Essay on the Most Common Misconceptions About Muslims and Arabs in America

Muslims and Arabs have for a long time been portrayed as terrorists, billionaires, uneducated just to name but a few. In a world where the media is a major source of information, these misconceptions have proved to be a challenge in erasing them no matter how hard the Arabs and Muslims try to fight. Some of these misconceptions just to name but a few include; Muslims and Arabs do not speak English! A majority of the Arab and Muslim population do speak English. Some are very fluent at it while others have a heavy accent. An accent and dialect in a person mostly depend on the school one went to and also the kind of environment a person grew up in.

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The other misconception is that one cannot be an Arab or a Muslim and still be an American. A big population of the Arab and Muslims immigrated to the United States of America mostly for education. This, therefore, brought about generations of American citizens of Arab and Muslim descent. The most notable aspect of these American Arab and Muslim population is that they still maintain strong roots to their native lands. This connection with their homeland makes them loyal to their religion (Erickson and Al-Timini, 2001). It is also notable that there exist American Islamic schools in the Unites States. These schools can teach their children teachings of their strong faith as well as how to still uphold their American identity. The flagged raised in the school, as well as the national anthem, recognized that of the United States. These children, as well as the adults, also get to observe the American holidays.

The other major misconception is that most people cannot differentiate between Arabs and Muslims. The biggest perception is that all Muslims are Arabs and vice versa. However, this is not the case at all. Not every Arab is a Muslim neither is every Muslim an Arab. Muslims observe the Islamic faith. Islam is a religion. This means that not all Arabs practice the Islamic faith; some are Christians, Buddhists, and even atheists. Religion is a matter of personal choice, being Arab is a race (Soloom, 2005).

It is widely misconstrued that Arab and Muslim men oppress their women. Islam has been criticized as a religion whose beliefs, women are meant to be seen and not heard (Ahmed, 1982). This, therefore, translates to men being oppressive of their women. However, you would be surprised to know that Arab/Muslim women have undeniable access to financial independence, divorce, and even education. Women empowerment has gone global and has seen a significant population of Arab/Muslim women coming out strongly in governmental positions, in Olympics and even winning Nobel prizes. Oppression of women is a universal problem that knows no origin. It is therefore not just an Arab/Muslim issue.

The most common misconception about Muslims and Arabs is that they all support violence and terrorism. Terrorism has become a global crisis and is mostly associated with the Islamic religion. This is however not the case as there are so many instances of Arabs and Muslims condemning terrorism and violence which are unfortunately not highlighted in mainstream media. A majority of Arabs and Muslims are people who have been affected by acts of violence and terrorism with a deep magnitude. The Arab and Muslim Americans have not been spared of this misconception. They still suffer suspicions especially in security checks among other things. The movie "Reel Bad Arabs" has been filmed to show the stereotyping of the people of Arab and Muslim descent. Films that feature Arabs and Muslims from way back in the days to the very latest and biggest blockbusters in the industry have consistently depicted a trend of hateful stereotypes that have seen to erode humanity in the people. Arabs have always been projected as the villains regardless of whether they are American citizens or not.

The stereotype has become so widespread that it is almost impossible to erode this perception from people. Most of these images and perceptions about the Arab and Muslim people have run deep from way back. Islam for a long time has been perceived to be a religion that promotes violence and terrorism and promises paradise to those who participate in it. Therefore, when innocent Muslims and Arabs face the afflictions of violence and terrorism, it becomes so easy for the non-Muslims to face away with no compassion whatsoever. Our minds have been pre-conditioned to categorize both the innocent civilians and perpetrators of acts of terrorism as one people who do not deserve our understanding or sympathy.

This documentary debunks these misconceptions by highlighting how these images teach us to present the Arab and Muslim people and their religion. That regardless of our goodness and intelligence, we have gone ahead and let these misconceptions vilify and despise an entire people by blanketing them. Women and children have not been spared either. They too have been portrayed as terrorists, and even when they are indeed the victims, we look at them with more of suspicion than compassion. The media has shown the society at large that the women and children too cannot be trusted. Paranoia in the society runs deep and as a result, has made society to hold unjust perceptions about an entire culture or group of people (Erickson and Al-Timini, 2001). This cycle of negative stereotypes can, however, be stopped by significantly minimizing these images of Muslims and Arabs depicting fear and instead highlight how these stereotypes present limiting and harmful representation of an entire people.

The story of Sam Slaven and Yousef in the American Life titled the "Devil in me" talks about this army guy who went to extraordinary lengths trying to get rid of certain feelings of prejudice and fear that he acquired during his experience in the army (Seikaly, 2001). The story depicts how Sam, at the very beginning had no ill feelings towards the Muslim and Arab community but that changed following the horrifying experiences he encountered. Sam battled with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to retire from the army. He moved back to his family at which point he was seeing a therapist. He also went ahead and enrolled at a community college.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Sams story is the fact that he went ahead to join the Muslim Student Association at his college. He did so as part of his therapy to help change his perspective on why he feels the way he does about Muslim people and their religion. Yousef, on the other hand, is an immigrant in the United States who admits that his first months formed part of his darkest experiences in trying to adjust to a new environment. However, he decided to make his experiences better by choosing not to hide who he was or what he thought. Yousif went ahead to form the Muslim Student Association whereby one of the main objectives was to reach out to non-Muslims and especially those who had a tainted perception of the Islam faith.

What comes out strongly about Sam and Yousif is the fact that they both had to take extraordinary measures to bridge a cultural divide. They had to make hard choices to enable them to live in the present and not in the past. They are both able to show that past experiences do not have to cloud our judgment and perceptions about certain people. The story of Sam and Yousif indeed helps to dispel images of Islam as violent. It helps to understand the fact that we do not get to choose our backgrounds but we can choose how to let our backgrounds define us.

In summary, this research has been carried out with the aim of dispelling current misconceptions about Arabs and the Islamic faith in the Unites States, one, being that Muslims and Arabs are all terrorists. Islamic faith and teachings stress among many other things the need to value and promote peace and prosperity across all divides. The other misconception is that Islam faith and beliefs oppress women. As mentioned earlier in the paper, Muslim and Arab women have a right to make their choices as regards to education, property, career and many other things.

References

Erickson, C. D., & Al-Timimi, N. R. (2001). Providing mental health services to Arab Americans: Recommendations and considerations. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 7(4), 308.

Ahmed, L. (1982). Western ethnocentrism and perceptions of the harem. Feminist studies, 8(3), 521-534.

Soloom, R. (2005). I Know You Are, but What Am I-Arab-American Experiences through the Critical Race Theory Lens. Hamline J. Pub. L. & Pol'y, 27, 55.

Seikaly, Z. A. (2001). At risk of prejudice: the Arab American community. (Teaching about Tragedy) (Cover Story). Social Education, 65(6), 349-352.