Islam RP 1

My biggest misconception about Islam was the concept of jihad. The American media has construed it in a way that is confusing and misleading. When 9/11 happened the media blamed Osama bin Laden and his quest for a jihad. The way the media portrayed jihad in general and hostel way caused the public to think that many Muslims were working for the same jihad as Osama bin Laden. In the following years there was a significant amount of discrimination against Muslims. The media then proceeded to portray many of the suicide bombings at the same attempt at a jihad. The media portrayed it as one continuous war. The media failed to talk about the actual jihad, and how it can mean a conflict but usually is not. The media also emphasized the idea that if a Muslim fought in a jihad that they would go to heaven, and used that to explain the reasoning of the 9/11 terrorists.

The way the idea of jihad was presented to me confused me more than anything else. I knew it was not the way the media portrayed it, but until this course I had left it as an ambiguous concept in Islam. It is interesting that some Muslim scholars say jihad is only a defensive war. The way the Muslim scholars teach is completely opposite of how the American public views jihad. The most interesting thing about jihad is that it does not necessarily mean a war. It can be any struggle either physical or emotional. The American media manipulates jihad to mean what they want it to, much like Osama bin Laden did. Jihad has become a tool to Muslim leaders and reporters alike to help them explain or justify an event.