Western View Of Muslim Essay

The Issue With the Western View of Muslims

September 11, 2001, was a day that changed the lives of those who lived in the United States (US). What may have previously been considered far off, was now at the front door of America. Radical Islamic terrorism had become a real and dangerous threat and due to the actions of a few Muslims, the perspective of the West was changed forever. Out of the countless issues that could be named concerning the Western view of Muslims, the significant are that despite the general assumption not all Arabs are Muslim, neither are all Muslims devout much less terrorists, and the West has caused an almost equal amount of destruction as many Middle Eastern countries, therefore giving it the possibility of being labeled as terroristic. Muslims subjected to such labeling have been affected in numerous ways. The official definition of Muslim is an adherent of Islam and in Arabic means one who submits to God (Muslim). Yet many Westerners, upon hearing the word “Muslim,” almost immediately consider the idea of terrorism. The history of Islam itself begins in the Middle East and will therefore be linked to Arabs. Muhammad first introduced Islam in the cities Medina and Mecca of

In order for there to be peace between Muslims and the world, there needs to be a level of understanding. People need to understand that Arabs are humans. Innumerable issues could be discussed concerning the problem with how the West currently perceives Muslims, but the important ones are that not all Arabs are Muslims, most Muslims are in fact not Arab, and the West cannot condemn the Middle East without first looking upon its own faults. Muslims themselves are not against the world. Only a small percentage are extremists and there is always at least a small percentage of people in every group or society who commit crimes in the name of their