Nearly four in 10 Americans hold an unfavorable view of Islam and Muslims. That number has remained steady since 9/11. Several factors contribute to this negative perception, certainly none greater than Muslims, albeit a few, committing terrorism in the name of Islam. The media exasperates this negativity, as aptly noted in Edward Said's 1981 classic "Covering Islam." However, some media outlets are more egregious than others. A 2011 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that the majority of Fox News viewers perceive that Muslims want to establish sharia (Islamic law) in America and express the distressing view that Muslims are NOT an important part of America's religious fabric. Nearly seven in 10 viewers of Fox News believe that the values of Islam are at odds with American values. In contrast fewer than four in 10 viewers of public television hold such negative perceptions.
The difference between Fox News viewers and those who watch Public Television is palpable. Spurring the gulf of difference is the content of programming. Fox News did not find anything morally objectionable with airing the virulently Islamophobic movie "Obsession: The Threat of Radical Islam." While cognizant of the threat from those who kill in the name of Islam, public television and radio has better grasped the importance of providing viewers and listeners with the opportunity to develop a more holistic view of Islam. The fact that four in 10 Americans have never socially interacted with a Muslim, necessitates such holism.
On Friday, July 6 at 9 p.m. EST, PBS will nationally broadcast a documentary titled, "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" narrated by Susan Sarandon. The documentary is a timely reminder about the many contributions made by Muslims to art and culture. As an educator, I am looking forward to this documentary as it adds to a growing collection of well-made documentaries that provide a semblance of balance to the general propensity in the media to stereotype Muslims.
Recently I was conducting a Sunday school class for a group of Muslim teenagers at my mosque. To my great disappointment, but not surprise, I found that the Muslims are almost as ill-informed as my non-Muslim elderly students who attend the continuing education class on Islam that I teach at my university. Both groups did not have an appreciation for the many innovations that the Muslim world has given us, which we take for granted in our daily lives. The word "coffee" has its genesis in the Arabic qahwa, which became the Turkish kahve, then the Italian caffé. The game of chess originated in India but it was introduced to Europe by the Moors in Spain during their 10th century rule. The word "rook" comes from the Persian rukh, which means a chariot. A millennium before the Wright brothers, Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to build a flying machine. He had constructed a device that allowed him to stay in flight for over 10 minutes. He crash landed and correctly concluded that he had forgotten to give his invention the tail it needed to stabilize while landing. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to King George IV. Many of the modern-day surgical instruments are nearly the same design as devised by a Muslim physician named al-Zahrawi in the 10th century. Almost half a century before Louis Pasteur, children in Turkey were being vaccinated to inoculate against small pox.
The British non-profit and non-religious organization the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilization through their 1001 Inventions exhibits and research is helping to reintroduce these facts to not only the Western world but also to Muslims. They have held exhibitions and film shows from New York to Istanbul.
Criticism of Muslims, when warranted, is a legitimate exercise in public discourse. But our national interests are ill-served if we only criticize and never appreciate. We are still paying the price of our many adventures in the Muslim world often initiated on a foundation of misguided views about the beliefs, history and culture of Muslims. Recently, TIME Magazine ran a cover story asking the rhetorical question "Is America Islamophobic?"
I do not believe so. PBS airing yet another documentary about Islam suggests that a small but critical mass of Americans remain open minded about better understanding other cultures and religions. Critics of public radio and television, I am sure, will accuse PBS of a pro-Islam bias. And many Muslims may hastily conclude that the negative attitude of Fox News viewers is representative of the general unawareness of Islam in America. PBS's Friday night national broadcast provides both critics countervailing facts to reconsider their stereotyping.
Parvez Ahmed, Ph.D. is a Fulbright Scholar and Associate Professor of Finance at the University of North Florida.
Michael Wolfe: Islamic Art: In Paradise There Is Always Water
Robert Gardner: Islamic Architecture: Mirror of the Invisible World
Neil Padukone and Colin Christopher: Do Abrahamic Faiths Have a Monopoly on Truth?
David Briggs: Is It Time to Reconsider the Term Islamist?
guess truth hurts hey?
