9/11 Judgments

Ever since the 9-11 attack in America, the majority of Americans have been assuming that all of the Muslim citizens are terrorists as well and have a keen eye on everything they do. They are assuming that all Muslims are either part of the Al- Qaeda or ISIS terrorist groups. For example, Mr. Bhanjee, their lawyer, claims that “Arman, Sami’s father, is a loyal American. A lot of time and energy’s gone into making [him] look like a terrorist” (Stratton 172-173). As the setting is in America, people are ready to make assumptions about who is a

blight on society rather than a useful addition. Abdul presents controversial ideas and themes such as the discrimination that Muslims face in everyday life, the ‘expectation’ all Muslims are extremist, and that they are seen by some as ‘less than

In america, few peoples face more prejudice and hate than muslim americans. So much hate crime and fear surrounds muslims that they have even developed a word for it, “Islamophobia”. Islamophobia may be spreading

There were 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010 – roughly 23% of the global population and Islam continues to be the fastest-growing major religion (Pew Research Center). Islamophobia and hatred towards Muslims has also been on the rise. “Islamophobia is prejudice towards or discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, or perceived religious, national, or ethnic identity associated with Islam” (Bridge.Georgetown). In our history we have witnessed many horrific acts of hatred and genocides such as the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, to society and today 's people that was all in the past. In the books, “Night” by Elie Wiesel and “Forgotten Fire” by Adam Bagdasarian illustrates the conditions of victims having to go through these genocides, this shows the severity of prejudice and how affects people 's lives. The reality of it is that times have not changed that drastically and theses bloodcurdling events have seemed to repeated themselves in a new period of time with a new group oppressed people. Innocent people everyday are being targeted because of their religious backgrounds. These stereotypes of Muslims and Islam have become so widespread and the world 's perspectives have changed drastically. Society is undoubtedly witnessing a rapid uprising of a new era of hatred and genocide, just like in the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide in the form of Islamophobia, media propaganda, and false representations of Muslims being terrorists.

The freedom fighter Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” After the memorable attacks in New York, London, and Madrid, the West became a unwelcoming and hostile place for Muslims, and the world started to be known as the “Islamic World” and “The West”. The Islamic world as in the picture is a place where men oppress women, a place vicious to technological advancements and a place where Muslim children are raised with the thought that the west is an unfavorable place for them. The “West” however

Islamophobia, the term that was not very well-known before September 11, 2001, is now known to almost any individual of any age. After September 11th, islamophobia became a part of many Muslims’ daily lives (O’Connor “How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Not only did Muslims have trouble going through customs and security at the airports, but they also encountered islamophobia in their daily routine. Since September 11th, terrorist jokes became popular among many non-Muslim Americans who oftentimes did not understand the seriousness and the offensiveness of those jokes. Some found the “Muslim terrorist” stereotype to be somewhat justified and did not consider it to be as insulting as, for example, the representation of Black and Asian Americans in 1920s and 30s cartoons. However, the two are equally abusive and it is horrible to realize that in some ways, the American

Islam is a monotheistic religion, centered around the teachings of the Qu’ran and serving Allah (meaning God in Arabic). However, this Abrahamic religion has been harshly discriminated against in the United States for years. Most prominently throughout the last twelve years, post September 11th, 2001. Unfortunately, issues such as socialization through the media, power distribution, religious ignorance, stereotyping and visible differences have contributed to the ill attitudes towards Muslims. This paper will examine how Americans have been socialized in islamophobia within the United States.

In Europe, Islamophobia emerged together with new anti-Semitism, where the targets are the new immigrants, Muslims, as well as Jews. The reason for that is in France and United Kingdom, Muslims and Jews for the past decade inhabit the poorest neighborhoods. Media, on the other hand, portrays this as an incapability of Muslim immigrants to integrate into European society and susceptibility to the imported Islamist ideologies (Silverstein, 367).

A study was undertaken by the University of South Australia in 2015, with a representative sample of 1000 Australian adults. The study focused on their perceptions of Muslims and other religious and ethnic groups, with a special reference to Islamophobia, social distance and terrorism. The study suggested that 70% of Australian’s have a very low level of Islamophobia, about 20% are undecided, and 10% are highly Islamophobic .

