A Professors Advice What You Should Know About Islam
don’t
you and i live in a globalized world
from the produce we find on the shelves
of our grocery stores
to the clothes we wear daily to the cars
we drive
our world has become increasingly
smaller
distances are traveled in less and less
time
while the internet has allowed for the
spread of information
instantly and yet there is a striking
paradox
while we consume the products they make
for us
we have very little actual knowledge
about others
even when the so-called other is our
neighbor
if you had a muslim neighbor
what would you know about them
i was blessed to have traveled the world
in a large part
through my research and career i am a
professor in islamic studies
i was born in france and started
traveling at an early age with my family
between what we call
the east and the west i have lived in 12
countries and visited over 50.
deep in my heart is a passion
to build bridges and i am blessed to be
doing this
in my professional capacity as a
professor
a scholar a writer
i see in the classroom on a daily basis
is a mirror into our society
and its most pressing challenges
we in the united states pride ourselves
on our religious freedom but
is this freedom being eroded for some
almost 20 years post 9 11
the prejudice and stereotypes against
muslims
are still present more importantly
they have become deeply rooted
every semester i get new students in my
classes
and the first thing i need to do is help
them
unlearn biased information
and myths they believe is actual
knowledge
as a professor today a main part of my
job is to deconstruct
narratives students have been exposed to
before exposing them to critical sources
of knowledge
for how long
the sad truth is that islam is largely
unknown
most americans do not know a muslim and
islamic studies
is not part of any curriculum prior to
the university level
for the very few who decide to study it
in my first class i always quiz my
students about
what they know or think they know about
islam and muslims what do you think i
hear
the answers i usually get involve
the veil polygamy
jihad
how could this be the common knowledge
about around two billion people one
quarter
of our globalized world
why don’t i ever hear that islam shares
the same
prophets as its sister religions judaism
and christianity
why don’t i ever hear that mary and
jesus
are revered by muslims
why don’t i ever hear about the
scientific contributions
made in the medieval islamic world and
how they led to the european renaissance
for example the invention of algebra by
el huarismi
or the invention of surgical instruments
by azarawin or as known as the father of
surgery
or even
that led to our modern gps system
why don’t i ever hear that muslim
civilization
is based on the israelite prophecies and
the greek heritage
the exact same roots as western
civilization
now you see it’s all this that should be
the common knowledge about islam and
muslims
a student recently asked me in class
with wavering emotion in her voice
why was i never told that islam
shares so many similarities with my
christian faith
yes why
there are two main factors for the state
of affairs
the first is a very long history of
framing islam in the western world
and i will come back to it in a moment
the second is the impact of the
insiduous
loud voice of mainstream media
and political discourses on islam and
muslims
a 2018 study by the university of
alabama
showed that terror attacks by muslims
receive on average
357 percent more attention
than those perpetrated by any other
group
do you think this is random
well no the coverage of islam and
muslims in mainstream media
is the result of a choice the choice
of fear-mongering the choice of the
islamophobia
industry yes an industry
an in-depth investigation was conducted
by the center for american progress
on this industry they demonstrated that
this was
an organized network with specific
funders and professionals with the set
goal
of vilifying islam for political gain
they also demonstrated that between 2001
and 2015 eight identified
donors gave 57 million dollars
to this network
have you ever wondered who
benefits from hate
it is not you and me it is those who
financially gain from it
from tearing us apart
now at times the paranoia
fomented by the media leads to
fantastical results a 2015
public policy poll showed that
a constable number of americans were in
favor of bombing
agaroba do you have any idea
where agrabah is located
well me neither it’s the fictional city
from disney’s aladdin
and this leads me to the first factor
as a historian i teach my students about
how we got here
a very long history of framing islam in
the western world
as early as the 7th century islam
was perceived and presented in europe as
a medieval
fallacy and a threat
in the following centuries muslims were
seen through the lengths of
orientalism as monsters
but also exotic and sensual others
in the words of scholar eduard saeed
it is europe that articulates the orient
in the ottoman and colonial periods the
muslim world
was seen as a threatening other to be
subdued
dominated civilized
following the cold war muslims replace
the communist enemy as convenient
scapegoats
today there are still traces of this
prejudice
on our own streets if we paid attention
