West nowadays became the big emperor and really influential to the world as the strong power and can do anything. After the tragedy of 11 September where the World Trade Centre was bomb, the perception of the westerners toward Islam became worst. They claimed Muslim as terrorist in conjunction with that, Muslims are seeing as bad people and being argued with many perceptions until finally came out with these seven misconceptions concerning Islam.
1. Muslims are mainly Arabs, and Islam is the exclusive religion of the “Middle East”.
Due to historical, political, social, religious and cultural reasons, people today still know little about Muslims and Islam. Many westerners continue to believe that Muslims are mainly Arabs and all Arabs are Muslims. Also, Islam is portrayed as the exclusive religion of the “Middle East”. Confusion about Islam has led to dialogues, conferences, discussions, debates and even policies to better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. There are many angles to identifying the gaps in understanding, especially in the theological, economical, political, geographical and cultural contexts. Unfortunately, the stereotyping is not just one-sided. Both Muslims and non-Muslims have played a role in the misconceptions and misunderstanding that exists today, and that are more often on stereotypes than on facts or firsthand evidences.These negatives nuances have existed for so long, even during the times of the Crusades which involved a series of military campaigns that had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
According to Malcolm Barber, author of The Two Cities, Medieval Europe 1050-1320 (Routledge, 1992): “During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of the crusading movement in western Christendom, the Crusades led to expanded trade between the East and Western Europe, which introduced to new items – such as spices, silks, medicines, perfumes, Damascus steel and so on. The opening of trade also caused European demand for wealth and knowledge of Muslims. They intended to take advantage of Muslim advances in medicine, warfare, mathematics, anatomy, textiles, even cooking.
At the same time, the Crusades also played a role in shaping European perceptions of the Muslim world and vice versa, leading to develop stereotypes and misconceptions that still exist today.
At first, Europeans used a vague term “Saracens” to address Muslims in the West for the Arabs and eventually, other Islamic people of the Near East in both pre-Islamic and mediaeval times. “Saracens” was one of the many terms that classical authors and ecclesiastical writers used to refer to Arabs. However, Arabs did not use the term to refer to themselves, as it had been coined by the West.
Unfortunately, this stereotype of addressing “Saracens” are Arabs and all Arabs are being Muslims still exist today. In actual truth, many Arabs are not Muslims, and not all Muslims are Arabs. The Muslim population of Muslims in the world is around 1.57 billion as written by Stephanie Liew on 9 October 2009. As more than a billion people in the world are Muslims, but fewer than 15 per cent of Muslims worldwide are Arabs. The majority of Muslims live outside the Middle East – in places like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims in a country in this world.
Despite the advancement of technology and rapid transfer of information, misunderstandings and conflicts are even more intensive today. Additionally, in a new report released at the NewsXchange conference in Amsterdam entitled Western Perceptions about Islam and Muslims, it was revealed that Arab Muslims are typically portrayed in a stereotypical and negative fashion by the media in Western Europe and the United States. As a result, negative images of Islam are becoming more widely spread in Western culture. The Western public is often misinformed about Muslims, especially through television, motion picture screens, magazines, radios, and comic strips in newspapers, all of which easily promote strong messages among their audiences.
We just need to be cautious of religion being manipulated to serve an unholy agenda by devious people. In these cases, hatred and bigotry are propagated on behalf of one’s religion, for the sake of political gain or personal profit. After all, Surah Al-Hujurat: 13 further states:
“O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-taqwa. Verily, Allah is all-knowing, All-Aware.”
2. Islam is obscurantist, primitive and uncivilized.
There is a sensitive issue whereby it relates to the ongoing accusations imposed by the West against Islam and the Shari`ah. In western modern culture, Islam is presented as a particularly violent and cruel religion; its law is termed as barbaric.
In actual fact, human history is plunged into ruin due to man’s pursuit of justice without possible help which is Divine help, being ignorance and refuse to grasp the light of lit by the Merciful Lord, Who clearly understands the nature of man, and thus, has revealed to him the just laws and teachings that will regulate his life and make his affairs perfectly.
However, man will be deprived of this guidance as long as he refuses to obey the Source of guidance, Almighty Allah; man will never find justice no matter how fervently he pursues it, as long as he keeps deviating away from the straight path set for him by the Creator of the Universe. So justice simply lies in man’s obeying Allah by doing what He has laid down as ‘right’ and avoiding what He has laid down as ‘wrong’. It is only Allah who can establish, in perfect manner, mutual rights and obligations and consequent rewards and punishments on the basis of absolute standards of justice.
