In many, if not all cases, Islamophobia is often fueled by a lack of knowledge of Islam itself. People can unintentionally base what they know, or think they know, about Islam and what it means to be a Muslim on misguided media sources and stereotypes. Television newscast stations and Hollywood alike are guilty of massive contributions to the distorted image and narrative of Islam. Islamophobia then is a cluster of misconceptions, stereotypes, and flat out lies of Islam and all it encompasses.
A survey conducted by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies in 2010 called, the "Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Attitudes Towards Muslim and Islam." links a lack of knowledge of Islam to Islamophobia. In addition to revealing that 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least a "little" prejudice towards Muslims, 60% of Americans say they have little to no knowledge of Islam. Furthermore, the respondents who did not personally know a Muslim exhibited a greater lever of bias to those who stated they did.
A survey conducted by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies in 2010 called, the "Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Attitudes Towards Muslim and Islam." links a lack of knowledge of Islam to Islamophobia. In addition to revealing that 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least a "little" prejudice towards Muslims, 60% of Americans say they have little to no knowledge of Islam. Furthermore, the respondents who did not personally know a Muslim exhibited a greater lever of bias to those who stated they did.
In hopes to deconstruct Muslim stereotypes we have created the following list of a few major misconceptions that have fueled Islamophobia and wrongly defined Islam.
All Muslims are Arabs
One of the most common misconceptions is that Arabs and Muslims are synonymous for one another. This couldn't be any further from the truth as Muslim Arabs include only about 20% of the world's Muslim population, the majority of Muslim from South and South East Asia (62%). Additionally Arabs in the Middle East practice a variety of religions including Christianity, Judaism, Druze, and Zoroastrianism. The picture to the right shows a young Chinese Muslim girl holding a child. This is a perfect example of Muslims other than Arabs. |
The Qur'an Teaches Violence
A typical misconception is that the Qu'ran teaches violence. The following quote is from the qur'an about the prohibition of murder:
وَلاَ تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُمْ بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ “..Take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus does He command you, that ye may learn wisdom.” (al-An’am 6:151) And this prohibition is not limited to Muslims only. Often people use verses from the qur'an that seem outright violent without reading these verses in their textual and historical context. |
Muslim Woman Have No Rights
“Men and women have the same responsibility before God, the same accountability before God,” says Jandali Ameena of the Islamic Networks Group. The classic picture of a Muslim woman is that she is covered and forced to stay in the home. However Ameena states that the oppression faced by many woman in the Middle East are cultural traditions not Islamic Law. In fact in many Arab nations there are more Muslim woman attending University than men** |
Muslims Are Terrorist
One of the biggest misconceptions and stereotypes about Muslims so far. Dictators, politicians, and extremist groups will use the name of Islam for their own purposes but sadly Islam is not being differentiated from this by the non-Muslim publics and the acts of some Muslims becomes the image for all Muslims. Islam does not endorse terrorism nor is it allowed anywhere in the Qur'an. "Killing an innocent person is considered to be the greatest crime after worshiping another god." Jandali Ameena
|
Muslims worship a God named Allah
Another misconception of Islam that increases the narrative that somehow Islam is a threat to people's live and religious belief in God. However Allah is the arabic word for God. The same God as the other monotheistic religions such as Judaism adn Christianity. Additionally to Muslims, "Allah is the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus"
|
We created the following cartoon story to illustrate how Islamhophobia can began. In this case the cartoon man attempts to extend his understand of Islam outside the media but foolishly finds himself victim to the "experts" on Islam such as Pamela Geller.