To be accepted among American societies Islam has been presented as a civil and peace-loving religion which any discerning person knows is not true. The Quran which is Islam's law book instructs all Muslims to war against and to kill the infidel who will not submit to Allah's teachings. Your belief is a Theo political ideal that will never be accepted by the American people who can see, hear and feel the pain of inhumane treatment Muslims commit against their own people of the book. Submission to what? Totalitarianism! Islam's world view is not welcome in America.
But to all Muslims living in America, there is hope for salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
Plus who burned the library at Alexsandia...after taking many scroll away from the library??? and the other techniques?......Lets not be one sided..truth is truth.
By the way you are saying all that happend in India.Great.. was it written in Hindu only? What happend to the other 1600 languages and the smart man amongs them....Please remember Ghandiji's 7 Social principals before you jump the gun..
Switzerland alone, with a population of less than 8 Million, has been granted 47.188 patents within the same time frame. These shocking numbers, more than anything, demonstrate the severe lack of contribution. This goes for science and technology as well as human rights.
[1] http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/cst_all.htm
In the twelfth century, Latin translations of his work on the Indian numerals introduced the decimal positional number system to the Western world.[5] His Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations in Arabic.
In Renaissance Europe, he was considered the original inventor of algebra, although we now know that his work is based on older Indian or Greek sources.[6] He revised Ptolemy's Geography and wrote on astronomy and astrology.
a) The word "coffee" has Arabic roots.
I'm sure without their help the rest of the world would be calling it something else. Wow!
b) Chess was introduced to the west by Arab Muslims.
Note, Muslims didn't invent it... they simply transported it from one place to another. Wow!
c) "A millennium before the Wright brothers, Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to build a flying machine". (all of which were failures).
Note, this is not the first time someone has tried (and failed) to fly. It was attempted around 400BC in Greece and around 200 AD in China.
d) Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim.
Note, again, this wasn't invented by a Muslim, it was simply moved from one place to another.
Is this the best you can come up with? Delivery men and a failed inventor.
The writer did close with a real innovator named al-Zahrawi who really does deserve a lot of respect. It's too bad he chose so many weak examples before him.
but coffee wasn't invented by an arab you can search wikipedia about the origin of coffee
it's a feel good article but at the same time misleading, we all know this
I hope this PBS documentary has the effect of making more Muslims long for its glory years of invention and science, and to movate them in increasing numbers to tell the supercessionists, the Islamists and the extremists to take a hike, to their faces. A great civilization has lost its way (combination of outside colonialism and inside leadership made incompetent by greed/pettiness/false pride). Only with intent, planning, strength, courage and determination can it get back on course. It may involve a re-invention or modernization of the religion itself. Christianity (reformation) and Judaism (distancing from the Temple cult and some of the harsh biblical punishments) had to do it publicly and clearly. Islam probably will have to go through something like it.
Seriously.
It was produced by the same professional anti-Islam group (Clarion Fund) which gave us The Third Jihad (also highly Islamophobic -- so much so, that the NYPD stopped showing it to officers, for that reason).
Meet The Donors Behind The Clarion Fund’s Islamophobic Documentary ‘The Third Jihad’
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/01/24/410003/donors-clarion-fund-third-jihad/
The Clarion Fund is led by Frank Gaffney and Daniel Pipes, two leading professional anti-Islam pundits.
Zuhdi Jasser, the American Muslim who sees Islam in an amazingly identical way to the anti-Islam view, sits on Clarion's Board, as well.
Zuhdi Jasser Should Disavow Ties To Islamophobic Clarion Fund
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/04/13/464034/jasser-clarion-fund/
Not Islamophobic?
Seriously?
When people irrationally fear something based on misunderstanding .... that's phobic, by definition.
Could it be that you think they should be believed only when they agree with you?
All these are facts that exist in hadith and quran and there is no doubt about it. But still you defend this figure... why? it is either because you are benefiting financially or because deep inside you are like him.
The Enlightenment was an Anglo-Dutch enterprise to a great extent, and these days, when a certain intolerant religion is baring its fangs all over the world, the Enlightenment and Dutch values are more important than ever.