The way Shari`ah or Islam is perceived by the West is not something mysterious or strange because it reflects the belief held by most Westerners that they are the supporters of civilization and democracy, and anything besides their ideologies and dogmas are matters of old ages that can no longer be applied in our recent world, even if that matters happen to be laid down by Allah.
But it’s our duty as a Muslim not to give in to such beliefs. We are supposed to be leaders, not subordinates; our voices should be raised high, clarifying to the world the true nature of our religion. In this regards, The Qur’an most certainly does prescribe corporal punishment for certain serious social crimes and it does lay down the principle of retribution, or qisas. It is very emphatic about the crucial role of the family in human society and therefore insists on assigning different well-defined roles to men and women and it does lay down many other regulations and laws and expects Muslims to obey the eternally valid injunctions of Allah and His Prophet.
All these provisions of the Shari’ah certainly show that Islam is not plunged society back into darkness and Islam is not inhuman, primitive and barbaric. In fact, Islam is able to keep pace with the demands of human progress. Therefore, this issue of western misconception needs to be examined seriously to raise place and values of the Shari’ah and its provisions in the ultimate order of human civilization and happiness.
3. Islam is a religion of fanaticisms, fatalism and polygamy.
Today there are many Westerners described Islam into three ideas which are fanaticism, fatalism and polygamy. Fanaticism means the very strong religious or belief that makes someone behave in unreasonable way while fatalism is the belief that cannot prevent things from happening especially bad things. So, what the westerners try to say is that, Muslim is a group of people that really misbehave and will do anything even bad things to show the belief. The westerners only knows that Muslim people will give full submission to Allah and they do not know what is Islam is actually besides as a religion. They relate these three things as to mention that, Islam is only a religion which is unfair and views polygamy as relatively backward and impoverished. Plus, feminists consider it a violation of women’s rights and demeaning to women.
This statement is not true because Islam is a moderate religion and do not give hardship to the followers. Islam is not fatalism but gives guidance to the people and prohibits the wrongdoings. Besides, there are a few groups of fanatic people in Islam because of lack of religion knowledge. Islam advice people to balance between world and hereafter but not focuses on one only. So, the westerners cannot judge all Muslim as fanatic and fatal just because of a bunch from a whole tree. In polygamy context, Islam allows polygamy due to certain condition as if the husband is affordable to handle and feed more than one family. In the Quran mentioned that:
“marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one.” (Quran 4:3)
Islam further reformed the institution of polygamy by requiring equal treatment to all wives. The Muslim is not permitted to differentiate between his wives in regards to sustenance and expenditures, time, and other obligations of husbands. Islam does not allow a man to marry another woman if he will not be fair in his treatment. Prophet Muhammad forbade discrimination between the wives or between their children. Besides previously, men who remarry are wanted to help the women who maybe have no one anymore. On the other hand, polygamy is permissible as a way to protect men with free sex activities. So, through polygamy the wives can fulfilled the husband’s desire besides preventing from intimate diseases, HIV and Aids.
Modernity is the product of the West and the Islamic world cannot be truly modern until Islam is radically reformed.Modernity is the impact of modernization on man’s mentality, individually and socially beside the subjective experience and elaboration of modernization involved lucid transform realities in our live. Thus, modernization already occurred since hundred years before and Muslim involved directly in modernity not as claimed by the west that modernity is the product of the West and the Islamic world cannot be truly modern until Islam is radically reformed. The west said this statement in the terms of science and technology modernization also social modernization. For social aspect, they think that Islam is intrinsically opposed to the very notion of free will itself where as Islam’s rigid moral code and human beings do not possess the slightest area in their lives where their behavior is not subject to a rigid rule. Islam takes control of every ingredient of its believer’s life. For the, Muslims accountable to the religions and do not have freedom to colored their life and achieved the level of modernity as all around the world experienced nowadays. The key here is that for Muslims, the boundaries between their spiritual and temporal lives do not exist.
