This article discusses how Muslim and Arab women are typified as weak, battered women due to their culture and the stereotypes placed on Arab men. I think that as a people in the U.S, we tend to see Arab and Islamic men as embodying the terrorist ideals; it's only natural therefore that we feel compassion for the women that these terrorists live with. Since we typecast them as such horrendous people, we shudder at the disposition of the wives and young girls that get abused by them. When a terrorist activity or a crime is committed, we tend to label them as "Islamic/Arab/Muslim fundamentalists or extremists." By including the word 'Islam' as their primary identity, we start identifying Islamic with crime and evil. In actuality, the Islamic religion is a very peaceable one that believes in the equality and support of women. In fact, in one of the Prophet Muhammad's last speeches, he illustrates:
"Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers."
Don't get me wrong, the situation in the Middle East is very chaotic, with injustices being committed to all sorts of men, women, and children. What begins to irritate me is when people blindly blame their religion for the domestic problems these people have. There is nothing wrong with the Islamic religion; it preaches equality for both men and women. The problem lies in the extremist factions that begin drifting away from their most basic of moral values. Our view of what a terrorist represents has been skewed ever since the 9/11 attacks. I don't think this necessarily means we are bad people, we are just misguided in our thoughts. The Islamic culture is a very rich and beautiful one; we shouldn't blame it for being the cause of these extremist groups.
image from http://goatmilk.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/british_muslim_women.jpg
As you might of guessed from my first facilitation, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I really enjoyed this chapter because it brought up so many other good points that weren’t in the first chapter I facilitated.
ReplyDeleteI’m starting to wonder if maybe this is just a natural side effect of war. It seems that in every war we dehumanize our enemies and part of that is putting a face to them. A face that we can be angry at and blame for our sadness. We use these generalized stereotypes as a scapegoat for our anger and fight when really the race of our enemy shouldn’t matter when our own country is such a mix of races. Yet we grouped the Japanese into that enemy category and now we group the Arab and the Muslim population into the same category in the war against terror. Is there a way to stop this mind set or will we always classify a race or religion as evil in wars like these where it’s easy to stereotype the enemy?
You might be interested in the Islamic Awareness Week. On Tuesday March 31st there is a panel discussion from 5:30 to 7:30 on Islmaic History, Culture, and Islam-phobia.
I am not very educated on the Islamic culture, or the middle east in general, but I do know from various books and history classes that this is a very peaceful religion, and is something many follow in order to believe in something higher then themselves and that higher power wants to make them a better person...that does not sound like this includes violence or suppression of women and children.
ReplyDeleteI believe the stereotyping that comes from Americans towards the Islamic faith in general is a result of feeding into the ignorant media that we as a culture are almost forced fed everyday. It is so much easier in today's world to label, and stereotype because it is an answer to the pain and suffering so many have had to face and encounter. As a culture ignorance seems to be a constant theme, because questioning and accepting takes too much effort, when one can just turn on the TV or a read a newspaper, not question the source, and have a simple answer that feeds into the idea of stereotyping.
What i am trying to focus on is that the Islamic faith is only exposed in one light, and that light is extremely narrow, but exposed to the grand population of the US everyday, and that is where ignorance starts.
I agree with your thoughts about the Muslim religion. It irritates me as well how people are blindly blaming their religion on the terrorists's acts of violence. All of America's focus was put towards the negative situations taking place after the 9/11 attacks, especailly if it involved an American reporter, solidier etc. First of all, this is unfair to these people because we are exploiting their lives and showing the rest of the world these negative images. Yes, awful stuff has and will happen due to terrorist groups, but not all Middle Eastern people hold these violent ideals. Every country has exprienced or is experiencing murder, hate crimes, rape and many more violent acts. So how is it fair that the U.S. is focusing on only the bad within the Middle East instead of the good? How would America feel if another country was exploiting our issues to the entire world?
ReplyDeleteas salam walikum
ReplyDelete