Not only that, the ramifications of speaking an ethnic language, practicing ethnic traditions, and in short, not assimilating. While some individuals may be dismissive of this incident as one that relates to race and ethnicity, under the guise that Islam is a religion and not a ‘race,’ it still follows that Islamophobia is racist. To recognize that Muslims experience racism, does not claim Muslims or Islam as a race, rather, it understands that ‘Muslim’ is an identity subject to racism. For example, non-Muslim ‘brown’ people from all over South and Central Asia as well as the MENA are constantly targets of Islamophobia since Islam is associated with race. For example, there have been many incidences of assault against Sikh men as perpetrators have mistaken them for Muslims.

As a result of the attacks during September 11, 2001, that media began to highlight misconceptions about Muslims and terrorism, giving rise to Anti-Muslim and Anti-Islam sentiments, or Islamophobia. In “Global Terror and the Rise of Xenophobia/Islamophobia,” Muhammad Saffer Awan (2010) revealed that many reporters, writers, and educators have used the events of 9/11 as an excuse to intensify the hostility towards Muslims and reconstruct the concept of Islam as a backward religion. He gives the example of a short story, “The Last Days of Muhammed Atta” by Martin Armis, where Armis portrays misconceptions of the Quran, highlighting its followers as irrational and that Islam relies on terror to convert people. Additionally, the depiction of Islam through the media has also reconstructed the concept and terrorism, where many educators have failed to teach the socio-historical definition of terrorism, and either intentionally or unconsciously associates terrorism with Muslims or Arabs. Many researchers tend to focus on the media’s influence on the rise of Islamophobia, but tend to overlook schools and its education on this subject. The education of Islam and Islamophobia are also perpetrators of intensifying Islamophobia, mainly due to the lack of resources and understanding of Islam and Islamophobia, and the schools inability to create a supportive and safe environment for student targeted by Islamophobia.

“Islamophobia is prejudice towards discrimination against Muslims due to their religion, or perceived religion, national, or ethnic identity associated with Islam because Muslims have different beliefs and values”. (Islamophobia wikipedia 1) Like anti-semitism, racism, and homophobia. Islamophobia describes mentality and actions that domain an entire class of people. Jews, African-Americans, and other populations throughout history have faced prejudice and discrimination. Islamophobia is simply another reincarnation of this bigotry. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary,a phobia is an exaggerated, usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. It may be difficult to determine or communicate the source of this fear, but it exists. From this definition we can see how is so unfair to connect the word phobia to Islam specially because the word Islam in arabic means peace and safety. All that means that a lot of people don’t know nothings about Islam and the unknown can easily provoke fear.

Racism and racial prejudice, considered a relic of obsolete and outdated social systems, is emerging in the depths of ultra-modern Western societies with different characteristics from the past but with a surprising and worrying virulence. These waves of prejudice and racism testify to the many fears that fill the horizons of advanced societies, undermining not only their internal reliability, but also just their democratic settings. This paper presents a critical review of Islamophobia as a racial prejudice, showing that two main definitions are at work: Islamophobi a as xeno-racism or linked to the so-called clash of civilizations. Then, it presents the outcomes

In Oxford English Dictionary, Islamophobia is defined as “intense dislike or fear of Islam, especially as a political force, hostility or prejudice towards Muslims.” This term was first used in 20th century and had its’ own definition at 1970s. Particularly, after the 11 September events -which a radical Islamic group claimed its responsibility- in U.S.A. most of the non-Muslims in the world knew the Muslims with violence. The Berkeley Institute on Racism Studies says that Islam is often seen as a religion of violence which supports terrorism and has a violent political ideology. This perception of Islam is enlarging globally more and more because of some reasons such as terrorist attacks in non-Muslim countries, effect of media on the people, misunderstanding of Islam, and lack of the true representative

Islamophobia is the fear of Muslims, or the religion of Islam, according to BBC (2017). Some people blame all Muslims for terrorist attacks, that are caused by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, Isis, and Boko Haram. These organizations allegedly follow Islam, I say they allegedly follow Islam, because if they had indeed studied Islam, they would understand that Islam is a religion of peace, not terrorism. The word “Islam” means submission to God’s will and obedience to God’s law. It derives from an old Arabic word meaning “peace”. (What is Islamophobia? – CBBC News Round. (2017, June 19).