Beating Your Stereotype Of Muslims
By: Mostafa Elgayar
Tags: Religion, Muslim, Islam, Stereotypes

Extremists and Terrorists

They have reduced Islam to slitting throats, burning schools and oppressing women, and killing religious minorities, terrorising and violating the human rights of people in the most blatant manner possible. Read more.

Photo by Hosam Katan/Reuters on The Daily Beast

These people do the bombings, the killings and terrorizing acts. They are the reason why innocent people die and they play a big role in the increasing Islamophobia all around the world these days. They do not represent Islam, they never did, and they never will. All Muslims renounce them, we criminalize them and do not respect them, they are terrorists and no one believes in what they do. They have their own strict and extreme ideologies which are wrong and against every single rule of Islam and our prophet Muhammad.

If this is your understanding of Muslims, you have to rest assured these are not Muslims, they are criminals using the name of a merciful religion. You cannot blame an entire religion based on the acts of some outlaws using its name, this would be unjust to Islam, and even to yourself.

Sheiks and Religious Wise Men

They usually spend most of their time in mosques, praying and getting closer to god, helping those in need with wise words of advice and helping them with any doubts or questions they have about God or Islam, they are usually the most educated people about religion, and they are sin-free to the public.

Sheikh Youssef El-Shaarawy

They are also quite rare these days because due to the westernization in the last two centuries, the idea of not letting religion limit certain pleasures has increased the probability of people going for a more free lifestyle than being religious.

To be fair, these people themselves have a spectrum of their own, because some of them are extreme and strict but not to the degree of killing. For example, some of them would say listening to music is totally forbidden (even if it doesn’t distract you away from God) and some of them would say it’s not as long as it doesn’t distract you away from God.

Normal Muslims

They follow Islam by the book, try not to miss any of the five daily prayers, refrain from most of the sins, they are the majority of Muslims, they live happily and they accept their lifestyle, of course, they might get more religious, or less conservative than they are.

This is a list of “Al-Kabair”, the major sins that most Muslims do their best to avoid them. Read more.

Photo by: Suhaib Salem/Reuters from ABC

According to the western culture rules of open-mindedness, they are definitely closeminded, because they follow Islam rules, not the western. So there are a lot of things that can sound normal, but they are not, because they are sins. For example, homosexuality is forbidden, as well as pre-marital sex, alcohol, pork, and gambling. Women should wear Hijab, accompanied by moderate and conservative clothes.

They usually stay away from some of the privileges and pleasures that the people from the next category are fine with it, such as watching western movies, listening to western music, weekly non-alcoholic night outs, girls having non-ear piercings, girls traveling alone, boys and girls talking/engaging in non-sexual relationships before both parents’ approval/marriage, and several other things.

It is worth noting though, that such restrictions are enforced by parents but aren’t explicitly forbidden in Islam, it’s more of a tradition thing and a fear of getting badly influenced from such a “free” lifestyle or less religious people.

Normal Muslims + A Pinch of West

That’s the category I personally fall in, we follow most major Islamic rules, staying away from all the major sins such as sex, alcohol, and gambling. We try not to miss any of the five daily prayers, which we usually miss due to focusing more on life rather than religion.

We enjoy more pleasures than normal Muslims as I mentioned previously. For example, we engage in non-sexual relationships, we go out every weekend, sometimes even weekdays. We watch movies and TV Shows more than anything, and we listen to foreign music. Girls can travel alone and some of them believe they do not have to wear Hijab.

The middle and high classes of the society are usually the dominants of this category. They care more about staying within the boundaries of religion, while not following some of its strict rules in order to cope with the rapid changing in our culture resulting from westernization.

A lump of West + A Pinch of Muslim

These people no longer care about Islam but might be willing to ask God for forgiveness at some point in their future, they are just called Muslims because they were born with it.

Normally they live like any western citizen and maybe more. Due to living in a society that oppresses sinful pleasures such as sex, alcohol, and gambling, the feeling of shame and guilt is more likely to cause addiction to these pleasures or other substances.

…oppression can cause addiction. ~ Understanding Internalized Oppression: A Theoretical Conceptualization of Internalized Subordination. (Page 108) Read Here.

The problem with these people is that they might be a bad influence on other people who aren’t so religious and are on the verge of committing sins. They are also a bad influence on the image of Islam because it prohibits such actions, and they do it and might even in some cases over-do it. Thus, they are false-representatives of Islam.