Meanwhile, we could counter this opinion by saying that, Islam give the authority to Muslim to feel the world modernity but with some limited that later will give benefits to them direct or indirectly. For example, Islam prohibits the Muslims from over socialize between men and women, avoid from getting drunk and free sex as the west mostly did. Those prohibitions have acceptable reason which are all those activities will cause diseases and wasting time and money. We can socialize but in proper way such as playing bowling together instead of visiting clubs. As Muslim do not practicing as the westerners, its not guarantee the statement that Islam is not getting modernization.
Moreover, the west also proudly announced that they are those who formed the modernity in science and technology. If we learn the history, we might know that in the past, the Arab Muslims make great strides in mathematics, medicine, architecture, and astronomy. For example, Al Khawarizmi who invented the astronomy knowledge of using stars to determine the west, north, south and the rest. Besides that, Al- Biruni who is the first found about algebra theory which used until today in any field. Then, the westerners only make improvisation to those ideas until they become excellent as pioneers in any field but the foundation of the technology are mainly from the Muslims.
So, the westerners should not easily say that Islam is leaving behind in modernization. Islam already achieved the stage of modernity but in its own way which the west still cannot realize.
5. Islam is oppressive against women and minorities
Islam is oppressive against woman and minorities is also a statement makes by the west towards Muslim people. The west focuses this statement as they just observe that Muslim guys are allowed to marry four wives but woman just only one at a time. Besides, men can share the inheritance bigger than woman also men are permissible to many non-Muslim due to certain condition. The west claimed that Islam is not practicing equality between men and women and also the minorities. They think that Islam tradition and belief that wives should obey their husbands is sometimes not relevance. Those misunderstanding can be counter back with a few argument and good reasons that Islam already explained in quran and hadith. If we talk about equality, it is actually depends on personal point of view towards any matters. For example, when we ask about who is taller in height and averagely men are winning but if we ask who is more closely deeper to the children, they answer must be mother. Back to the matter of inheritance, the reason why men are given more than women because, men are having bigger responsibility to carry on compared to women who being care of men. Metaphorically, a son should take care of his mother, daughter, wife and female relative but a woman is taken care by her husband, father, son and male relative.
The west also argued that why women are obligatory to wearing veil (scarf,hijab) and they are not given a freedom to showing women’s beauty. That statement is accepted as the reason that Islam oppress women because obligatory of wearing scarf or veil is one way to protect women’s dignity and safety. In the other hand, Islam gives men and women different equality and roles between the two and sees married or single women as individual. Muslim women are free to choose their husband and cannot be pushed to marry the one they do not. Men should feed up their family (wives and children) also, give dowry upon the marriage. Women can keep their money they earn by themselves and still have rights to demand from the husband too.
So, it shows that Islam is not oppressing the women and minorities but protected them, men as all knows that superior in strength and physical power are believed that can fulfilled the duties given to care of women. In Quran stated that::
“Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other and because men spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those among you who fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them” (4:34)
6. Islam is incompatible with human rights, pluralism, and political tolerance.
Before addressing the issue of human rights in Islam, it is useful to clarify that the Islamic tradition, like other major religious traditions, does not consists of a single source. As Muslims, we refer to the Quran, the Sunnah or the practical traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, Hadith or the oral sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, Fiqh (Jurisprudence) or Madahib (Schools of Law), and the Shari'ah or code of law which regulates the diverse aspects of a Muslim's life. While these "sources" have contributed to what is cumulatively referred to as "the Islamic tradition", they are not identical or considered to be of equal weight. Of all the sources of the Islamic tradition, undoubtedly, the most important is the Qur'an which is regarded by Muslims in general, as the primary, and most authoritative, source of normative Islam.
Human beings ought to possess the fundamental rights because they are so deeply rooted in our humanness. Rights created or given by God cannot be abolished by any temporal ruler or human agency.
However, since the 1970s, there has been a growing interest in the West towards Islam and Muslims. Much of this interest has been focused, however, on a few subjects such as "Islamic Revival," "Islamic Fundamentalism," and "Women in Islam," rather than on understanding the complexity and diversity of "the World of Islam." Not only the choice of subjects which tend to evoke or provoke strong emotive responses in both Westerners and Muslims, but also the manner in which these subjects have generally been portrayed by Western media or popular literature, calls into question the motivation which underlies the selective Western interest in Islam and Muslims. It is difficult to see this interest as being positively motivated given because mostly negative stereotyping of Islam and Muslims were portrayed in the West.
