Media Representation of Muslims

This essay discusses the misrepresentation of Muslims by the media, highlighting specific incidents to substantiate the central question of the essay. It also emphasizes the power of social media in reclaiming the dignity of the Muslim community.

Running head: MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
Name of the Author
Name of the Student
Author Note

1MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
Immigration, Terrorism and Backwardness are the three aspects with which the muslim
community and Islam are associated with in the media discourses. The news broadcasting
agencies categorically highlight and portray the muslims as the perpetrator of the all antisocial
incidents, by neglecting the contribution that they make in the social setting where they are
placed. Also the fact that they too are victims of the crimes against humanity invariably is
ignored. Naturally the net result is that muslims and islam are misconstrued by the portrayal of
the media in a negative way. This particular essay shall be dealing with the issue of the
misrepresentation of the muslims by the media with specific emphasis on certain chosen
incidents to substantiate the central question of the essay ("Spreading Islamophobia:
Consequences Of Negative Media Representations", 2018).
In his lecture at the Afghan Canadian Islamic Community, in Toronto, British Shiite
Islamic Scholar Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani of Iraqi origin had said that the role of media in
portraying the muslims as backward and primitive is quite substantial. He had objected to the
fact that media houses categorically chooses people who have a very clichéd Islamic demeanour,
wearing a traditional Islamic head cap, cladded in long robes, sporting a huge beard like that of
Osama Bin Laden to represent them in social media for expressing their view on Islam and the
Qoran. Such persons in the opinion of Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani are the ones who have just
arrived from Pakistan and they find it very difficult to express themselves in English, and they
are clerics hold extremist opinions. While on the other hand, to oppose those clerics media pits a
handsomely dressed, highly educated, broadminded and articulate persons. This in the opinion of
Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani works wonders to establish the fact that muslims are the ones
who are incompatible with the western values and society. He had also expressed with a lot of
disdain that persons like him who are educated, articulate and have liberal values besides being

2MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
religious are not represented in media to speak about Islam, as that would defeat their purpose of
furthering the stereotypical image of islam and muslims to the world. The point which Dr. Sayed
Ammar Nakshawani had raised was extremely pertinent as just one part of the reality is
highlighted by the media. He is on one hand critical of the orthodoxies of islam and the muslims
and on the other hand he is also critical of how the muslims are portrayed which makes the world
feel like that all muslims are terrorists, extremists and backward, which is not the case ("Toronto
Lecture By British-Iraqi Shiite Scholar Sayed Ammar Nakshawani: Criticism Of Islam Is
Legitimate, Does Not Constitute Islamophobia", 2018).
The terrorist attack which had taken place at Stade de France, which had taken the lives
of a huge number of spectators. Media had highlighted the fact that the attack was launched by a
muslim origin but the fact that a muslim man had laid his life down in making an attempt to save
the lives of the people was somehow ignored ("The myth of a 'hero Muslim security guard' in
Paris", 2018). In this regard the issue of hijab in the country and the factor of tagging the muslim
population that resides in the banlieus, the French alternative of sub urban area of a city with
ignominy must be made in order to substantiate the central argument of the essay that the
muslims are represented in a wrong way to the world by the media. The debate over the issue of
women in France wearing the hijab, the Islamic headscarf covering the hair and neck of the
women became an issue heated debate in the country (Weaver, 2018).
Several strands of logic were provided to oppose the practice and support the imposition
of legal penalties on the offenders. Some had cited for the sake of maintain the security and for
making identification of potential offenders easier. Some others had cited the logic of secularism
which is one of the core principles of the constitution and the foundational basis of the Republic
of France. Wearing of the hijab at public places essentially meant a violation of the principle of

3MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
secularism, since hijab is essentially an expression of religious identity and the reluctance of the
women to give up on their hijab was portrayed by media as their attempt to take over the country
and pollute the social fabric of the country by their backward ideals and cultural practices. While
the reality was that the legal set up of the country had selectively made an attempt to infringe
upon the rights of the women belonging to Islamic faith freely (Diallo & Diallo, 2018).
Some of the women who had joined the protest movement had been living in the country
for quite a long period and they were citizens of the country as much as their white counterparts
were. However for protesting the wrong done to them, they were labelled as ones to cause a
cultural displacement in the country. Another logic levelled to condemn the practice of wearing
the hijab was that the women symbolized patriarchal oppression and culturally directed
subjugation of the women. The irony of the logic is that to all women it might not be oppression
or subjugation, and to some it was a matter of choice to be consciously be bound by a religious
obligation. Thus the media portrayal of hijab cladded women as oppressed and suppressed is
unfounded as that is based on depriving the women of their autonomy and agency (Delphy,
2015).
The immigrant muslim communities at various parts of Europe are found to be residing at
the ghettoed neighbourhoods. They are victims of both social and economic exclusion. The level
of poverty is very high over there and the level of education and development quite low. Which
naturally drives the youth of the regions to delinquency whereby they indulge in criminal
activities. Media portrays the crimes and injustice committed by the people following Islamic
faith with a strong fervor but then there is hardly any attempt to highlight the living conditions of
the people who live in those empoverished quarters of the cities of Europe ("‘The Social Ladder
Is Broken’: Hope and Despair in the French Banlieues", 2018). On one hand they are sidelined

4MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
for their religious and racial identity and on the other hand they are accused of causing problems
in the country by the media. For several years Europe had exploited the Middle East and the
African countries for resources, and when with the turn of 1970s that the obligation of supporting
immigrants from former colonies or in the contemporary period of taking in refugees from the
war zone of Syria and Iraq has arisen, the muslim population of those countries in Europe are
beig accused of taking over the living space meant for the Europeans. That is how the media has
portrayed the muslim immigrants when in reality they are the victims of the foreign policies and
imperialist strategies of the west in their countries.
In Australia, after the incident of a large scale of youth joining the ISIS in Syia, that the
muslims were once again victimized and that was the turning point in history when the
community started retaliating by taking to the social media. The way the media had highlighted
the fact that mosques are being used to indoctrinate people into activities of terrorism that the
entire community came under the brunt of ignominy (Matindoost, 2015). Responding to these
injustices and the wrongs done to the muslim people by defaming them through media portrayal
is something to which they are however not acquiescent to any longer. It is the media which has
defamed them and they are also taking resort to media for the sake of reclaiming their prestige
which rightfully belongs to them. Various movements such as the declaration of, “I am a muslim,
but not a terrorist”, over social media networks such as facebook, twitter, instagram has been
popularized ("I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist - Youthreporter", 2018). This has definitely
helped the muslims in revealing the truth, and lay claim to the dignity that they rightfully
deserve. On analysis of the incidents it can be found that the power of media is quite potent to
either make or mar the image of the muslim community, or any other community or individual.
However, it is the media itself which can be the sole antidote to the wrong done to the

5MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
community by hampering their image. It is the social media which has the power to enable the
muslims to show it to the world that the conception that media holds for them is wrong.

6MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
References
‘The Social Ladder Is Broken’: Hope and Despair in the French Banlieues. (2018). Retrieved
from https://www.thenation.com/article/the-social-ladder-is-broken-hope-and-despair-in-
the-french-banlieues/
Delphy, C. (2015). France’s feminists are colluding in oppression by supporting headscarf ban.
Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2015/jul/20/france-feminism-
hijab-ban-muslim-women
Diallo, R., & Diallo, R. (2018). Hijab: a very French obsession. Retrieved from
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/hijab-french-obsession-
180402135257398.html
I am a Muslim, and I am not a terrorist - Youthreporter. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.youthreporter.eu/en/beitrag/i-am-a-muslim-and-i-am-not-a-terrorist.11456/
#.XBNQ82bhXIU
Matindoost, L. (2015). Media representation of Muslim youth in Australia. Retrieved from
http://www.waccglobal.org/articles/media-representation-of-muslim-youth-in-australia
Spreading Islamophobia: Consequences Of Negative Media Representations. (2018). Retrieved
from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/spreading-islamophobia-consequences-of-
negative-media-representations_us_58fe682de4b06b9cb91963fb
The myth of a 'hero Muslim security guard' in Paris. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34845882

7MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIMS
Toronto Lecture By British-Iraqi Shiite Scholar Sayed Ammar Nakshawani: Criticism Of Islam
Is Legitimate, Does Not Constitute Islamophobia. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.memri.org/reports/toronto-lecture-british-iraqi-shiite-scholar-sayed-ammar-
nakshawani-criticism-islam
Weaver, M. (2018). Burqa bans, headscarves and veils: a timeline of legislation in the west.
Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/headscarves-and-
muslim-veil-ban-debate-timeline