Sociology Essay: Examining Islamophobia, Stereotypes, and Terrorism

This sociology essay examines the pervasive issue of Islamophobia, exploring common stereotypes about Muslims and their association with terrorism. It critiques the misrepresentation of Islam, emphasizing the religion's core values of compassion and love, while also addressing the impact of extremist groups. The essay analyzes how prejudiced attitudes and hate crimes affect the Muslim community, highlighting the importance of combating Islamophobia and promoting religious harmony. It provides insights into the social and cultural implications of these issues, supported by external website links and references to relevant sociological studies and news articles. The essay concludes by suggesting educational and interpersonal strategies to foster understanding and acceptance within society, emphasizing the need for open dialogue and the building of relationships to counter misinformation and prejudice. The essay uses various resources to support the arguments.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1SOCIOLOGY
Topic for Discussion 1: Islam Stereotypes about Islamic Non-tolerance towards Non-
Islamic People:
The Islam religion followers are often believed to be the extremist, exclusive group
which has a disdainful attitude towards any non-Islamic person, and they believe in vandalizing
and ravishing the lives of the non-Christians in the name of God and Quran. However, this is a
highly fallacious opinion as innumerable chapters of the Quran dictate its followers to exhibit
compassion and love for fellow creatures, regardless of religious or ethnic backgrounds:
“You will never enter Paradise until you believe. And you will not believe until you love one
another.”
Most of the times, the internet videos, many of which are fake, keep on fooling and deluding
people, and although on several occasions the ISIS members have found to have beheaded the
innocent Christians and Jews, the Quran nor does the Islam religion justify such vicious acts. It
depends on the discretion of the religious followers, and not on the religion that determines the
violent actions of the Islamic people.
Topic for Discussion 2: The Islam Religion Followers are identified as Terrorists:
While recent incidents of violent terrorist attacks have spread much panic amongst the
people regarding ISIS members, the association of the Muslim people with terrorist groups such
as ISIS and Al Qaeda have made Islam religion synonymous with terrorism. This is high time to
remember that Islam is but a religion, where 90% of the people are Sunni followers, and 10%
follow the Shi’a sect, with a minority of people following the extremist Wahhabism and

2SOCIOLOGY
Salafism, as followed by the ISIS members. It becomes clearly evident that less than 5% of the
people belonging to the Islam religion can be said to be the followers of the extremist and radical
sect of Islam. It is important to note in this regard that a recent research has pointed out that
while the American people have always been prejudiced about the Islam followers, and are
threatened by the presence, most of the terrorists in the US are American citizens and not the
Islam intruders.
Topic for Discussion 3: Muslim People are Often Accused of having Association with
Terrorism:
On a recent trip to Skegness, a Muslim family was being accused of having association
with terrorist groups, simply because the women travelling with the family were wearing hijabs,
and this was the only reason why they were being treated as aliens. Such form of prejudiced
attitude towards the Islam people as well as Islam-phobia is itself a hate crime, because these
erroneous perceptions about the Muslim community do impact socio-cultural stability. The Islam
followers, especially the women, are easily identified as Islamic people, because of their
religious dresses, and this results in Islamophobic abuse on Muslim women, associating them
with the terrorists. Owing to religious prejudices and parochial thoughts of people, often the
Muslim people fall prey to hate crimes. It is important to raise awareness amongst the people
across the globe that not all Islam religion followers are a threat to the society.
Topic for Discussion 4: Why is it Important to Stop Islamophobia?
There is no gain stating the importance of combating Islamophobia on an urgent basis, as
there is always an emerging and ever increasing rise in anti-Islam discourse surfacing on the
popular media as well as blogosphere. Hence, it is highly important to promote religious

3SOCIOLOGY
integration and harmony amongst the people. It is important to educate and raise awareness
amongst the people of the non-Islam community about the importance of building a relation with
the with the Islam followers, and believing in the universal goodness of mankind. However, it is
not sufficient to simply educate the people, as it is more important to foster intimate
interpersonal relationship, that can set an example before the people.
Topic for Discussion 5: How to Stop Islamophobia?
In order to combat the problem of Islamophbia, first of all, it is important to educate
people and promote the idea of building social relationship with the Muslim. This can be done by
entering into trade agreements with the Islam countries such as Pakistan and the countries in the
Middle East. Next, it is important to note that the major problem with the Islam population is that
they are low in population and thus it may be tough for the US people to promote a wide
adoption of acceptance of Muslims until more people actually come into contact with practicing
Muslims. Hence, more documentary movies need to be released in the US suggesting that
terrorism has got nothing to do with the religious view of an individual.
Website Link 1:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/five-common-stereotypes-about-muslims-
debunked_us_578e6d9ae4b004b4c9a37e78
This link is of sociological importance as it shows how the Islamic population are often
misconstrued as people with ill motives, which definitely does affect the social relation of the
Muslim and non-Muslim people, which in turn distorts people’s perception towards other
religions. This helps in creating social taboos, and the website is of much sociological
significance as it sheds light on the ill effects of such parochial views on social harmony.

4SOCIOLOGY
Website Link 2:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/31/most-terrorists-in-the-u-s-since-911-
have-been-american-citizens-or-legal-residents-infographic/#4c7032163d89
Although the above link is derived from a Forbes online newspaper, it should be
remembered that the particular article that has been cited is of sociological significance as it
offers statistical evidence of how sociological facts are more than often distorted by the
prejudiced people suffering from religious dogma. The website offers comprehensive
information about the happenings around the world and interpretation of the same by noteworthy
writers, and yet this particular article published in the website discusses a sociological issues of
hate crimes and communal riots and violence, a major problem of the society.
Website Link 3:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslim-family-skegness-trip-accused-of-
being-terrorists-islamophobia-a7220001.html
The above link is also of high sociological significance as it helps in enlightening the
readers on an important sociological issue-the issue of communal violence stemming from
religious prejudices.
Website Link 4:
http://www.asanet.org/press-center/press-releases/911-merged-us-immigration-and-terrorism-
efforts-latinos-expense-study-finds
The above link helps in gaining an insight into the reason of combating a sociological crisis, the
problem of communal disharmony and religious and cultural conflicts.

5SOCIOLOGY
Website Link 5:
http://www.wnd.com/2017/10/muslim-mafia-trains-teachers-to-combat-islamophobia/
The above link is also of great sociological importance as it helps in underlining the ways
through which it is possible to combat a sociological issue that has infested the society in today’s
world.

6SOCIOLOGY
Reference List:
England, C. 2017. Muslim family accused of being 'terrorists' on trip to Skegness. [online] The
Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslim-family-
skegness-trip-accused-of-being-terrorists-islamophobia-a7220001.html [Accessed 18 Oct. 2017].
McCarthy, N. 2017. Forbes Welcome. [online] Forbes.com. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/31/most-terrorists-in-the-u-s-since-911-
have-been-american-citizens-or-legal-residents-infographic/#5a12c2523d89 [Accessed 18 Oct.
2017].
Moore, A. 2017. ‘Muslim Mafia’ trains teachers to combat ‘Islamophobia’. [online] WND.
Available at: http://www.wnd.com/2017/10/muslim-mafia-trains-teachers-to-combat-
islamophobia/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2017].