Negative Stereotypes of the Islamic Religion
A Look at the Lives of Muslims after September 11
Dec 1, 2008
Even though Union City, Calif. resident, and lifelong participant in the Islamic religion, Mohammed Shaikh, has been stopped in airports for “random checks” numerous times, the “ignorance” of airport security hasn’t been the most bothering thing to happen to him since Sept. 11.
“I was walking home from school, and two white guys drove by and told me that they were ‘going to bomb my house tonight,’ ” said Shaikh. “I’ll probably remember that forever. I was only 14 or 15 years old.”
Shaikh’s story is just one of many stories of Muslims being bullied, threatened or even killed based on the fact that they share the same religion as the infamous suicide bombers or Al-Qaeda members that hijacked and crashed American airplanes over seven years ago.
However, despite these few rogue extremists, Islam is generally a peaceful religion that accepts the diversity of all religions, even those with very different belief systems.
According to a PBS.org segment on the Islamic religion, since Muslims believe that god revealed himself to the earlier prophets of the Jews and Christians before revealing himself to Islamic prophets, Muslims accept the teachings of both the Torah (Jewish) and the gospels (Christian). This debunks the stereotype that Muslims dislike people that don’t believe in their religion or share their religious beliefs.
Another popular stereotype of the Islamic religion is that it oppresses women, which is a “widespread misconception,” according to an article by Julian Chippendale for associatedcontent.com. In fact, the rights for women to vote and own property have been granted to them over 1,400 centuries ago. The statistic that over 20,000 women convert to Islam each year also reduces the credibility of that stereotype.
Chippendale cites in her article that the inaccurate coverage of Islam by the western media is partly to blame for this misconception. Shaikh agrees:
“It is hard work actually taking the time to learn the truth behind something, but it’s easy to just watch something on TV and blindly believe it.”
A third stereotype that casts a shadow of fallaciousness over the Islamic religion is the belief that all Muslims are violent extremists. Though there are violent Islamic extremists out there making headlines, the basis of Islam is, in fact, very different from that.
According to an article by Stevenson Swanson of the Chicago Tribune, “The Koran, Islam's holy book, preaches peace and charity.” Swanson does admit that he thinks the reason westerners don’t know the true teachings of Islam is because the “loudest voices in the Muslim world extol hate and violence.”
“When a small few do something so drastic in the name of religion, it makes everyone in the religion look bad,” said Shaikh.
Chippendale, Shaikh and Swanson all agree that western media has partly led to the negative stereotypes that Muslims have to face in this country everyday. Those misconceptions, combined with the fears brought on by the attacks of Sept. 11, serves as an unkind combination for Muslims practicing Islam in America.
“That’s what happens when anger and ignorance get together,” said Shaikh.
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