Muslims, Myth, and Misconception

Muslims, Myth, and Misconception

Ever since September 11th the Islamic religion has been unfairly associated with terrorism because of the media's portrayal. Before 9/11 most Americans were less familiar with Muslim beliefs than a man is with the thought processes of a woman, but Islam was put under the microscope of many thoughtful individuals after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2000. Although there were many American-Muslims that prayed the attack was not brought on by terrorists who used the Quran to justify their actions, Muslim's as well as anyone who looks even remotely Arab has since been stereotyped and stigmatized by westerners as being supporters of terrorism. This is a common misconception among Americans that, as data has shown, is simply not true.

The terrorists behind the attack of 9/11 belong to the well known militant group called Al Qaeda. This is an organization of fringe radical Sunni Muslims who have taken the Islamic teaching of Jihad, which is the struggle against evil, to an extreme that has, in their minds, justified killing innocent civilians. The Quran in fact condemns the killing of the innocent. The Gallup Poll organization spent eight years gathering information about true beliefs of the Muslims around the world and proves that the media in America has neglected to inform the average citizen that these radicals make up only a fraction of one percent of the world's Muslim believers (Inside Islam). Terrorists have been repeatedly portrayed as Muslims which consequently causes the uninformed to perceive Muslims as terrorists. Calvin Warner, a Corporal in the Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune was asked if he thought all Muslims were terrorists, and he replied, "Yeah and my job is to kill them all. If he's a Muslim, he's a terrorist." Although he may have been being facetious, his response is testament to the mentality that is rampant among westerners, and a way of thinking that is counter-productive to the War on Terror.

A question that may be asked by one who believes all Muslims are terrorists is that, "If Islam doesn't support terrorism, then why doesn't the Islamic majority speak out against or publicly condemn it?" Charles Kurzman, a professor of Sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill, says that Muslim-American communities are in fact active in preventing radicalization (Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated). This question cannot stand when one accepts the facts move past personal biases. A mindset that stereotypes all Muslims as terrorist sympathizers, is tantamount to the absurdity of implying that all Christians support the actions of the Ku Klux Klan because they have claimed to be Christians.

We as Americans must stop deeming the different dangerous solely on the grounds of it being different. Terror Free Tomorrow is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to finding effective policies that win popular support away from global terrorists. The president of this foundation, Kenneth Ballen said it best