The unfair portrayal of Islam in the West - Essay Example

The unfair portrayal of Islam in the West Ever since the 9/11 attacks this world has been a completely different place for the Muslims. It is so ironical that after these events the concept of Islam has completely transformed in the minds of the western community. Muslims all over the world are now seen with contempt and hatred by the western community. This is more like a generalization about the whole western world but to some extent it is true. Some important questions arise as to who is responsible for this drastic transformation? Why has such a change taken place? Why does West feel threatened by Islam? For how long this war between West and Islam will continue? What can be done to change the image of Islam in the minds of the western community? For decades there has been a social war between the west and Islam. Their concepts and culture differ from the very beginning. There has always been a very well defined boundary between both the worlds. One cannot ignore the fact that power of the whole world lies in the hands of the West. The West sees Islam as a conservative religion and considers the followers of this religion as narrow-minded beings. Muslims all over the world are being discriminated and in some places it is even seen that they are humiliated. But this is more like digging into the past and gaining evidence on the basis of social sciences. The present scenario of the world is more important to answer the above mentioned questions (Shadid & Koningsveld 2002). It all started when the world was shaken by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. According to the investigation reports it was found that the people responsible for these attacks were Muslims. This was the first time when the whole world came to know about Taliban and Al-Qaeda. These are Muslim groups that are believed to be the backbone of all terrorist activities going on in the present world. In the last decade this world has faced the most ominous terrorism events. A list of examples can be quoted where the West has linked Muslims to terrorism in the present day. London Bombings and Mumbai Bombings are a great example of such events. After the 9/11 attacks, London also fell as a victim to the terrorist activity. On July7, 2005 London’s transportation system was hit by deadly explosions. Three bombs exploded in the underground tubes and one explosion took place in a double Decker bus. Together these four suicide bombings took away the lives of fifty-six innocent people and left more than seven hundred and fifty injured. When the investigation report was issued, it stated that the attacks were conducted by group of Muslim people. And the reason stated for the motivation of these attacks was that this group of people wanted justice because they perceived that West was unjust to the Muslims. But the authorities failed to report how these attacks took place and even the involvement of Al-Qaeda remained unclear in the report. Now this is where the role of media came in (BBC News 2005; Amin 2003). Media has been the main factor after the terrorist activity that has led to the deterioration of the image of Islam in the minds of the Western community. Media exaggerates all such activities by showing sick videos of the event and its victims. The vocabulary that the media uses to narrate such events is enough to cause disgust against the Muslims. This all sounds more like a game. It all seems like the West is trying to plot against Muslims. Western media is the strongest and the most impactful media. They show what they want to and create the exact impact that they aim to (Amin 2003). Everything is in bits and pieces but when joined together it all gives the same conclusion that Muslims have been cornered out by the West. Now the situation is that whenever a terrorist activity takes place, even before the investigation starts, Muslims are believed to be behind that. And somehow or the other, evidence is created in such a way that the end result is that Muslims are behind the whole terrorist activity. West fails to realize that Muslim civilians also fall victim to these terrorist activities. Media has helped the super powers to create this image of Islam. People all over the world who have not even been a victim of terrorist activity now hold the concept that Muslims are terrorists (Amin 2003). Norway Massacre is the most apt example that can be quoted to explain what exactly is going on in the world. Western Europe faced the deadliest terrorist activity in the month of July, 2011. A Norwegian who was dressed as a police officer opened fire at an island killing a large number of people. This open fire was followed by an explosion which was done by the same person who was dressed up as a police officer. It killed more than ninety people. But the twist here is that this terrorist activity was not reported by media as it should have been. When some Muslim attacker is involved, media is airing the events after every two seconds and this continues for several days. But in this case one wonders why the matter was settled down so quickly. If it had been some Muslim attacker, the news would have gone on for days or maybe even weeks. For the attacks where Muslims are said to be involved there is always an investigation report that is published but in case of the Norway Massacre one really gets shocked at how the report was not published in the open (BBC News 2011). The Western world has had some insecurity against the religion of Islam and has carried out several attempts to eradicate the Islamic culture from this world. It is believed by many that the unified Islamic world would wage a war against the West and this is a strong reason that a negative image about the religion has been formed in the minds of the people living in West. However Shadid and Koningsveld deny this stating that the unified Islamic world has never launched a war against the West and they should remove their insecurities regarding the Muslims. Halliday on the other hand proposes that anti Islamic sentiments have arisen in the western culture due to different reasons. Some of these reasons revolve around the acts that the Muslims have committed all over the world. Starting from the early days it can be seen that the West was always against the Islamic world to possess nuclear weapons and oil supplies and hence started raising concerns for these reasons. Moreover the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis further worsened the sentiments of the West. All these reasons together form a good reason for the people of the West to hate Islam (Shadid & Koningsveld 2002). It can be seen from history that the Islamic culture was never held on very high levels by the western society. This was because the religious culture of Islam was perceived by the Christians to emerge from their lineage and hence they considered it to be inferior to their culture. But still the Islamic culture has played its role and influenced the western culture whether directly or indirectly. There was a period when the Islamic culture had advanced well ahead of the western one. This was the time when the Arabs had actually acquired a great deal of knowledge and progressed in the fields of science and philosophy by researching the works of the Greeks and the Latin. The Christians that is the westerners did want to adapt from this culture but they rather chose to research and study from the parent source. This was because to adapt from a culture that they considered to be inferior was against their principles. Thus though the Islamic culture did influence their culture but it did so in an indirect manner. This was the period of Renaissance and a perfect example to support this claim can be that of Petrarch who was an important figure of that time. though he was not medically fit but he did not turn towards the higher medical practices and cures offered by the Arabs but rather claimed that he should study for it himself from the source from where the Arabs acquired this knowledge. This can be seen from his lines ‘Why should Europeans get their medical knowledge from the Arabs? They got it from the Greeks and Romans, and we are the Greeks and Romans! We don’t need to study the Arabs. All we need to do is rediscover their sources!’ (Rodney) The reasons cited above are important in destructing the image of Islam in the western world but they are not enough to raise concerns for the people living there. The foremost reason that is considered as a threat by the people of West is the difference of culture between the two groups. Islam is a religion which practices several things that are completely different from the culture that is prevalent in the western society. Halliday believes that assimilation and integration of Muslims in the western world has created most of the problems. Veiling is an issue that has been opposed by many people in the Western world. These Islamic sentiments have raised hatred amongst the Western societies (Shadid & Koningsveld 2002). Islam is being portrayed unrealistically in the Western world because of the image that has been created by the media and people of West. It is considered to be a religion which promotes war and violence. However many of the religious scholars state that Islam is a religion of peace which promotes peace and harmony amongst the people of the world. It is a religion which is based on free principles as it does not allow the Muslims to interfere in the religion of others. A completely different image is being presented in front of the people by the media which results in the unfair portrayal of Islam in the West. All the evidence leads to the same conclusion as west has used all its power to abuse the religion of Islam and has used every tactic to make the general public believe that it is a violent religion. It is only in the western community that Islam is treated like this; they draw and publish cartoons of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) and also disrespect the Holy book of Muslims. References Saikal, Amin. Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print Blackhirst, Rodney. “Islam, its origins and impact on western thought”. Australian Rationalist No.26 page 20-26 Top of Form Shadid, W. A. R., & Koningsveld, P. S. (2002). Religious freedom and the neutrality of the state: The position of Islam in the European Union. Leuven: Peeters. Norway police say 85 killed in island youth camp attack. BBC News 2011. London bombings. BBC News 2005. Bottom of Form Read More