Given the reservoir of negative images associated with Islam and Muslims by the West, "the World of Islam" is being seen as the new "Enemy" which is perhaps even more incomprehensible and intractable. The routine portrayal of Islam as a religion spread by the sword and characterized by "Holy War", and of Muslims as barbarous and backward, frenzied and fanatic, volatile and violent, has led, in recent times, to an alarming increase in "Muslim-bashing" in terms of verbally, physically as well as psychologically - in a number of Western countries.
This is a wrong conception concerning Islam and as a Muslim, we ought to argue based on the rights in Islam. For example, the rights of freedom. As stated earlier, the Qur'an is deeply concerned about liberating human beings from every kind of bondage. Recognizing the human tendency toward dictatorship and despotism, the Qur'an says with clarity and emphasis in Surah 3: Al-'Imran: 79.
“It is not possible for any human being to whom Allah has given the Book and Al-Hukma (the knowledge and understanding of the laws of religion, etc)” and Prophethood to say to the people: “Be my worshippers rather than Allah’s.” On the contrary, he would say): Be you worshippers of Allah, because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it.”
Since the principle of mutual consultation ("shura") is mandatory, it is a Muslim's fundamental right, as well as responsibility, to participate in as many aspects of the community's life as possible.
The Qur'anic proclamation in Surah Al-Baqarah: 256,
"There shall be no coercion in matters of faith" guarantees freedom of religion and worship.”
This means that, according to Qur'anic teaching, non-Muslims living in Muslim territories should have the freedom to follow their own faith-traditions without fear or harassment. A number of Qur'anic passages state clearly that the responsibility of the Prophet Muhammad is to communicate the message of God and not to compel anyone to believe. The right to exercise free choice in matters of belief is unambiguously endorsed by the Qur'an which also states clearly that God will judge human beings not on the basis of what they profess but on the basis of their belief and righteous conduct, as indicated by Surah Al-Baqarah: 62 which mentioned:
“Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabians, any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, Shall have their reward with the Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”
The Qur'an recognizes the right to religious freedom not only in the case of other believers in God, but also in the case of not-believers in God (if they are not aggressing upon Muslims).
In the context of the human right to exercise religious freedom, it is important to mention that the Qur'anic saying, "Let there be no compulsion in religion" applies not only to non- Muslims but also to Muslims. While those who renounced Islam after professing it and then engaged in "acts of war" against Muslims were to be treated as enemies and aggressors, the Qur'an does not prescribe any punishment for non-profession or renunciation of faith. The decision regarding a person's ultimate destiny in the hereafter rests with God. Thus, this indicates that Islam is accepting non-Muslims to be in their religion and Islam is compatible with pluralism. The acceptance of various religions is called religious pluralism.
Whereas, political tolerance is the willingness to extend basic rights and civil liberties to persons and groups whose viewpoints differ from one's own. It is a central tenet of a liberal democracy.
The West encourages a wide array of ideas and beliefs in their citizens. The expression of those beliefs is protected by another core democratic principle that of majority rule with respect for the rights of individuals or groups in the minority.
However, in regard to Islam, the West portrays Islam as a religion that unable to perform political tolerance in which Islam only focuses on its own religion that is already being misunderstood as a terrorist, extremist and fundamentalist by the western.
Here, we have to argue by saying that in Islam, Muslims hold to the call of global Islam, a goal accomplished if need be through the force of jihad. Global Islam means that all nations would be ruled under an Islamic theocracy. Islam is international in its outlook and approach and does not admit barriers and distinctions based on color, clan, blood or territory. The politics in Islam functions to unite the entire human race under one banner. To a world torn by national rivalries and feuds, it presents a message of life and hope and of a glorious future. But still in politics, there is a limit of tolerance in Islam.
As far the limits of tolerance is concerned, the Muslim reaction around the world is not due to wrong interpretation of Islam but due to their crossing all the limits of enduring western double standards and their treatment as second class citizens of this planet. And the Quran tells them explicitly: "O you, who believe, stand firmly for justice, as witnesses for God, even if it means testifying against yourselves, or your parents, or you kin, and whether it is against the rich or poor, for God prevails upon all. Follow not the lusts of your hearts, lest you swerve, and if you distort justice or decline to do justice, verily God knows what you do," (An-Nisa’:135).
