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Islam in america thesis
Islam in america thesis
The impact of Muslims in America after 9/11
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Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. It is spread everywhere, even in USA. From 19s century several thousand Muslims immigrated to United States from the Ottoman Empire and from parts of South Asia. Since that time, very small Muslim population began to increase greatly in 20s century, with rising immigration and a comparatively high birth rate. American Muslims come from various backgrounds, and are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States. Now about seven to eight million Muslims live in USA. This is very active community, which includes very different people – workers, doctors, millionaires. So, how can you see, Islam is integral part of United States of America. September 11, 2001 America was hit by terrorist attacks. American citizens were shocked, outraged at the attack on our own soil. After initial hours of shock, grief, and anger it became apparent that the suspects in the attacks were Arab Muslims—American Muslims and Arab Americans. For American Muslims and Arab Americans the tragedy was doubly painful. The whole World watched in the horror that the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked. There were a lot of calls, questions if any friends or loved ones were in these planes or inside these buildings. Muslim Imams gave a lot of speeches, articles, lectures that to prove that Islam is not evil religion, they say that “terrorists were Muslims, but these people do not belong to our community here; they used Islamic names and did evil”. In their lectures they cited in Qur’an to support their statements “Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace. In our sacred book, the Noble Qur’an, we are taught the value of innocent life in these words: ...
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...slims after this act of terrorism. Fortunately, attitude towards Muslims in USA became better than it was 7-8 years ago. At first year’s attitude were terrible, because citizens thought that Muslims have done this act, but some time later, they understood that not all Muslims are terrorists, they are victims too. But now, Muslim Americans have the freedom to practice their faith openly and there are more than 1,200 mosques in USA. American Muslims have a very high level of satisfaction and they can be found in every kind of profession from doctors to teachers to tech entrepreneurs to government worker. Muslim Americans, like every other faith group, can practice their religion freely and openly in America and there is no fear of being suffered of racial discrimination. So, to conclude I want to say that Muslim Americans were and are part of a great community of USA.
After 9/11 many Americans became extremely frightened and skeptical of anything that wore a hijab or head-dress. The frequency of hate crimes against Islamics rose 25% in the months following 9/11 (Doc 5). Consequently following even more attacks on westerners on the basis of Islam, anti-Islamic ideals are remain very prevalent today. On a more positive note, support for US government actions was strongly supported by both Republicans and Democrats. When you see two national international symbols of American wealth and prosperity as well as the building at the heart of its national defense fall to 20 terrorists , then as a nation
In the article “Modern-Day Witch Hunts”, Jamie Dailey focuses the attention on problems that Muslim Americans commonly face on a day-to-day basis. He first paints a picture by comparing the violent acts performed on Muslims to the Salem Witch trial in 1692. The Salem Witch trials resulted in 19 deaths of innocent individuals, because they were accused of witchcraft. Dailey goes on to explain in America, the type of persecution Muslims endure has many forms. A more recent controversy towards this religion involves the building of the Ground Zero Mosque in central New York. The name of this building is very misleading, especially to the eyes of an American. Even though this structure is actually built a few blocks away from where the former World Trade Center stood, problems have still risen from the public. Americans often mistake Muslims as the group of people who had performed acts of terrorism on American soil, when it was actually an Islamic group known as Al Qaeda. Mosques all across the United States started being vandalized by people protesting against their religion. This article shows how irrational fear can corrupt the thoughts of people.
They are a reminder of America’s long and deeply ambivalent history with Islam, Arabs, and the Middle East.” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi feels that the fear of Muslims was not always there; stating that Thomas Jefferson read the Quran and was very interested in the religion. Protestant missionaries wanted to save and convert the people that practiced Islam; the missionaries did not fear Muslims or Arabs (Makdisi 1). Makdisi goes on to say that the fear of Muslims did not start until the end of the 20th century mainly because the new wave of Immigration in the 1960’s. Makdisi says, “rather, the stigmatization of Arabs and Muslims occurred principally because of the politics in the Middle East and because of the enormously consequential United States role in the region” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi blames the United States ' involvement and support in Israel and states that the Iranian hostage situation was "similarly a direct response to the United States support for t he Shah of Iran” (Makdisi 1). Makdisi argues that the people of the United States were hurt by the policies our own country had in place. Both Lyre and Makdisi agree that the attacks on September 11th, 2001 only reinforced the stigma that was there and make it easier for the world to view all Muslims, Arabs, and all people from the Middle East in a negative
Race and religion are two concepts in American culture that can really tie people together, or clearly separate them apart. A group forged by strong common roots in both race and religion can be a powerful societal force, if it wants to be. The Nation of Islam is a small but growing religion in America that has become somewhat of a social movement because of its strong and radical ideas on race. In this paper, I will try to explore the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, and the ramifications it could and has had on racial relations in America. The Nation of Islam, or NOI, is a relatively new religion. The first temple of Islam was established in Detroit by Master Fard Muhammed in 1930. Much of the theology was based on the simple facts that: "Allah is god, the white man is the devil, and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic black people, the cream of the earth."(1) And, in accordance with their bizarre view of creation, involving a mad scientist creating the white race from the black race, the twentieth century represents the time for black people to regain their rightful position as god¹s chosen people. (1) The Nation of Islam was spawned from Orthodox Islam, an age-old religion. However, Orthodox Islam has openly denounced the NOI as a heretic sect for three main reasons: the NOI¹s rejection of the belief in an afterlife, its tendency to view human leaders as deified figures, and its strong racist attitudes. (2) For a brief time, during the seventies, Wallace Deen Muhammed became the leader of the NOI and tried to take it in a new direction, more conforming to "true Islamic beliefs." This group is now called the American Muslim Mission and still exists in small numbers today. (1) ...
