Stereotypes: Prejudice In The United States

In today’s America it is becoming harder and harder to know what is truth and what is fiction. The best way to have a complete understanding is to look at the facts and the statistics about whatever you want to know more about. For example when people look at Islam there are numerous misconceptions that people hold with or without knowing it.

Islam, meaning submission or submitting oneself fully to God, is one of the world’s largely practiced religions. Those that participate and practice the Islamic religion

The Qur 'an 's words have been tossed and turned to fit people 's ideas of what they think Islam is. Critics often pick out certain parts of verses in the Qur 'an to get their negative points across but, they dismiss the context that they extracted the verse from, which in most cases is the most important element of the verse. A worn-out example of this is the confusion associated with the term "jihad". Those who have no knowledge of the actual definition of the term claim that it means "war". The term "jihad" can simply be defined as "struggle." This example proves that Islam does not focus on violence and aggression, instead it focuses on peace and tranquility but the world perceives even

The United States of America, a nation known for its democracy, liberty, and equality is a place where all can come that seek a better life while on the pursuit of happiness. All except those who classify themselves as Muslim, it seems. Throughout time, America has been thought to have a known disregard for those who practice the Islamic faith. The nineteenth century was the time in which America first established evangelical Christianity in the Middle East, arriving with the sole purpose of evangelizing the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire. Those who devotedly practice Islam were not as welcoming of the missionary "intruders." However, amid the following encounter inside and crosswise over societies an unexpected soul of toleration was

Islam is not just a religion or system of theological thought, but it is the primary source for creating legal norms, guidelines, and demands in order to adhere and devote one’s life to Islam. Islamic doctrine delineates between acts of martyrdom and what the Western world describes as terrorism. Islamic jus in bello, or the laws of waging war, clearly outlines actions that can and cannot be justified according to Islam when engaged in war. Historical Islamic definitions of jihad in modern society have been redefined and interpreted in order to justify suicide attacks despite Islamic texts indicating otherwise.

The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts

Just like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a monotheistic religion; meaning it is centered on the worship of one divine creator. Most Muslims would agree that Islam is a peaceful religion, and many Muslims claim that the word "Islam" translates to "peace" in Arabic. However, this is false, the word "Islam" actually means "Surrender." Islam is a very strict religion, focusing heavily on what you do during the time that you’re alive, rather than what you believe.

The word jihad sends shivers down the spines of many Westerners. It readily comes to their mind that this term is associated with violence and oppression. However, it must be said that the meaning of jihad, as a 'holy war', is something which is totally foreign and not from Islam. By simply looking into the sources of Islam, one will be able to know that the true meaning of jihad is to strive/make effort in the way of Allah. Thus striving in the way of Allah can be both peaceful and physical. The Prophet Muhammad (saws) said:

Following the attacks on the Pentagon and Word Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, many Muslim Clerics praised the attacks and many denounced them as the work of extremists. So although there may be violent Muslims, Islam itself promotes a very peaceful practice and a loving and forgiving God.

Jihad literally means "The struggle in the path of God", or "holy war". However, the Western media often abuses the meaning of jihad by referring to it as a holy war where Muslims unreasonably kill non-believers. But the fact is, is that jihad can

    When people hear the word Jihad (and they are not Muslim) it automatically sends a chill down their spine. This term has come to mean in the news a religious war against anyone who is not a conservative Muslim . In the Qu’ran (the holy text) it means something very different. They believe that Jihad has a dual meaning, that the person should strengthen their relationship with Allah and teach others about him . In terrorist groups they call for the death of all those who stand in the way of Islam and see the Western world as oppressors of their faith. This frame of mind comes from the push of Christianity into these countries and the formation of Israel.

Today, there are more than 4,200 religions in the world, and 21 major religions that are followed in the millions and some even in the billions, there are two religions which utterly dominate every other religion in terms of followers. Christianity and Islam, both of which are Abrahamic religions, are similar in nature, out of which, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world today. The compassion projected by Muslims has impressed me and has led me to admire the religion of Islam. The media is a deceptive tool and is often guilty of degrading Muslims as beings who lack humanity and as ones who endorse terrorist activities; however, the love I have received amongst my Muslim peers has caused me to believe otherwise. Violence is not condoned by Muslims, and even Muslims view terrorists as false of Islam. The Holy Quran promotes love and encourages its disciples to do so accordingly. The religion of Islam has impressed me, particularly two of the five pillars - Zakat and Sawm - as well as countless of meaningful verses which are contained in the Holy Quran.

Jihad is a term that is often misunderstood, and it is usually associated with militant and radical groups, which cause chaos in the environment. The Arabic word is usually translated to mean holy war and it is usually accepted as holy. However, some scholars say that there is no such thing in Islam. A holy war is fought to force other people to accept some doctrines, and it is not accepted at all by the Muslims. According to the word “jihad,” it means struggling to survive, and it is applicable to many levels be it socially at an individual level. The efforts can be spiritual, physical, economic, or at times political. For instance, one of the most important aspects of a jihad is standing before a tyrant and confessing the truth about

We see this occurrence in modern news all the time, our media likes to associate the word jihad with terrorists or radicals in the Islamic community without fully understanding the more well known definition of the word.

ISIS has been said to take the concept of Jihadism to the extreme. They use the Hadith (scriptures) and verses from the Quraan in order to justify their actions in Arab countries such as Palestine and Egypt.