Islam is Not the Enemy of America - Research Paper Example

?Outline Thesis: Islam as a religion has been mixed up in the American understanding as being a part of the terrorist attacks that have occurred bothin an out of the country. Americans need to understand that Islam is not the enemy but radical Islam practitioners are. Therefore, they should not be placed in the same category as the Islam religion practitioners. I. Introduction A. What is Islam? B. Who are the Muslims? C. What is Radical Islam? II. What Americans Fear about Muslims A. The Stigma of 9/11 B. The Boston Marathon Bombings III. Myths Debunked A. All Muslims are radical B. All Muslims are terrorists C. What the Quaran truly teaches IV. Conclusion Islam is Not the Enemy of America America is known as the melting pot of all nations. It is a country that encourages all its immigrants to celebrate their roots in order to create a culturally diverse and racially tolerant society. That is the formula that was developed by the forebears of the country. It is the motto by which America has stood since it first opened Ellis Island to the Jewish and other European immigrants after the events of World War II. It was an effective method when it came to assimilating the foreigners into the American lifestyle and culture. America became the envy of other nations as the country was populated by people who knew how to get along with one another, regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender, or beliefs in life. However, all of that changed with the attacks on the Word Trade Center Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The perpetrators of the crime were proven to be Muslim men who were in the United States on student visas. It was this terrorist attack from within our shores that totally reshaped the way that America came to view immigrants to the country. It most specially changed the image of the Muslims in America. The once tolerant nation now became a nation that despised all things Muslim, for it was the Muslims who shed the blood of Americans and attacked the peaceful nation on its very own soil using their own airplanes against them. It was this mindset that led to the new American belief that Islam, which is the religion practiced by Muslims should be tagged as the enemy of America. That belief has shaped the beliefs of a new generation of Americans and it has caused divisiveness within the American society at large. It is my belief however, that Islam is not the enemy of America. Rather, the Muslims and the followers of Islam have been lumped together with those of radical Islamic beliefs that have nothing to do with the true meaning of Islam and the Muslim way of life. By writing this paper, I hope to present the reasons as to why Muslims and Islam are not enemies of America. I will be presenting factual evidence based upon authoritative journals, newspaper reports, and quotes from interviews with people who are quite familiar with the aforementioned topic. In the end, I hope to have presented a solid explanation regarding why Americans have a misconception about Muslims and Islam in general. In order to understand more about what Islam truly is about, we first need to know who the Muslims are. Muslims are the people who follow the Islamic faith. Theirs is a religion that spans the globe from the Southern Philippines, the Middle East, Indonesia, and Africa. While a small fraction of the religious practitioners also reside in the Soviet Union, China, North and South America, and finally, Europe. (“Understanding Islam and the Muslims”). Muslims, just like all other religions believe that there is one unique God under whose authority Man exists. They are the people who believe that Mohammed is the sole prophet of God and that no other God other than the Muslim God exists. By definition, Islam, the religion has been defined by experts as simply meaning “submission”. Therefore, in religious terms, “Islam” is said to mean “... complete submission to the will of God”. The very definition of Islam has nothing to do with violence or terrorism. However, there are some factions of Islam that, just like other religions believe that the message of Islam and the Quaran itself are open to interpretation. It is these types of Muslims that comprise the Radical Muslim groups that take pride and joy in terrorizing those who live in peace. The Radical Muslims such as the deceased Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts believe that they represent an ancient type of Islam. One that advocates the use of war and terrorism in order to achieve their interpretation of peace. Experts such as David F. Forte, professor of Law at Cleaveland-Marshall College defines Radical Muslims as follows: Bin Laden and other Islamic radicals claim they represent ancient Islam. It is true that they do represent one tradition in Islam, but it is a tradition that Islam early on rejected as opposed to the universal message of its Prophet. In the earliest centuries of Islam, a great civil war was fought over who should be the successor to Muhammad. The battle was between the partisans of the assassinated third Caliph, Uthmann, and those who supported the fourth Caliph, ’Ali. This was the conflict that ultimately led to the division between Sunni and Shi’a Islam. (Forte, David “Radical Islam vs. Islam”) Forte explains that radical terrorists believe that the new era of Muslims and Islam have betrayed the true meaning of the religion, therefore, they must be punished. The punishments must be meted out because they have betrayed their religion and abandoned the principles that were taught by Mohammed. Their belief is that a Holy War must be declared upon those nations who abandoned ancient Muslim teachings and those who oppose the ancient Muslim beliefs must be considered enemies that need to be destroyed. Prior to the events of 9/11, American's pretty much did not have a problem with Muslims and having them reside in the United States. However, after the events, the news media simply termed the attackers are “Muslims”, thus delivering the image to the public that all Muslims must be feared because they are terrorists. It did not matter that Pres. George W. Bush said that the people who attacked America were not the true face of Islam. The media had already completed their hatchet