The muslim religion is one that is surrounded in mystery in our society. It is full of misconceptions that are mostly contributed by the biased media in the world. The media only portrays the radicals, people who take enjoyment in blowing things up and stabbing people. Today we learned about the real Muslim Religion, and it was very interesting to see them refute everything that is told by the media and politicians around the world.
Before we went to the mosque, they gave us some general guidelines for which we should dress. For the boys, it was pretty basic, Jeans and a long sleeved shirt. For the girls is when it got interesting, they also had to wear a long sleeve shirt ands most wore skirts, but they also had to wear a head wrap of some sort. This was kind of a shock to the system, the good thing is that most of the girls embraced the idea and took it in stride. When we arrived at the Mosque a lady in full Muslim garb greeted us at the door, she told us that we would have to take our shoes off once we got inside and to step into the building with only our right foot. Once we climbed a set of stairs into the area where the actual prayer took place, we had to separate by gender. The men sat in front, while the women had to sit in the back. On the wall was a board that displayed all the times that that days prayers were.
We sat in this place for the next hour or so while the lady and the mosque’s imam explained to us about the Muslim religion. This was a very informative experience. She explained to us that the word Islam means to submit, or to submit to the one true god. She taught us how the Muslim religion reaches into every part of daily life, from what times you have to pray to what you can eat. We also learned what the 5 pillars of the Muslim religion are. The basis of the Muslim religion is that everything is predestined, including death. This means that God has planned every single death out. One of the major pillars is the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is required to make at least once in their life. We also had a large discussion about how terrorism fits in with the Muslim religion (spoiler alert: it does not).
Now I ask you all a question. What is the extent of media bias that people of the Muslim face faith on a daily basis?
I think that because I myself am not a Muslim, I can't completely and accurately answer this question. However, it seems to me that is is to a pretty large extent. I know in my community at home that there is a lot of prejudice towards muslims, and on my local news too. I also think it's important to remember that different news sources have prejudices towards different groups. Some favor Muslims, some favor Jews, some favor others. As a whole, I think there is a pretty strong bias though.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I can answer this fully because I am pretty sheltered from it and not exposed to this on a daily basis. I believe that news outlets have bias towards different groups and it matters to which ones we look to. I think that sometimes they are portrayed more positively and sometimes it's more negative. I believe that there has certainly been a stereotype created around Muslim people, which is connected with terrorism and isn't very positive. There are also a lot of times when they are defended though, but there is definitely always some bias surrounding them.
ReplyDeleteThe media blows everything out of proportion, which negatively impacts Muslims. Although we do not experience it from their side, it is easy to witness how people treat or are afraid of Muslims. If only they would learn the truth behind Islam, not what the media says, none of this would be a norm. They face this misunderstanding daily across the world. Sure some people act this way just because Muslims are different, but most of this issue comes from the media.
ReplyDeleteI think that the media generalizes to such an extreme extent that blows terrorism in the name of Islam out of proportion. The generalizations and news harbor great ignorance in the public and many people are still unsure about the specifics of Islam and how it works. I think this tiyul really opened our eyes to the reality of Islam and the people in it, and its important for others to have this experience as well.
ReplyDeleteI think media portrays all muslims the same, though there are only a few extremists that put the name out there. It's sad, being the Essene I am, I just wish that there is no need to fight in the first place and I think that too many people are scared and xenaphobic because of those few people.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I think that the media shows us that all the muslims are extreme and want to just harm everyone. This is not true at all, when going to the mosque I realized that the muslims were very similar to us in many ways and being welcomed into the mosque with open arms to teach us about their religion, shows how they are normal people who want peace with everyone and want to teach other about their religion so people do not see them as crazy terrorists.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think this is quite an obvious question and has many answers. The obvious part is the small percentage of the people who identify as Muslim have shifted the paradigm of the peaceful religion to a terrorizing group of savages. At the same time the vast Muslim community has not done enough in my mind to separate themselves from these attacks. In the end the media obviously portrays the Islamic faith in a bad light, and a huge amount of education and dialogue is needed to fix their reputation.
ReplyDeleteAlong with some of my fellow students, I don't think I'm in the place to answer this question. I think that Muslims interpret the media that's about them differently than we do, just as we may interpret media about topics like Israel, for example, different from they do. At the end of the day, Islam is a faith that unites them as a people, just as Judaism is a faith that unites us. There are good and bad people from all religions, and as it is okay for those people to be judged, the religion as a whole shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteI think that the media portrays most muslims as violent people, but the problem is not all of them are like that. The vast majority are nice, peaceful people who just want to live their lives unbothered. It's a shame that they become grouped with the radicals who are actually bad people. I don't think that just because they're muslim they should be treated any different. Only the radicals who hurt and kill people should be blamed. The media should make it clear that not all muslims are bad, the ones who are radical and extreme are the ones who do the most harm.
ReplyDeleteI think that the way the media portrays muslims and Islam as a whole is inaccurate. A majority of muslims in the world are peaceful people who preach the peaceful side of Islam, how it was truly meant to be interpreted. However, the radical people who interpret Islam in a violent get a massive amount of attention from the media. I think that this is because the radicals are a dramatic story and make the media companies a lot of money. The media should change its focus from being solely on radicalized Islam to portraying Islam in a balanced fashion.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the things media says about Muslims are extremely inaccurate. Islam and violence are something the media has put together to get attention, whether or not it is accurate at all. The majority of the people are peaceful and want no part in the grouping of being terrorists.
ReplyDeleteThe media often covers negative stories because people seem to find them more interesting and they get more of a reaction. They can be misleading because these stories only represent a very small part of the Muslim population.
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