Islam and Muslim Community Essay

Submitted By emilym1378
Words: 1045
Pages: 5

The Way of Life The years following the attack of the September 11th, 2001 brought the harsh stereotyping to the Muslim community. People across the nation make the automatic assumption that all Muslims are terrorists just because of the over generalized event that was committed by those of Islamic faith. Americans judge without having any knowledge about Muslims or their religious beliefs and morals. The Muslim community in America has had to endure and adapt to all of these bitter misjudgments. It is wrong to treat Islamic people the way most Americans do because Americans don’t know enough about Islam or it’s people, it’s not morally right-before you try and judge someone else you should look at yourself, and only 19 out of billions of Muslims were apart of the attack.
Americans. When they hear Muslim or Islam, what do they think? “Terrorists… Violence… Extremists… Heartless… Uncivilized…” the negative remarks would go on and on. “… stereotypes of Muslims appear to be an important ingredient in how Americans think about policies targeted at terrorism”(washingtonpost.com). From what knowledge though? Knowledge based off of one event? Knowledge that Americans don’t even know the whole story of, nor the motives behind these 19 extremists. All they see is what they have come to know as the “facts”. These being Islamic terrorists that caused the first attack of America on their own soil. Americans after this day conjured the for-now-on innate hatred toward the Muslim. “Nevertheless, the perception of Muslim as ‘other’-and a dangerous or suspicious other, at that-persists, stoked by post 9/11 insecurities. One of the reasons is that most Americans know little about Islam and, in many cases, don’t know a Muslim personally. When they do, stereotypes fall away, revealing a diverse and dynamic population that is doing what Americans have historically…” If Americans took the time to understand each and every aspect of the Muslim community--their religion, culture, lifestyle, and purity--instead of the stereotype rooted from the September 11th attack, more people would be more considerate and open minded. No one understands their religious morals and the beauty of Islam. Islam is the religion of peace regardless of what people think they know. “ Islam, holds the human soul in high esteem, and considers attack against innocent human beings as a grave sin, this is emphasized by the following Qur’anic verse: ‘ … whoever kills another human being for other than manslaughter or corruption and mischief in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them old with clear proofs (of Allah’s sovereignty), but afterwards lo! Many of them became prodigals in the earth’ (Qur’an, 5:32). In fact, Muslims serve for life not for death” (islam.uga.edu). Yes the men who committed the attack went against this verse, but that does not mean that all Muslims do. These Americans that are so harsh and quick to judge Muslims do not even look at their country or themselves first. For example, when the Unabomber, an American mathematician against modern technology, mailed homemade bombs killing innocent people, Americans did not grow hatred toward each other or assume that each individual was a “terrorist”. Terrorism is, “… the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal” (merriam-webster.com). When the hatred for Muslims rooted in Americans and spread, rash acts were made. The burning and vandalism of mosques, the Muslim place of prayer, occurred all over the country. The innocent Muslim-Americans were devastated, but these occurrences established the bitter stereotypes of Muslims. Realize that when you are committing a terroristic act, you wouldn’t stop and think to yourself, “I am about to terrorize a community,” you just simply do it. You have enough