but do we see these symbols
for example the turks heads
in these photos of british streets
in medieval europe a turks head spy
was a popular dish one symbolically
ate and devoured the head of a turk
in that time period turk was synonymous
with muslim
i wish this were all history behind us
but it’s not today
muslims are still constructed as a
violent
and threatening other recent studies
have shown
that muslims are by far the most
discriminated against
faith group in the united states
and here is another paradox
muslims are in fact one of the earliest
religious groups in the united states
many enslaved people were muslim
there has never been an america without
muslims is the first sentence of a book
by scholar emir hussein entitled muslims
and the making of america
if we knew our history we would know
that muslims are an integral part of the
american
social and cultural fabric from
sports music to culture
muslims have shaped american identity
the benefit of being a historian is that
you see how
certain facts have been erased
from our collective memory
we seem to suffer from collective
amnesia
but the problem is not just amnesia
about how muslims belong in our nation
it’s how they are dehumanized
the hollywood industry is a perfect
example
when i examine movies with my students
they are often perplexed
by the tropes and negative portrayals of
the muslim villains
they had never paid attention to before
again i asked you do we see prejudice
or have we become too desensitized
to notice
now our prejudice against others
has consequences
did we not see this in the 1940s
today islamophobia and targeted killings
of muslims have been on the rise
both in the united states and worldwide
did you know that in august 2020 an
entire family of
five was killed in denver when their
house was set on fire
do you know their crime
they were muslim
in china up to 1.5
million uighur muslims are in
re-education camps
their women are being sterilized by
force as we
speak and there are many
other examples in our globalized world
in myanmar india etc
there is currently something called a
muslim ban
today in the united states of america
there are laws
targeting muslims
experts advising governments say that
the change
will not happen from the top down
because of vested interests in the fear
industry
that means that it is upon you
and me to transform the status quo
we as a civil society have a collective
responsibility
to counter mainstream narratives of hate
and bring our own leaders to
accountability
when they dehumanize a group of people
so what is our role
here are four easy steps i share with my
students
number one build relationships
with local muslims make friends
with your muslim neighbor meet a muslim
genuine friendship is the answer to hate
and prejudice
several studies have recently shown that
americans who interacted with muslims
held more positive views of islam
so it’s time to expand your circles
every semester
i take my students to the local mosque
it’s often a transformative experience
for them to meet muslims for the first
time
muslims were not defined by the media
not defined by the autocritic regimes in
the muslim world
but speaking for themselves
if you don’t know where to start visit
a chapter of care the council on
american islamic relations and learn
about the muslim communities near you
if you go to new york city join a tour
that maps out the history of muslims in
the city
number two inform yourself
and do some fact checking
many news networks have an agenda they
color the facts they present to you as
their audience
ask yourself what is the agenda of your
favorite news network
have you considered other sources of
information
experts say that we shall try to rely
more on independent
media see if we want
reliable medical information we ask a
doctor
but for information on islam we trust
the media
remember that what makes a democracy is
an
informed citizen make sure you are
actually informed
number three contextualize
do not essentialize or generalize
we are talking about the faith of almost
two billion people
one quarter of our globalized world
muslims are diverse just like any other
group
ask yourself what are your impressions
of islam and muslims based on
is it a terrorist or perhaps
governments in the muslim world well
muslims are the first victims of both
if we want to learn about christianity
do we look to the kuklux clan
definitely not i
often ask my students to look at the
internal diversity of their own
faith traditions and apply that same
nuance to
any other group remember that the
stories we tell about others
are a reflection of ourselves
our own needs and insecurities
and number four speak up
against racism and prejudice
stand up against racism and prejudice
speak out when groups are targeted
because of their religious
or ethnic identity
love thy neighbor
love thy neighbor and teach your
children to do so
because silence is complicity
because it could be you next because at
the end of the day
this is a basic american civil rights
religious freedom issue
there are local initiatives waiting for
your voice to join them
jewish and christian voices against
islamophobia
and many others
now ask yourself
who do you want to be as a nation
what world do you want to create for
your children
it starts with you
you