Why Does Western Culture Assimilate Islam With Terrorism & Muslim Culture With Vulgarity
“Are you sure it’s safe?” I was asked this question so often in the month preceding my time in the Middle East that I myself almost started to believe that living in Jordan would pose a threat to my safety and well-being. In the summer of 2018 before my junior year of high school, I was selected for the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a seven-week fully-funded immersive experience to learn a language important to national security, in my case, Arabic. My family and friends were thrilled for me to have this amazing opportunity, but before, during, and after the program, the westernization of their prejudices shined through, and it was clear how sheltered the United States is from Muslim culture. Due to the tense security relations with the Middle East, this state department program was very strict on our attire throughout my seven weeks abroad. My wardrobe consisted of floor-length skirts, loose-fitting pants, long sleeves, and the infrequent modest T-shirt. On occasion, we were expected to dress our heads, whether it was a hijab or a small scarf depended on the situation, and before this experience, I had never realized the professional and religious respect that can come out of a mere outfit choice.
In the month prior to NSLI-Y, I stressed and struggled in trying to decide how to express my individuality to seventeen other teenagers I had never met before. The added stressor of the weather, intense dry heat all summer long, and the fact that I had never experienced such strict social norms before did not make any of my packing decisions any easier. As a swimmer and multi-sport athlete, when I’m not in the pool I am used to wearing running shorts and tank tops all summer long. Suitably so, when I embarked on this foreign adventure to a place hotter than a pool deck in mid-July; a place so far from home it took two days in airports to get there; a place where the only people I know are 17 teenagers from around the country who I had known for less than a week; a place that demands 6 hour school days of classical Arabic classes; a place where communities prosper because of religious and societal struggle rather in spite of it; a place with unending delicious homemade food; a place rich with affluent communities and copious culture, all of which are hidden from the American media by a government who stigmatizes the Middle East as a land of terrorists; a place that would teach me life lessons, rebuild my morals, and affirm my passion to servant leadership; when I left for this place I was terrified, and because I could not admit to being afraid of all of the above, I placed my fear on the single difference of socially acceptable clothing.
When I arrived in Amman, I was starstruck by how such a different world could welcome eighteen foreign English speaking teenagers into their community. Starting from my first day of classes I constantly doubted my attire, and whether or not my clothing was modest or professional enough. Nonetheless, I immediately felt at home, realizing that this summer would change my life, no matter the apparel. I had never felt so confident with my abilities and intellect, although it wasn’t until near the end of the trip that I realized why.
I was sitting on a cliff above the Wadi Rum desert watching the sunrise, beneath me lay a tapestry handwoven by the Bedouins who had graciously extended their reserve to us for the few days we stayed in the desert. As picturesque and surreal as it sounds, at this moment I had a life-altering realization: the cultural and linguistic education I was gaining from this trip was in no way limited by the conservative attire I had worn for the past 4 weeks, if anything, my experience was amplified not only the conservative attire but also by Islam as a whole.
The privacy and dignity that I have within myself were secured. Throughout this experience, I discovered many unseen aspects of middle eastern culture, and the personal growth I experienced was not solely due to my newfound realization: the freedom of expression through clothing when exercised in a modest form is liberating. My growth can be attributed mostly to the accepting and community-driven middle eastern culture, aspects that are often shielded by “ISIS” headlines in America. I’ve been home for over a year now and although I often conform to the social norms of being a teenager, I still truly feel like I have the most power in a modest wardrobe, one of the many perspectives I would have never realized without this experience.
NSLI-Y inspired fueled my research and overall ignited my passion to investigate why our exposure to this culture is so limited. Returning home and having condemnatory conversations with my friends as to how or why I felt safe in Jordan, has intrigued me: why, according to western morals and expectations, is Middle Eastern culture and Islam as a whole misunderstood as vulgar and violent?
