Media misunderstand, stereotype Muslims  

Muslims in today's society are judged by appearance and stereotyped by the bad deeds committed by a small percentage of Muslims in the world. Muslims in Western society are ridiculed, stereotyped, misunderstood, and put down by the media. They are judged by all the misconceptions about Islam spread by Hollywood movies. 

In the movies the United States has produced about the Middle East, I haven't seen one good comment or act carried out by a Muslim. Either the Muslims in the movie are terrorists, wife beaters, or oppressed women. This is so untrue for the whole Muslim population in the real world. Yes, it may be partially true, but what religion does not have terrorists, wife beaters, and oppressed women? This doesn't speak for the religion; it speaks for the culture or the individuals.

This society needs to open its eyes, reach out and actually talk to a respected Muslim and see how at peace the religion and the people really are, instead of believing everything that presents Muslims in a negative way.

The number one stereotype is that Muslims are looked at as terrorists. The wrongful actions by a few Muslims are attributed to the whole population. Those who carry out these acts are extremists, and Islam does not accept terrorism as an act of faith. 

American society needs to stop focusing on all the bad points committed by extremists and start focusing on the good that the majority of Muslims have accomplished. Pointing fingers every time a bomb goes off, as the media did in the Oklahoma bombing, is getting old.

Terrorism isn't the only stereotype that Muslims have to face. There are many other stereotypes and misunderstood concepts of our society.

Probably the most misunderstood religious word is Jihad. 

To Muslims, Jihad is seen as a personal, internal struggle with one's self. The goal may be achievement in a profession, self-purification, or accomplishing some other goal.

Another misconception is that the majority of Muslims is Middle Eastern. Fewer than one out of eight American Muslims are of Arab descent. The two largest Muslim groups in the United States are native-born African-Americans and immigrants from South Asia.

Muslim women are faced with much more than this misconception. They face discrimination and are looked down upon by Western society. Westerners tend to feel sorry for them because they think our women are oppressed, treated with lower standards and forced to wear the head covering, the hajib.

The biggest problem faced by Muslim women wearing the hajib is discrimination and people staring at them. The Western world views the hajib as a symbol of forced silence. Muslim women, who cover themselves, except for their hands and face, are looked upon as oppressed, when in fact, Muslims view wearing of the hajib as a symbol of liberation from male scrutiny and the standards of attractiveness. A woman is looked at for her mind and intelligence. In Islam, a woman is free to be whom she is inside, and immune from being portrayed as a sex symbol and lusted after. Her main goal is inner spiritual beauty.

Westerners tend to perceive Muslim attitudes toward women as belittling. It's true that in some parts of the Muslim world, women are being suppressed, but this is happening because of cultural habits and not acts of religion. Islam is seen by the Western world as a religion that subjugates women. In reality, it is the cultural differences that coincide with Islam that are generating the wrong image of women in Islam. Oppression of women in the various cultures in the east is a betrayal rather than a reflection of the true spirit of faith. 

What kind of message is the media sending out to all the non-Muslims in this world? Movies such as "Not Without My Daughter," portray Muslim men as fathers and brothers and estranged husbands who beat their women. Moviegoers have an image stuck in their minds that every Muslim they meet is a terrorist or that every Muslim woman has an Uzi hidden under her the long jilbab she wears.

If the movie producers and the media only knew how much it hurts to see one's religion criticized and ridiculed! Not all Muslims are alike. They come from different cultures, traditions, and countries, so they should not be generalized based on the actions of one Muslim. Western society needs to stop viewing Muslims as cruel, violent people and start viewing them for who they are as individuals.

Salem Abdullah is a management communications systems sophomore at CSULB.