Daily Times

In his opening response to the issue of the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims created and circulated on YouTube on the eve of September 11, 2012, President Barack Obama remonstrated during his interview (September 18, 2012) with New York’s late night television host, David Lettermen. He said that Muslims worldwide and particularly those in Muslim countries need to “work with the Americans” in order to combat and crack down on international terrorism. However, educating the west in Islam from the grassroots is paramount. President Obama clearly condemned the video and uttered that the US government were not linked to this, as did Hillary Clinton, who looked visibly shocked in relation to the contents of the video. BBC World also confirmed (September 20, 2012) the US government’s public condemnation of the video and the subsequent publication of cartoons in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Yet again Islam is once more under attack. Muslims worldwide have been offended to the core and their response in many countries has escalated into a violent furor, much to the disdain of the west. Furthermore, speculations have now been made associating al Qaeda (BBC World News September 20, 2012) with the anti-Islamic film; how much of that is true remains a task for further investigation.

Yet, as a British-born Pakistani Muslim, now residing in the US, I have witnessed firsthand misconceptions about Muslims and Islam in both countries. Personally, it beggars belief as to why Islam is continuously under attack, when ironically Islam is the most harmonious religious faiths out of the three holy ones. Political and media consciousness, no doubt, has played its part in shrouding such negativity over Islam and the Muslim way of life. However, on a micro level, it is the average common man’s understanding, or lack of understanding of Islam that has created such vulgar individuals such as the now ‘infamous’ American producer and filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, aka ‘Sam Bacile’ (and criminal felon) of this anti-Islam movie. When the average American, irrespective of class, spends up to 9-15 hours a day at work, there is little strength or enthusiasm to understand what Islam is truly about except what is reported on the national newscasts.

It, therefore, is not surprising that there exists the preconceived notion that Islam is an outdated, rigid religious faith that bears no respect towards women and has bred terrorism and terrorists, both from the Middle East as well as homegrown. Further, that Muslims in the Middle East have no tolerance or respect for other religions and they shun western values, particularly the liberty to live independently and above all, the power of freedom of speech. Yet if one takes their minds back to early 2011 when public protest broke out in virtually every Muslim country as a result of wanting freedom and basic human rights, this stereotypical western myth can be strongly disagreed with. It is indeed the ‘fear’ of the unknown that underlies such open hostility towards Islam and the Muslim way of life. To refer to academic scholars Woods (2007) and Oka (2005), much of the racist perpetration (in this case, actions inciting anger and offence amongst Muslims) has been drawn upon the foundations of fearing the ‘unknown’ culture of minority ethnic groups and particularly the Muslim community.

Yet on the other spectrum, Islamic radicalism in the west, particularly in the UK and Europe, has grown well out of control with the rise of Wahhabism. Young British-born Muslims, particularly, appear to have adopted a more fundamentalist approach to Islam and the way of life, leaving the more moderate Muslims trying to co-exist with the non-Muslim community in a helpless position. Furthermore, believing that there is more to Islam than continual prayer and vehemently taking to wearing the hijab and niqab, personally I have been left in a state of confusion where I have often spotted young girls donned in fancy hijabs, yet dressed in tight fitted outfits leaving little to the imagination as to their dress sizes! The horrific attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, changed the world forever, and with Islam under continuous political and media scrutiny, many Muslims, largely the younger generation, appear to be going through an identity crisis.

To the average, non-Muslim working class society where more emphasis is given to, for example, learning who has been evicted from the ‘X-Factor’ or ‘Big Brother’ than taking more interest in worldly events, such as the current dire straits in Syria, there is little hope of their understanding the extent of insensitivity that this film and the French/Danish cartoons represent. Subsequently, the violent protests in response have only served to elevate the careers of the culprits (Nakoula Basseley Nakoula/Sam Bacile, Charlie Hebdo), but depicting Muslims as the perpetrators, not as victims. The unfortunate and mindless deaths of the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, three other Americans and the most recent deaths of Muslims in Pakistan (September 21, 2012) seem never to make a sensible point either. More so, the recent riots that occurred in various cities in Pakistan, which erupted into mass violence and tragic deaths, have served little to address the issue at hand, yet have harmed the Pakistani public financially as well as their reputation as a nation. It would fare better for Muslims worldwide to, yes, protest, but with peace and rationality and to adopt a more tolerant attitude towards other religious faiths. Yet, amongst the western world, there also needs to be an understanding that freedom of speech does not mean freedom to insult. It needs to be established what the limits of free speech are. How should Muslims cope?

One effective approach to tackle this growing issue would be to educate and promote Islam in the simplest, moderate and most positive manner. There is a definite need to promote the harmony and beauty that resonates from Islam and that it is a religion to be proud of. Reaching out to the non-Muslim communities (the youth in particular) using a social and emotional approach would allow individuals to understand why such actions hurt and offend and also allow them to relate to incidents on a personal level. Workshops and other schemes could be arranged to teach rather than a formal approach. Finally, multicultural integration is strongly advocated and has been widely emphasised by academics and practitioners, more notably in the UK. As a Muslim second-generation British, I cannot express enough the need for a more proactive educational approach. And that is not only due to witnessing prejudicial attitudes firsthand — whether during a conversation or reading threads on social network sites such as Facebook — but more so after watching and learning from today’s “BBC World ‘Have Your Say’” perceptions (September 21, 2012) as some noted below:

“Why are Pakistani people going overboard?”

“This is to be expected, the Pakistani people are the least tolerant country out of all the Muslim world.”

“Respect should be given to all religions, but violence isn’t the answer either.”

“Why do Muslims have double standards and think they have a right to be offended, but it is okay to insult other religions?”

“Muslims seem to be the most unusual kind out of everyone!”

“The world doesn’t fear crowds, but burning, anger and way of life.”

“Democracy of what…Islam is really under attack these days!”

“Many ordinary Muslim communities, feeling the pain of Islam being attacked, are stuck in between extremists who ‘love’ the west kind of language and it gives them an excuse to live in an extreme form and act in this way!”

“Like all religions, the difference is that I’m a Christian and I just deal with it!”

The writer can be reached at sairahqureshi@yahoo.com