Islam News Assignment

Submitted By natemcd1
Words: 949
Pages: 4

Islam in the News Assignment
Article 1 Summary: In this article, it begins with a statement telling readers that the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the most recent act of Terror which took place in Dallas Texas. Even though there is no evidence that the Islamic State group is responsible for the act, it is seen as very likely that it was them. The article then goes on to explain why the attack occurred in the first place, which is because it is seen in Islamic tradition that any physical depiction of the prophet Mohammed is blasphemous. The actual attack took place outside of s Mohammed drawing contest, which basically goes directly against the teachings of Islam. Proceeding this explanation, the article describes again how it cannot be proven that it really was the Islamic State group, but the publisher also chooses to mention the two other terror attacks earlier this year in Canada. Finally, the publisher ends the article by quoting a few celebratory tweets from followers of the Islamic State group, which are also quite disturbing.
Article 1 Discussion Questions:
1. In your opinion, what does a terrorist look like? (this is not a racist question, but rather a question to observe if there is a racial profile associated with the Islamic faith)
2. Are people of the Islamic faith more likely to become terrorists? Are they more violent because of their faith? (if students learned from class time, they should know that Islam is not a violent religion, and terrorists are extremists who distort and manipulate the words of Quran for personal gain)
Article 1 Analysis: I believe that this article is a very well written article for a few reasons. One being that the author makes sure on multiple occasions not to fully come out and say that it was the Islamic State group who is responsible for the terror attack. An example of this is when the author says “The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a weekend attack at a centre near Dallas, Texas, that was exhibiting cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad — though it offered no evidence of a direct link to the attackers.” Maamoun, the author, is very careful on his choice of words here, and by saying that there is no evidence that the I.S. is responsible, it shows that there will be no finger pointing on who is to blame for the attacks until there is concrete proof. By doing so, the author avoids giving anyone the opportunity to accuse him of racial profiling the Islamic faith as a violent religion. On the other hand, there are parts of the article which clearly portray the Islamic religion in a negative light. Towards the end of the article, the author provides quotes from not only the Islamic State group, but individual followers of the group as well. The quotes are anything but peaceful, and portray the group as very violent, which it is. But by adding in the celebratory tweets of the individual followers of the terrorist group, such as, “How are you (Americans) going to live when we create our lone wolves to be nuclear bombs ... by God, you can’t match us and in the heart of your homes you will see,” it gives the Islamic faith as a whole a very violent and disturbing image. An image that tells the public to be worried and caution themselves of the dangers of Muslims. This quote has a sole purpose, which is to put fear into the public. This image is very much false, but when put into an article like this, it will always put the negative image of