Despite a range of efforts by organizations such as Mipsterz, Pew Research Center, The Australian Muslim Women’s Center for Human Rights, and Muslim.sg to increase awareness about diversity of Muslims and Muslim cultures across the world, the stereotypical belief that all Muslims are Arabs, and all Arabs are Muslim, remains to be prominent. There is a non-stop battle of repeatedly explaining to those outside the Islamic faith that Muslims come from all over the world and each person, community, society, and nation may have variations in the way they practice their faith(s), a rule of thumb that should also be applied to understanding the Muslim world.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case, making it exhausting to try to dismantle the stereotypical Muslim image that people possess. That being, Muslims are depressing people without any emotions other than anger. For instance, a #truestory that Ms. Ceyda, a university instructor in Türkiye, experienced while traveling overseas was:
“I spent four or five months in America ten years ago for my internship. They thought that all the people in Turkey cover their heads or girls do not talk to boys. They are so funny actually, when I went to Italy my mentor told me,’we thought that Muslim people are so strict, and they do not smile or are not positive at all, but with you, we realize that you’re somebody who is not different from us.’ ”
The shocking reality is that the 2 billion Muslims around the world are capable of various facial expressions beyond just scowling or grimacing, even expressions such as smiling or laughing. As humans, Muslims have emotions too! Different genders in the Muslim world do talk to each other, even if for no reason other than the unbelievably rare purpose of “communication.” The point here is not to deny the fact that due to conflicts or any other devastating reasons one could see an angry or a melancholy person who happens to be Muslim. However, according to common sense, people tend to not laugh or smile during tragedy (Muslim or not). Furthermore, not every Muslim woman wears the headscarf (hijab), despite it being part of the most generally accepted religious code of dressing for women in Islam. Mandatory hijab by country law is currently practiced in only two majority Muslim nations. In the rest of the 47 countries and beyond, it is not required by law with variations in the degree to which it is practiced.
It can be speculated that the media is to blame for these misperceptions and assume that they are carried out by non-Muslims only. However, in this blog, I also want to question how much of these stereotypes exist about each other within the Muslim world. I had conversations with friends about this and the answers I received were quite interesting. For example, when asked, Mr. Gökhan, a civil engineer in Türkiye, responded with:
“We can only follow them (other Muslims) in written and visual media, just like how non-Muslims know Muslim communities.”
Ms. Hajra, a university instructor from Pakistan, responded to the same question with:
“My knowledge of Muslims in other parts of the world is mostly from the media or I would say stereotypes that I have developed over time. For example, talking about the Muslims in the Middle East as a whole, we would say that their people are practicing the religion forced on them by the society. Or that sometimes they have to rebel against it, or it’s just that individual freedom is not there.”
Gökhan’s and Hajra’s self-critical responses are to be applauded, as they addressed pivotal points to help understand that the formation of some misperceptions about Muslims may not be exclusive to non-Muslims. During these conversations, there were quite a few people who also said “nothing” to their knowledge of “Muslims in other countries,” or associated Muslim-ness with Saudi Arabia first. What was more interesting, is that the immediate comment concerning Saudi Arabia being how strict they were in their practices, especially compared to their respective home nations. (Although, I must admit that I got some sense of inexplicable relief when my Muslim interviewees could at least specify the strictness to religious practices, but not to a restriction on smiling.)
These were brief interviews, which do not represent research-based data and are not meant to generalize Muslims’ perceptions of each other. Yet, they may still matter within the context of Middle Eastern and Arabic centric perceptions of Islam and Muslims that are also coming from the Muslim world. Muslims make up a huge community of almost 2 billion people, who practically exist in every continent (including Antarctica!) with endless cultural practices that are embedded into our religious ones, and each with unique historical backgrounds. It is impossible to know everything about ourselves, but lack of knowledge cannot be an excuse for perpetuating stereotypes.
***************
NOTES:
- Interviews reported in this blog were conducted in the summer of 2019.
- Some quotes have been translated (from Turkish) while some were already in English. They have all been edited for purposes of clarity, readability, and flow by remaining loyal to the original meaning.
________________________________________________________________________
Derya Doğan is a double-major PhD candidate in Education Policy Studies and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. She explores citizenship education and contemporary Islamic schooling practices in secularized contexts across the world in her research.
********************
Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions represented in this blog solely belong to the author. Muslim Voices Public Scholarship Project is not liable for the opinions presented.
Leave a Reply