The way Muslims have been treated after the 9/11 incident is very different than before. Before 9/11 there was certainly some discrimination towards Muslim Americans, but after the attacks happened, between the years 2000 and 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). “While trying to adapt to the outcome of 9/11, Muslim Americans dealt with an increase in negative stereotypes spoken by the common culture, and Muslim immigrants faced more negative attitudes than any other immigrant group” (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). Since the 9/11 attacks, people who dress with a substantial resemblance to Muslims worry about the upcoming hatred and unfriendliness from people of other ethnicities (Khan & Ecklund, 2012). While listening to the media, one can hear reports of negative stereotypes towards people who resemble the Muslim religion, which may be assumed that these people are violent. Negative attitudes that Muslim Americans experience may have detrimental effects on their success in America and their success of achieving the American Dream.
The September 11th attacks made us united as one powerful person who can stand up from the ruins of thousands pounds of metal and fight so that we wont have to be in ruins again. In the recent videos Osama bin Laden and his colleagues are talking about the power of Islam and the attacks on Twin Towers. It seems like Osama bin Laden and other radicals are ready for “Jihad” and they are ready to win. They say that Allah is on their side and people around the world want to learn more about Islam since the September 11th attacks. A good example was John Walker, an American who was with Taliban army man when he was captured. He was studying Muslim traditions in Pakistan where he joined Taliban. The other day I was watching “Dennis Miller Live” where I heard Dennis Miller talk about John Walker, he said that his parents should give him more then just spanking. This showed me that even today almost five months of 9/11 people still talk about it.
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.
...lim violence mentioned in class lectures include a taxi cab driver in NYC who identified himself as a Muslim and was shot dead by the passenger, four pieces of construction equipment was destroyed at a future mosque site in Tennessee also in Tennessee, a pipe bomb went off in a mosque in Jacksonville killing somewhere around 60 people. This is only a few example of the many hate crimes committed against Muslims in the United States. Muslims not only face hate crimes in the U.S., but all over the world today which is particularly disturbing in the U.S. which has a Constitution that states all citizens are free to practice their own religion, but clearly as of late, this is not true for Muslim Americans.
Muslims are said to be the nightmare of America, but just like any other human being they are pure and carry stories of discrimination just like Dalia Mogahed says “I’m completely ordinary, I’m not an exception. My story is not unusual, I’m as ordinary as they come”(Dalia). She explains that her story of being discriminated for being muslim is not unusual. There are thousands of Muslims who carry on this story just like Dalia Mogahed. She explains that she was just a normal citizen just like any other but it all when downhill when the attack of the twin towers occurred on September 11, 2001. From that day forward there was days where it was required that she stay home and was life threatening to attend their church hours.
This all started on September 11, 2001 when 4 airplanes were hijacked. Two crashing into the twin towers, one into the Pentagon, and one into a field that was either heading towards the White House or the Capitol. A total of nineteen terrorists from Middle East, who were a part of a terrorist group known as al-Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden, were involved in this attack. Killing almost 3,000 people and destroying some of America’s most known buildings left Americans hurt, scarred, and afraid. Since September 11, 2001, Muslims have been stereotyped as terrorists on daily basis and especially on every September 11th after the attack and while Americans fear Muslims, Muslims fear Americans.
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.
While the events of September 11, 2001, cast the Islam religion in an unfavorable light, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of the Muslim members, nor has it stopped the Islam religion from growing. Obviously, with over one billion members worldwide, Islam is one of the largest religions in the world today.
There are many misconceptions regarding Islam and Muslims. In reality most Muslims are non-Arabs and most live outside the Middle East. There are five million Muslims in the United States. There are an estimated 10,000-15,000 Muslims in the area.
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.