This semester has been both enlightening and challenging. Enlightening in the sense that I feel that I have gained a greater understanding of something I believed I knew, at least on an academic level, but turns out I knew nothing about in practice. It has been challenging in the sense that through learning and gaining knowledge about Islam and how Muslims practice their religion varies globally, I have had to reexamine my own beliefs, challenge them when necessary, and reform them to reflect the insight achieved. Often times, this is easier said than done.
One of the misconceptions I had to dispel, and many people believe similarly, is that Islam is a global monolith. That Islam and Muslims constitute a single, unified entity that is working toward some common end. The fact of the matter is, however, that this could not be further from the truth. While it is true that Muslims worldwide are united by their common faith and the tenets of that faith, much the same as Christians worldwide, how Muslims practice and live their faith is as diverse as the persons who adhere. This was a challenge for me to truly understand and grasp. Maybe because it is easier for us as individuals, societies, or civilizations, to lump everything into categories to process the world around us, an attempt distinguish our place in the world from those around us. Maybe it makes us comfortable to hold fast to certain ideas that we have grown up with, or perhaps not. For whatever reason, examining a culture or religion that one has "known" his or her whole life to be "wrong," or "different," can be challenging, and in some ways can be disconcerting. But to better understand ourselves, and why we believe certain things, it helps to know where these ideas come from, and where they might lead us if we aren't careful. Learning about and understanding the "Orientalist" lens through which we in the west often view the world, whether we realize it or not, has especially impacted me. Understanding the impact Orientalism has had on how I think about the world has helped me critique my own presumptions and conclusions not only about Islam and Muslims, but also about anyone or any culture different from mine or one that I don't understand initially.
What I have attempted to exhibit through my blog while not repeating old clichés is that stereotypes and misconceptions permeate our media, which is the source of many people's information on any given subject. Maybe it sounds a bit trite, because the media seems to get blamed for everything, but images of Islam, Muslims, and Arabs are overwhelmingly negative when any discussion, or even mention, of the subjects occurs. Think about it: When is the last time you've heard of, or have seen images of, peaceful occurrences in the Middle East? When is the last time you saw images of Muslims praying when the subject wasn't about "extremist Imams" or some other negative, scary buzzword? I'm willing to bet that it hasn't been very many times. Then ask yourself: How would it make me feel to see positive images of Muslims or of Islam? Would you believe it if you saw it or be doubtful or suspicious? I am not trying to suggest that there are not violent individuals who claim to be Muslim, but those people exist in every religion, they are certainly the minority, and they are almost always have political goals, not religious ones. The point is this: these negative feelings and suspicions come from somewhere; we aren't born with prejudice, its created, learned, and taught. How is it acceptable to pass judgment on a religious population of over 1 billion based on the actions of perhaps .01% of that population? Its not, and I believe it is important to acknowledge and understand these prejudices in order to see past labels such as "Muslim," and to see others as individuals in the context of their respective cultures and beliefs; and to above all, respect those things.
Throughout this class, my own prejudices and presumptions have been brought to light and challenged, as I have learned that Islam and the people who practice it do not comprise one single entity. It is a global religion, the practice of which varies from region-to-region as much as the cultures of the globe do. It is a religion that has impacted many cultures, has a rich, vibrant history, and has inspired almost 2,000 years of art, architecture, music, poetry, and scientific achievement. Muslim communities around the world have been shaped by political and social forces just as our society here in the US has been. How an American Muslim practices and lives out his or her faith may not be the same as how a French, Indonesian, Irish, or Iranian lives out his or her faith. Once these things are understood, we can progress as a people in a new era of mutual understanding and respect.
