AMERICANS’ UNDERSTAND OF ISLAM SHAPES BY ISLAMOPHOBIC NEWS

AMERICANS’ UNDERSTAND OF ISLAM SHAPES BY ISLAMOPHOBIC NEWS

Addressing misconceptions about Islam, a Muslim scholar has emphasized that a narrow media focus have played a hand in shaping America’s views of the Muslim world, resulting in increasing anti-Muslim bias.

“Americans’ understanding of Islam has unfortunately been shaped by the news,” Feisal Abdul Rauf, said the former imam of the al Farah mosque in New York City on October 15.

“While most of the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims are good throughout the world, the things that hit the news are the things that shape our perceptions.”

An author of many books, Imam Abdul Rauf’s writings include “Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America,” has for many decades championed good relations between the Muslim world and the West.

While Islam is not a religion of violence, Rauf said, the media focus on the atrocities of a few have shaped US opinions of the Muslim world.

“When the preacher in Florida – who didn’t have 35 members in his flock and nobody in the evangelical church even knew him – when he threatened to burn the Quran, it was flashed all over the world, and Muslims in the world felt this was what all Americans wanted to do,” he said.

“That’s the kind of thing that’s happening on both sides,” he added. “We have to battle that in every possible way.”

Although some terrorists carry out their evil plans in the name of Islam, Imam Abdul Rauf emphasized that Muslims are not terrorists.

The scholar, who is expected in Missoula this month, will give a lecture about Muslims and non-Muslims relations and the media. The program is sponsored by the Montana World Affairs Council.