There is no simple answer to this question, as everyone’s worldview is shaped by their environment, predispositions, and oftentimes media influences; but when addressing the United States’ view towards the Middle East, islamophobia is the phenomenon that describes it best. According to Merriam-Webster, Islamophobia is the “irrational fear” of Muslims, those who practice Islam, or Islamic culture as a whole. This is most often seen in the form of discrimination, whether that may be verbal, such as derogatory slurs, or physical, such as hate crimes. Many argue that hatred towards Muslims can be drawn in correlation with attacks on the United States such as the 9/11 bombing, but the end of World War II is when the Arab World was given its first modern truly bad perception by the western world. In 1948 the first Jewish state in over 20 centuries was created, Israel, as the Jews were granted this part of Palestine between Gaza and the West Bank as a safe haven.
The millions of people already living here were less than pleased, as life slowly started to deteriorate, but sharply escalated in the twenty-first century. According to an article from the BBC, “Why are Israel and the Palestinians Fighting Over Gaza?”, Israel separated from Gaza in 2005, followed by the Hamas, a group considered a terrorist organization by most of the world, winning the elections and taking control. The article continues to state that “Hamas (still) refuses to recognize Israel as a country” and will utilize violence in any way to allow Palestinians to return back to their home. Ever since this separation, there has been tension between the two, and Israel now “controls its borders and limits who can get in and out.”(BBC) As our previous engagement as one of the Allies in World War II aligns the majority of our interests with Israel, the United States is often fed their side of the story. This brings the historical trend of islamophobia to the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City; an attack that, for many, confirmed their suspicions of a correlation between Muslims and violence.
As a society, in the aftermath of a tragic event, we often switch from grief to rage in a heartbeat, especially after a tragedy like 9/11 that affected an entire nation. Joshua Zaffos states it only took a matter of days for some Americans to blame the work of a “terrorist group that draped itself in a violent version of Islam” on all Muslim Americans. Zaffos goes onto exhibit many examples of this shortly after 9/11/2001, from a Sikh man killed for wearing a turban, to a Christian storekeeper murdered for being Egyptian, to a multitude of other Americans killed when perceived to be Muslim.
This article continues to exhibit the aftermath of this terrorist attack on Muslims with a case study done by Professor Peek. Peek interviewed hundreds of Muslim-Americans after 9/11 to examine the impact it had not only on the overall perception of their religion but in their daily lives as well. She found that the common theme between all of her subjects was a feeling a shame or guilt projected upon these men and women by society, based merely on their religion. Before 9/11, Peek states, people would recognize that her subjects were of different ethnicity and possibly realize that they practice a different religion, but now, “being Muslim became a very significant thing”.(Peek) These normal citizens of America felt as though their religion could no longer be shown in a positive light. Her studies also show a surprising statistic that the majority of non-Muslim Americans surveyed had little to no knowledge about the religion or culture of Islam before 9/11; a frightening fact as this means many Americans base their opinions of Muslims solely on this one event. Finally, Peek shines light on a key aspect that contributes to Islamophobia: the fact that since 9/11 the “public vilification of Muslims” has been rapidly increasing and normalized.(Peek) Specifically in the so-called wise words of our elected officers, policymakers, and representatives.
In recent history, President Donald Trump exhibits this public vilification in his legislative efforts to prohibit members of seven specific Muslim countries from entering the United States. The evidence he used to rationalize reasoning for this ban, was the September 11th terrorist attack. The vilification can be seen in his lack of substantiated evidence behind this, as an analysis done by the Cato Institute shows that no men who aided in the 9/11 attack were from any of these countries. In fact, the report goes onto show that no man from any of these countries harmed any American through an act of terror from 1975 to 2015. President Trump not nearly the only one, many political representatives vilify Muslims and other minorities, from campaigning to office, ignorant is present even in our elected officials.
Kevin L. Nedal, in his 2015 paper, successfully concludes that the “hateful rhetoric” towards all Muslims aids to socially normalize stereotyping based on specific demographic characteristics, which then leads to aggressive discrimination. In this paper, he not only stands up for women but disputes the common belief that women are inferior in Islam. He continues in this paper by highlighting the discrimination that is impeded upon Muslims by all facets of society, even those with political efficacy: that Nonwhite immigrant groups are viewed as perpetual foreigners.
Due to the September 11, 2001 bombing by Al Qaeda, and several other more recent attacks by ISIS on the Western Hemisphere, terrorism and Islam are portrayed as one and the same, specifically through the media and social perceptions.
