They're just misunderstood. In an 11th Century kind of way.
Posted on 03/13/2006 9:24:30 AM PST by NormsRevenge
FREMONT — The first time Glenn Koehler can remember learning about Muslims and the Islamic faith came in September 1972, when a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September murdered 11 Israeli hostages during the Olympics in Munich, Germany.
"Then the second was Sept. 11," Koehler said. "So there's really been no pleasant introductions."
Koehler is a 58-year-old Fremont engineer. He describes himself as a Lutheran, politically conservative and a registered Republican who gets much of his news from the Drudge Report, Michael Savage and the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group for Christian rights. He does not have Muslim friends, and agrees with the perceptions that Muslims teach their children to hate unbelievers, Muslims value life less than other people, and that Islam teaches violence and hatred.
Koehler is not alone. Two polls released last week indicated that almost half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam and that one in four of those surveyed have extreme anti-Muslim views.
An independent survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows that 23 to 27 percent of all Americans believe Muslims value life less than other people and that Islam teaches violence and hatred. The survey also showed that only 6 percent of Americans have a positive first impression of Islam and Muslims.
A similar poll released by the Washington Post and ABC News found that one in four Americans "admitted to harboring prejudice toward Muslims," and that 46 percent had a negative view of Islam, a 7 percent jump since the months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
When asked to respond to the open-ended question, "When you hear the word 'Muslim,' what is the first thought that comes to your mind?" Koehler said: "religion of death."
Inge Belle, a Fremont executive assistant for a high-tech firm who described herself as a politically independent Catholic, was not much more positive in her response.
"Nothing really positive," said Belle, who also said she has no Muslim friends. "I get a bad, bad vibe. I mean, I have my own experiences here living in Fremont. It's like living in the Middle East."
Perhaps it's not surprising then that when Mohamad Rajabally, a Fremont dentist and president of the Islamic Society of the East Bay, was asked what his first thought is when he hears the world "Muslim," he responded: "the most misunderstood religion in the world."
Rajabally, who has helped run Islamic outreach by holding open houses at the mosque and holding library events to discuss the legacy of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, said he's not surprised by the views of 41 percent of all Americans who agreed with the statement that the American-Muslim community is cooperating in the fight against terrorism.
Nor was he surprised by statements like those of Koehler, who said he was unaware of any statements by Muslim leaders condemning terrorism despite the efforts of national Islamic organizations.
"You need to have positive exposure to Islam, but that doesn't necessarily sell," Rajabally said. "What sells is the bombings, and people take that to represent 1.2 billion people. ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America), CAIR and other Islamic groups speak out, (but) they're not being heard."
He noted, however, that when Muslims have held open houses or outreach efforts here, as they did earlier this month in the weeks after the controversy over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, they've been positively received.
"Are we preaching to the choir?" Rajabally said. "Sometimes. ... But we believe if you reach just one (person who's introduced to Islam for) the first time, then it's worth it."
Maha Al-Ghoul, a Fremont mother who is Muslim, agreed.
"If we can reach 30 percent of the people who believe Islam is terrorism, we feel they can affect another 30 percent," Al-Ghoul said.
Al-Ghoul said she has worked hard to teach her children to treat all people with respect regardless of their faith.
"It's really about living your life with respect for all people," Al-Ghoul said. "If a person needs help, you help them. You have to teach your children to judge people by what's in their heart. I teach my children to judge people based on who they are, regardless of their religion."
Farid Senzai, director of research with the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding and a Union City resident, cautioned that opinions of Americans in polls can "change like the wind."
However, Senzai said he is alarmed by a string of polls since 2002 that continue to show negative tendencies toward Islam.
"In September and October of 2001, soon after the attacks, what I thought was very helpful was people within the administration saying that al-Qaida does not represent Islam, that this is not a clash of civilizations," Senzai said. "But beginning midway through 2002, you heard less and less of those statements."
Senzai, who is Muslim, noted that Islamic organizations have come a long way in terms of building alliances with non-Muslim organizations and sharing more about their beliefs.
For more on the CAIR poll, visit http://www.cair.com/cairsurveyanalysis.pdf.
>Maha Al-Ghoul, a Fremont mother who is Muslim...
"Ghoul?" Yikes. Time to change that, sister...
Hey moose...how do you explain what the filthy Koran states in Sura 9?
You Don't Understand That We're Really The Religion of Peace Ping.
"Two polls released last week indicated that almost half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam ."
Almost half? Meaning more than half don't have negative views of Islam?
Either those people are lying to avoid seeming "un PC", or they're living on a different planet.
They're just misunderstood. In an 11th Century kind of way.
bttt
Always this passive attitude: "how they are perceived negatively" as if they were the victims - as if we were at fault. As if Americans had gathered in closed chambers to have collective negative perceptions.
The solution? More outreach! Not hard work within their ranks, but zombie hands reaching out to us: "No, you are wrong! We are good! No you are wrong! We are good!"
And now the Americans are at fault, and now the Dutch and Swedes are racists.. and now WE must look deeply in our souls to see where WE went wrong.
How about looking THEM in the eyes and saying: "You're the problem!"?
For civilized rational people, even if not extensively educated in history, it is the triumph of reality over propagada.
The power of what is perceived over what are clearly irrational claims and assertions.
Less than half? This proves that Americans are tolerant turn the other cheek people because they witnessed 9/11, neck-slicing festivals with two-part-harmonious singing of Allahu Akhbar to set the rhythm of blade-thrusts as they cut a living man's head off slowly to prove their peaceful intentions, the murder of Leon Klinghoffer who was thrown from a plane, dead, cast from his wheelchair, the massacre of little schoolchildren in Chechyna, murder of Spanish commuters, bomb blasts in Paris and London subways, the flying of an Air Egypt flight into the ocean, strangely all accompanied by the chanting of the same haunting religious melody ... do I need to go on?
I must have missed the CAIR apology for 9/11, or their condemnation of the thousands of terrorist attacks.
Did anyone here observe it?
I have about 13 muslim "friends". I now hate islam even more!!!!
....shows that 23 to 27 percent of all Americans believe Muslims value life less than other people and that Islam teaches violence and hatred.....I am surprised that the percentage is so low...
No islam, Know Peace....mosquewatch.com
Aw gee... people dont think too much of muslims?
Maybe because they like to kill innocent people as a means of expressing their feelings?
- Munich olympic massacre
- 9/11
- Bombings in public places in Israel
- Bomb went of last week killing 30 worshippers in a HIndu temple in India
- USS Cole
- Bomb went off a few months ago in India killing 60 people, men, women and children buying sweets for an upcoming hindu festival
- Beheading an american in Iraq, ironically enough, there to see if the iraqis were being treated ok
You wonder why youre "misunderstood"????
I think people dont like muslims, because they understand em just fine...
"You need to have positive exposure to Islam, but that doesn't necessarily sell,"
--- Funny, I wouldn't think that you have a "sell" a positive image & experience. When I hear "sell" in the context used, I think "propaganda" or "used car salesman" {'Never mind the blood stains, it was only driven by a little old lady from Mecca to prayer meeting'}
"Rajabally said. "What sells is the bombings" "
--- I wonder why everyone (or at least 50% of Americans) views the terror bombings (and kidnappings, beheadings, murder) as the Fruits of Islam? Coincidence?
Rajabally is right though, what sells IS the bombings
If they taught the true history of Islam, negative perception would be 98%.
And "...kill them wherever you find them.".....Surah 9:5.
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