ray Bradbury…”). Before long, this noble autodidact was writing for mass market publications developing a style of fantasy science fiction writing that would serve as a model for future acolytes such as Steven King and Steven Spielberg (“Bradbury’s prose style…”). In the 1950s, a year in which anti-communist hysteria was most prevalent, Bradbury began to develop an irrational fear of censorship. (Norman “Obituary: Ray Bradbury…”). Bradbury infuses his writings with man vs. society conflicts and despotic characterization which accurately depict his ambivalence towards technology that stems from his fear of these advances eventually leading to the suppression of independent thought, thus suppression of the individual. These elements, found primarily in his first novel, Fahrenheit 451, not only impacted the sci-fi genre, but also made an impact on many readers worldwide gaining Bradbury much admiration in the literary realm.
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.
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.
Muslims have been facing propaganda by media of the western world since many decades. Western media spreads any negative incident in which Muslims are involved very quickly. Many people have developed such an understanding due to this stigmatization that they normally think of terrorism, violence and other extreme things when they hear about Islam and Muslims. One major incident behind such stigmatization is the 9/11 attacks on America.
There is little need to reiterate the long history of U.S. governments going wherever they have wanted and doing whatever they have wanted. The question is how Muslims navigate through the political and economic architectures that ensue. Certainly, Islam has long valued extending itself throughout the world. Travel is primarily a modality for accumulating knowledge, acting on the desire to know, and then, only secondarily, is that knowledge used as a means of imbricating the "presentation" of Islam within heterogeneous settings. The historical challenge for Islamic missions, armies, scholars, traders, and sojourners was how to maintain the coherence of the faith in foreign spaces simultaneously considered within and outside of the Islamic world.
Post- 9/11 Media Portrayal of Islam and the Middle East and its negative consequences on Muslims in the Western World
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.
In the essay, the writer acknowledges the misunderstandings that come from media images by explaining the contrasts between these images and the teachings of the faith to support her claim that fear is the reason for this misconception. The conception that many people have of Muslims is that they are terrorists, anti-Semites, and fanatics. This conception exsists because television news and newspapers support that stereotype. The broadcast of such stereotypes encourages fear and accusations of the Islamic relegion's teachings. The writer explains that Islam teaches peace, tolerance, and equality. She further states that Muslims shown in the media have violated these teachings ...
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.
The horrific events of September 11, 2001, killed 2,996 people and caused at least $ 10 billion in property and infrastructure damage. After September 11, people started point fingers at the Muslims for doing, just because small group of Muslims it doesn’t me that everyone is the same. September 11, have forever changed Americans view of Islam and Muslim. Even before September 11, they were still hate toward Islam and Muslims. These this famous quotes online by unknown person “I’m Muslim, Islam is perfect but I am not. If I make a mistake, blame it on me, not on my religion.” I am here today, to clear the misunderstanding about my beautiful religion, not everything we see or hear is true. “Islam is a violent religion, Islam is a terrorist group,