the fear of islam and muslims dissertation
A pregnant Muslim Egyptian girl was stabbed to loss of life in a German born courtroom last season. The twenty-eight year old German man consistently stabbed her sixteen instances. She savane to fatality in front of her child and husband (“Islamophobia” Global in. p. ). Islamophobia is a relatively new term that identifies the fear of Islam and Muslims A lot of sources also include discrimination and hostility toward Muslims within their definition. Therefore , Islamophobia can be explained as the irrational fear of and hostility towards Islam and Muslims (“Islamaphobia” Opposing n. p). Within a U. T. A Today Poll required for 2007, thirty-nine percent of Americans admitted to feeling some kind of bias against Muslims. About the same percentage favored Muslims to carry some kind of IDENTITY in order to prevent terrorist problems. About one out of four people said that they can not want to obtain Muslims because their neighbors (Kumar n. p). However , most of Americans include seemed to designed better behaviour towards Islam/Muslims. “According to a ABC News/Washington Post poll in 2010, 37 percent of american citizens had beneficial opinions of Islam and Muslims” (“Islamophobia” Opposing in. p). Regarding sixty percent of Americans surveyed confessed that they were not that proficient in Islam. “It seems that the inspiration of Islamophobia, for many, can be a simple insufficient information” (“Islamophobia” Global n. p). Islam has nothing to fear.
The media plays one of the major jobs in encouraging this fear. By representing horrifying moments from around the world, the multimedia introduces dread into “large populations, especially in countries in which the average household watches television eight hours a day” (Beuhler d. p). The media seems to excel once covering discord, especially when it comes to the Islamic world, which is filled with disputes. The film industry is blamed for advancing Islamophobia by portraying Muslims and Arabs while the “bad guys” in Hollywood and Bollywood videos. Such films influence just how Muslims will be viewed. The Hollywood film industry offers defended alone by stating that they have avoided using Muslims as the villain since 2001. Similary, Bollywood, the Indian film industry, looked after itself by simply claiming that a lot of of their renowned actors happen to be Muslim. (“Islamaphobia” Opposing and. p)
Although Islamophobia has existed longer, the word itself was first used in 97 when the Runnymede Trust printed Islamophobia: Difficult For Us Almost all. The survey outlined the common beliefs coming from all Islamophobes. All of which are totally false.
One of the beliefs of Islamophobes is the fact Islam is a monolithic faith (Runnymede Trust n. p). They believe that Islam provides certain pre-installed, fixed features that make it violent, anti-democracy and so forth and not available to changes. Not simply is this thought false, but it also serves as a basis for any other myths. Islam is practiced in various countries worldwide. Nearly 1 ) 5 billion dollars people all over the world are Muslims. Of these, eighty-five percent are Sunni and fifteen percent are Shiites. Within both of these branches are even more several sects. There are numerous countries whose population is a majority of Muslims. In all these areas, Islam looks several. As the religion distributed, it implemented traditions and customs of the people generally there. The Sufi Islam practiced in India is very totally different from the Wahabi Islam used in Saudi Arabia. Therefore , the belief that is Islam is a monolithic religion is absurd. (Kumar n. g. )
“Like all beliefs, Islam has adapted” (Kumar n. p). Religious texts may be fixed, yet the thoughts and procedures they are designed to defend are changing, based on historical events that are totally free of religious ideology. Islam is not an different when compared to other religions. It flower in one circumstance, amid a trading community in the villages of seventh century Arabia, in the middle of a society structured on a tribal basis. That thrived within the series of superb empires. That continues today as the authorized ideology of numerous countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Serbia, Sudan etc . (Kumar d. p. ) Although a monolithic religious beliefs is not fear, the idea that Islam does not incorporate various other values features seemed to trigger hostility. However , Islam “is diverse and progressive, with internal variations, debates and development” (The RunnyMede Trust n. p).
Another common misconception is that Islam can be described as sexist religious beliefs. Many persons believe that Muslim women should be “rescued” and liberated. It was one of the fights that Rose bush used to rationalize its war on Afghanistan. The British as well used the same argument to justify conflict with Egypt. They thought that the ladies were oppressed by the mind scarf and needed to be separated from that. How does a piece of clothing oppress somebody? Don’t Christian nuns incorporate some sort of head covering too? First of all, all the world’s main religions happen to be in a way sexist. Don’t Christian’s believe that Eve was created coming from Adam’s rib? Weren’t the ladies thought to be werewolves burned at stake in the US and in Europe? Additionally , while Muslim ruled countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh include elected girls as chief executive, the US still hasn’t. (Kumar n. p)
Furthermore, there has been a lot of debate regarding the position of women in Islam. The Quran, like any religious textual content, can be interpreted in several different methods. There are verses in the Quran that give ladies the same legal rights as males and that allowed them to personal and receive property which usually wasn’t allowed at the time inside the Arabian world. However , in addition there are verses that limit their very own rights too. Islam may have ideals that appear sexist, but, it’s not really the only one.
