Analysis: The Modern Day Muslim

In the airports, Muslim people became “the usual suspects”, were thoroughly searched and often interrogated. In her article, O’Connor claims that the lives of American Muslims changed forever, and the statement is hard to disagree with (“How 9/11 Changed These Muslim Americans’ Lives Forever.”) Those who had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, their children and grandchildren were sentenced to face racism, hate and violence.

Beginning with Muhammad’s age from the start of 7th century Islam, Islamic culture and politics have gone a great many events and occurrences. Throughout all of its years, it has boasted both a rich culture and technological/intellectual advancements. The preservation of the Quran, developments in mathematics, and the continued emphasis on respect and charitable nature are just some examples of Islamic achievement. However, as with any growing civilization, Islam has evolved beyond what it originated as. The cultural and political life of Islamic civilization beginning in the 7th century to the end of the Abbasids of the 13th century underwent many changes such as the deteriorating view of women in society and the shift from elected caliphates to dynastical caliphate. But, one aspect that persisted were the religious beliefs and traditions followed by the Islamic people.

For this paper, I have chosen to interview an acquaintance of mine who is a devote Muslim and follower of Islam. For the sake of this assignment I will be referring to him under the pseudonym of Jack. I spoke with Jack about some wide-ranging topics discussing things such as, media, bias, stereotypes, and really in general what being a follower of Islam is like in this divided country right now. In our country, today it’s pretty apparent there is a type of fear of Muslims, so much so that 7 heavy populated Muslim countries are not permitted from entering the United States of America. I never had conversations as personal as this with Jack and I feel as if I gained a lot of insight into the types of things minorities, and especially Muslims

Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.

September 11, 2001 is a date in history that changed the lives of people from all over the world and especially the lives of Americans. On this day nineteen militant men associated with al-Qaeda, an Islamic extremist group, hijacked four airplanes and carried out multiple suicide attacks on different locations in the United States. Two of the planes directly struck the World Trade Center located in New York City, one of the other two planes hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania before it could reach its final destination. On this day, more than 3,000 people were killed including over 400 first responding police officers and firefighters. In recent years as people look back on that day it is remembered as a time when the country was joined together by grief and showed an overwhelming amount of comfort and support to the victims and their families; it was also a time of extreme national pride. People also remember that following the attacks the economy suffered tremendously, in addition, air traffic which makes up a portion of the economy was greatly disrupted, both of which created uncertainty about the security of the financial markets critical to the success of the United States. What most people do not remember is the immediate backlash and hostility the Muslim and Arab communities received following the attacks by both civilians and the media. This is a topic that has been largely ignored by the public and media’s

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

September 11, 2001 is the most significant event of our generation. On this day two planes struck the North and South World Trade Center towers in New York City. One plane struck the Pentagon and another crashed in Pennsylvania on its way to The White House. After the attacks, which took the lives of 2,830 people, the American population was distraught. Instantly a sense of nationalism, in specific ethnic nationalism, was increased. The percentage of Muslim population in America is only 1.71% and Muslims are physically distinct from the average American, so much of this nationalism was directed against this small percentage (Ogan 2013). The attackers on September 11 all shared the Muslim ethnicity, consequently the American government, media,

The book titled Muslim American Youth by Selcuk R. Sirin, he discusses the lives of Muslims surrounding the aftermath of the 9/11 and as well as the historical concept of the United States. He indicates, in general, Muslims come from different background. In this essay, I will discuss the things I appreciate about the book, the concept of labeling “others”, how some Muslims are hiding their religious affiliation, the 9/11 memorial and what should be done to neutralize people regard the issue of Islamophobia.

In the book titled Muslim American Youth by Selcuk R Sirin, he discusses Muslims who live the aftermath of the 9/11 and as well the historical concept of the United States. The book is based on a research and interview was done as a method. He indicates, in general, Muslims come from different background. In short, in this essay, I will discuss the things I like about the book, the concept of the othering, how some Muslims are hiding their religious affiliation, the 9/11 memorial and what should be done to neutralize people regard the issue of Islamophobia.

Nye’s last statement about Islam links violence and fundamentalism perpetrated by Muslims with forms of regression and with treason to the spirit and teachings of Islam. Also worthy of note is the fact that in the letter, Nye positions herself as the would-be terrorists’ “distant Arab cousin” and “American neighbor” (par. 15). Her use of the pronoun “we” to simultaneously include herself in the Arab community and project her belonging to the American community adequately reflects the duality of her national and cultural allegiances.

The second page included one of the four vignettes used in this experiment: a stereotypical Muslim vignette (A), a neutral Muslim vignette (B), a stereotypical African-American vignette (C), and a neutral African-American vignette (D). The vignettes were created by extracting actual news articles that reported on crimes committed by White-Americans (Daven, 2012; Rodriguez, 2015). Identity markers were removed from all news articles. Following the descriptions, and on the third page, was a five question survey. Questions (1) and (4) were the main focus of the present study, but other questions were added as to not give away exactly what was being tested for. Question (1) asked the participant if they agreed that the individual was of a specific

Islam is the second most wide spread religion across the globe under Christianity. Similarly, to Christianity and Judaism Islam believes in one God. Muslims label their God Allah. Allah is everything, nothing is above him. I found it interesting that, “Allahu Akbar!” means “God is greater”. I had no idea what it meant but I had heard it before. Allah’s Prophet is Muhammad. Muhammad is the messenger he is how Allah’s message can be shared with the people. Muhammad’s call is when the angel Gabriel gave the command to “Recite!” He had recited the words of the angel and that night is known to be, “The Night of Power”. This incident there are the two most important words in Islam: Qur’an (recite) and the other is submission. Ummah is also important in Islam because it means the community of people who surrender to God. To be Muslim, you must surrender to God’s will and live a life of service. Being Muslim you must be willing to show public marks of servitude. Dar al-Islam, Dar al-Sulk, and Dar al-Harb are very important to Islam. Dar means “abode” and Dar al-Islam is talking about both state and religion of the Muslim people. Dar al-Sulk is talking about the rest of the world that isn’t Islam but has good relations with them. Dar al-Harb is about the last people who are not Muslim and don’t have good relations with Islam. Lastly, I find it interesting that there is a unifying power called Taqwa and Jihad which represent being devoted and devout.

The current portrayal in 21st century mass media of the the Muslims in both america and the Islamic world appears to negatively impact the religion. While conflicts and terrorist actions involving Islamic extremist are important the way that they are reported upon often leads to misconceptions among the general public of what the Islamic values are and how they affect society. The mass media uses frames when discussing the Islamic community which often portray Muslims as either oppressive or violent, and further the idea of a false threat. The language that is used to describe such events often creates a connection to Islam without making the difference between extremist and traditional Muslims clear. While the 21st century should cover acts of terrorism the way that actions are displayed should be changed in a way that is less general and is a more accurate and fair representation of the Islamic community.

Moreover his last name being Sovereign is representative of his motivations and ideological beliefs, it’s to show he is upper class, a man concerned with money and driven by power. LorAnne Yaun believes that films can “influence” an audience (Yaun, 2016, P.g.1), that it can essentially “serve as your sources of information and knowledge” (Yaun, 2016, P.g.1). This as a Muslim to me was a major driving force behind why I felt it a strong idea conceptually to explore the notion of a Muslim becoming a superhero, as I wanted to attempt to transform the mainstream representation of Muslims today.

"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."