job on a whole group of religious followers. Right now, Muslims are viewed in America with fear resentment, and hatred due to the attacks of 9/11. (Lamb, Ramdas “Why Do American's Fear Muslims?”) The Boston Marathon Bombing did not help ease those fears either as the perpetrators were identified as Russian radical Muslims as well. Events between Muslims and the Americans on American soil came to a boiling point son after 9/11 as a New York Times survey taken around the same time showed that ; “25 percent of Americans harbor negative feelings towards Muslims because of 9/11. Tensions escalated to physical hate crimes, racist slogans tagged on mosques, and excessive background checks for those who had Muslim or Arab names.” (Vahora, Naeem “Muslim. Arab Students Fight 9/11 Stigma”) After the most recent radical Muslim terrorist act in America, the bombing of the Boston Marathon, things only went from bad to worse for the Muslims who reside in America as the media went into overdrive in efforts to demonize all Muslims rather than just one small faction of the group. The media reports targeted all Middle Eastern people in general, no exceptions. Everyone from a Saudi spectator all the way to a Moroccan young man were considered suspects by the media. The media took great joy in falsely accusing these people and kept feeding the fire of racial hatred every chance that they got. (Zayid, Maysoon “How the Media Chose Its Boston ' Suspects' ) Islamophobia went on the rise and there was no way that the government wanted to stop it. The media did not want to stop it because it made for great sound bites and news headlines. The news program ratings were up, but at the expense of religious members that had nothing to to with the events of the day. The director of Islamopobia Research and Documentation Project at the University of California Berkley, Hatem Bazian claims that; The stigma that Islam incites violence and hatred became pervasive among people in America and Europe and many people reacted violently against Muslims and their Islamic centers and Mosques. After twelve years, Boston bombings revived the feelings of hostility against Muslims and Islamophobia is again on the rise, especially in the United States ( qtd. in El Kaidi, Youssef ). The method by which the news media such as Fox News and CNN continuously target the Muslims in general in their news reports leaves those who do not understand the struggles of the Muslim religion to unite itself under one belief adds to the public confusion about the religion in itself. A radical Muslim is not synonymous with being a Muslim. Rather, a radical Muslim is an exception to the totality of the beliefs of the Muslim religion in general. It is important to understand that the Muslim religion has been divided into two. With the other faction, the radical Muslims exist because: All fervent Muslims are dedicated to the implementation of Shariah Islamic law over the Western countries to which they have emigrated, and the eventual submission of Western countries to Shariah. They strive at dissolving sovereign constitutions in behalf of what Muslims consider the ultimate and only legitimate law: Shariah. Another core belief of fervent Muslims is that infidels -- Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists -- voluntarily convert to Islam or, later, capitulate to it in response to acts of terror and horror perpetuated by the radical Muslim. (Rabbi Spero, Aryeh “Not All Muslims Pose a Danger, Though All Radical Muslims are Dangerous”) Reports by CNN also indicate that :”A small number of Muslim-Americans have undergone radicalization since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington” There also exists a “compiled a list of 139 individuals it categorized as "Muslim-American terrorism offenders" who had become radicalized in the U.S. in that time -- a rate “of 17 per year. “ (“Study: Threat of Muslim-American Terrorism in U.S. Exaggerated”) If one were to view the true terrorist attacks in the United States since the events of 9/11, only the actual 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombings can actually be traced to radical Muslim attackers. It is because of the radical Muslim image abroad and their demonizing by the media in America that Americans have come to loathe and fear Muslims to proportions never before seen in this normally tolerant country. Not all Muslims are radical. Not every person with a Middle Eastern sounding name is a possible terrorist threat. Not every person who comes to the United States from the Middle East or other Islam practicing countries should be considered to be terrorist attackers. They who truly practice the teachings of the Quaran know that their religion is all about creating peace and harmony in the world. It is not about instilling fear in other countries and people. The radical Muslims give all of the Muslims a bad name. But we are not able to differentiate between the peace loving Muslims and the radicals in our midst. Therefore, it would be best if we all considered the Muslims are friends first, get to know then, and then decide if they are to be considered enemies of America. After all, it is Radical Muslims that have done us wrong. Islam as a religion has not done anything to harm the population of the United States. Works Cited El Kaidi, Youssef. “Islamophobia is on the Rise in the US After Boston's Bombings”. News. Morroco World. News. 1 May 2013. Web. 2 May 3013. Forte, David. “Radical Islam vs. Islam”.Editorials. Ashbrook Publications. Sept. 2001. Web. 2 May 2013. Lamb, Ramdas. “Why do Americans Fear Muslims?”. On Faith. The Washington Post. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 2 May. 2013. Spero, Aryeh Rabbi. “Not All Muslims Pose Danger, Though All Radical Muslims are Dangerous”. Articles. Caucus for America. n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. “Study: Threat of Muslim - American Terrorism in the U.S. Exaggerated”. U.S. cnn.com. 6 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. “What is Islam?”. Home. IslamiCity. n.d. Web. 3 May. 2013. Vahora, Naeem. “Muslim, Arab Students Fight 9/11 Stigma”. Stories. thewiredloop.info. n.d. Web. 1 May 2013. Zayid, Maysoon. “How the Media Chose the Boston 'Suspects'”. Columnist. The Daily Beast. 23 Apr. 2013. Web 29 Apr. 2013. Read More