On the other hands, the so-called intolerance is in fact resistance shown by the Muslims with standing up for justice even against their own self-interests. Hence, it is proven that Islam is compatible with political tolerance as long as it is in line with Shari’ah and does not go beyond the limit.
7. Islam is a religion which is militantly anti-Western, expouses violence, and is very much inclined to wars.
This is the biggest misconception in Islam. Indeed, the West has many stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam that are due to the media, prejudice and ignorance. Islam is often looked upon as “extremist”, “terrorists”, or “fundamental” religion. Many people hate Islam and do not want to acknowledge its true teachings. In many cases, the media’s reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance. This is one of the reasons why the West often hates Islam. In contrast to what many Westerners think of Islam, Islam is a peaceful religion, which does not promote any forms of uncalled for fighting or "terrorist" actions.
Stereotypes about Islam are not new to Western culture. Problems can be traced back 1400 years. At that time, Islam and Christianity were involved in the Crusades military campaigns. Islam spread quickly to the West, and started to threaten the position of the Christian Church and the ruling class. The Western elites, mainly the governments and the churches, then became highly involved in seeing that negative images were presented about Islam. As a result, not only were battles fought against Islam, but also a war of words was initiated to make sure that Islam would not have any converts or sympathizers in the West. These kinds of actions and feelings that the West had long ago still seem to be the case in the West today. Thus, the West today, with little or no understanding of Islamic history, has identified a new enemy which is Islam.
A major factor which contributes to Islamic stereotyping in the West is due to the media’s ignorance of selecting their words that describe Muslims. Some common names heard or seen in the news about Muslims are "extremist" or "terrorist". These words are misleading and are mainly anti-Islamic. The media rarely uses more neutral terms such as "revivalist" or "progressives".
With regard to the soldiers, another great misconception that exists is the truth about Jihad or "holy war" in Islam. The ideas of war and violence have become related to the Islamic religion from the media. Jihad is so often apparent in the news because the media thinks it is Islam’s justification for war and violence. But, in actual fact, a Muslim is permitted to take up arms only as an act of self-defense. A Muslim has the right to defend his life, and his property as mentioned in the Quran.
"Fight for the sake of Allah those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. Allah (God) does not love aggression".
Western misconceptions concerning Islam in a way they presume Islam as a religion which is very much inclined to wars despite of knowing the meaning of struggling in Islam or also known as Jihad. Jihad literally means "The struggle in the path of God", or "holy war". However, the Western media often abuses the meaning of jihad by referring to it as a holy war where Muslims unreasonably kill non-believers. But the fact is, is that jihad can mean a numbers of things that a Muslim does for the sake of God. Rarely has the Western media used this kind of a definition in their reports. The way the media represents jihad is wrong. The media often takes the word "jihad" out of context to propagate negative views on Islam.
Actually, the situations of a student striving for top grades, individuals pursuing for equality and justice for all people, honoring your parents, a mother giving birth to a child, eating, and even simply sleeping can all be considered as jihad.
The association of Islam and violence is a common misconception that the general Western public has developed about Islam. An example of this kind of misconception is that the Western media and some historians often say that Islam was a religion spread by the sword, meaning that Muslims went from one end of the world to the other forcing people to either convert or die. Islam spread by people learning about it and some by holy wars, but they did not force people to convert or die. Since majorities of the American public only get their information about Islam through the media, they believe on this wrong idea. The media’s reports about Arab or "Islamic" events, such as the Gulf War, are often misunderstood. The media usually fails to give background information about these Islamic events that it reports on. The media infrequently distinguishes between the religion Islam and the political affairs that occur in most Islamic countries. For instance, what Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, did in the Gulf War was not Islamic and totally wrong (to attack other people for no reason, especially Muslims). But the media still makes reports about Islam and how Islam is made of war-crazed people. For example, to help put things into perspective, Hitler was a person of the Christian faith. This does not mean that all of his actions were consistent with the Christian beliefs. Likewise, Saddam Hussein is of the Islamic faith, but all of his actions do not necessarily represent Islam. So you can see that the media’s reports about "war-crazed Muslims" are incorrect. The notion of associating of Islam and Muslims with the terms Arabs and Middle East are in fact misleading. Arabs only account for 18% of the Muslim population across the world. Therefore, back to the first misconception discussed above, it is fraud to claim that Muslims are mainly Arabs while the fact is Muslims are not mainly Arabs.