While Islam distributed, it used the ethnical practices of various empires, which include that of the Persian plus the Byzantine autorit�. In the Christian Byzantine Disposition, the genders were separated. Women were not allowed to become to be seen in public places. They had to get veiled, and were given simply basic education. “As the expanding Islamic empire included these areas, it also assimilated these social and cultural practices” (Kumar n. p). Basically, the practices that Islam followed came from the customs of Christian and Jewish societies that were overcome. Sexist thinking towards females were common among Christian believers and Jews as well. Your liberal European society’s best thinker, Aristotle, believed which the male “is by nature outstanding, and the female inferior, as well as the one guidelines and the additional is ruled” (Kumar d. p).
One more common fantasy is that Islam is a naturally violent religion. It is thought that all growth of political Islam is the result of the teachings with the Quran. In September june 2006, in a Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten, a cartoon was published that showed Muhammad with a bomb in his turban (“Islamophobia”). This was meant to be a visible depiction of Islam as being a violent religion. Many believe that “jihad” is exactly what Islam preaches. It has been understood to be a “holy war”. Yet , the Arabic term on its own just means “struggle”. The actual Persia term intended for war is al-harb”. Within a religious sense, jihad provides several meanings. “It may refer to inside as well as external efforts to become a good Muslims or who trust, as well as working to inform people about the faith of Islam” (Kabani n. p). War is merely one way of Jihad, and includes certain restrictions. It is only utilized when you cannot find any other peaceful alternative, without innocent have to be harmed. Ignorant such as children, women, and others not involved directly inside the war. Therefore , the term jihad has two meanings, one particular referred to more suitable Jihad and the other since the reduced. The greater, excellent jihad refers to the have difficulty within your self and your weakness. The lesser jihad, can be known as self-defense.
The claim that Islam was distributed through battle has induced many visitors to believe that Islam is a chaotic religion, and is also also the major reason of their fears of Islam. Islam was in fact spread through warfare. The Muslims armies conquered the Subtil and Local empires and started an Islamic disposition in the 2 decades after the Prophet’s death. The warfare between your Byzatine and Persian kingdoms before allowed the Muslims to eliminate them. Most of the people were worn out with the battle to an degree that some welcomed the Muslim armies. “Once in power, and unlike all their orthodox Christian counterpart who persecuted heretics and ruled through dread, intimidation, and terror, the Muslim intruders gave people the choice to either come to be Islam or pay a tax” (Kumar n. p).
Similarly, Christianity rose to power through conquest and conversion. This first pass on in the Roman world and then in areas such as, Armenia, Arabia, The european countries, Eastern The african continent and Central Asia. Which is with no Crusade, and also the religious wars. These battles were started out by European Christians that was determined somewhat simply by religious prefer to capture Jerusalem, and to gain wealth. In 1099, the first Mission, the crusaders murdered practically the whole Muslim population of men, ladies and children. They will burned the Jews to death and also their areas of praise. The same kind of violence occurred during the Third Crusade once King Richard beheaded hundreds. On the other hand, when ever Saladin, the king of Egypt, retook Jerusalem, assault and revenge against the crusaders were not allowed. Jews were allowed to restore their synagogues with state money given to them. The churches had been left unblemished. The history of Christianity can be just as violent since Islam’s. Consequently , the fear of the religion due to its history of battle is illogical.
After 9/11, the product sales of the Quran increased since Americans wanted to find an explanation for 9/11. In contrast, when the ” U. S. bombed and destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, the people of the Middle section East did not rush away to buy spiritual texts to consider explanations of U. S. policies” (Kumar n. p). Why? Since there not necessarily any ethnical or faith based explanation for these wars. Zero religion or perhaps culture is responsible for the action of one person or group. Does anyone find out Klebold’s, one Columbine shooters, religion? Think about Rudolph, the bomber of the Atlanta Olympics in Atlanta. What about the bomber, Kaczynski, in Montana. Or how about the drug trafficking of the Technology massacre, Cho, in Va? Even with each of the media coverage, no one most likely knows what their religious beliefs was. It was not that important. However, everyone knows Nidal Hasans religious beliefs. Unlike the others, his religious beliefs seems crucial. It no more explains his horrifying actions than those shooters who religious beliefs is certainly not know. The one thing it does is usually support the surviving idea that Islam is chaotic. Any chaotic action made by someone identified as Muslim “becomes the responsibility of the religion and its particular 1 . several billion followers” (qtd. in Beuler and. p).
Islam has not fear. The idea of Islamophobes, whether it’s fueling their dread or hostility, has took place due to their not enough knowledge. What most people know comes from the press which is not entirely accurate. Their beliefs that Islam is monolithic, sexist, and chaotic are incorrect. Although a monolithic, sexist religion should certainly cause fear, it could cause hostility. Simply a religion’s violence should, which Islam is not really.
Works Mentioned
Islamophobia. Opposition Viewpoints On-line Collection. Of detroit: Gale, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Framework. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Islamophobia. Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Global Concerns In Context. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Kumar, Deepa. “Islam and Islamophobia. ” Isreview. 03 2007. ISR. Web. 05 Feb. 2014
“Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us Most. ” Nasal Mede Trust. Runny Mede Trust. d. d. World wide web. 02 February. 2014.
Kabani. “WHAT JIHAD IS. ” Islamic Great Council. Islamic Supreme Council. n. deb. Web. 12-15 Feb. 2014.
