Bhattarai 1

Ashish Bhattarai
Professor Blandford
UWRT 1103
6 October 2015
Islam Proposal
The word 'Islam' means 'peace.' The word 'Muslim' means 'one who surrenders to God.'
But the press makes us seem like haters. This quote by Muhammad Ali shows how peoples
perception of Islam isnt the ideal meaning of Islam and due to ignorance, anyone who is
classified as Muslim or Islam is seen as an evil person. This made me wonder what Islam really
is, how it is perceived in the Middle East, where most of the region is dominated with this
specific religion, and how that view of Islam impacts America. Before beginning to learn about
how Islam is seen in the Middle East, I had to think of everything that I already knew about this
religion. Since everyone knows that The Bible is the holy book of Christianity, but what some
people dont know is that Islam also has a holy book called the Quran. The Islamic people
believe that Allah is the one and only god and that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah. The
Islamic people also follow a collection of quotes said by Muhammad in a report called the
Hadith, which they use to follow the teachings of Islam. Due to the media, we have coverage of
many wars that are happening in the Middle East and one of the reasons is due to the
disagreement in religion and having different beliefs. Islam is also the fastest growing religion in
the world and as of right now it is the second most followed religion in the world. Also, since
Islamic people are very religious and devoted to Allah, they are required to pray five times a day.
The reason that Islam is so popular in the American news is due to the attack on the Twin Towers
on September 11, 2001 by people of Islamic background. This not only made the Islamic people
look bad, but innocent Muslims were killed in America by Americans who had hate towards

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people classified as Muslim terrorists due to the attack on 9/11. There was a Sikh temple in
Wisconsin which was a victim of mass shooting by a man with hate toward the Islamic people,
which killed six people and injured plenty more in 2012.
There are many reasons as to why I chose learning about Islam over many other
interesting things out there that I dont know. It is interesting to me since I am not a religious guy
and there are many people I know who are Muslim .They are the most religious people I know
and have a very huge devotion towards it. I have also learned that many people in America are
starting to convert to Islam since most of them followed some other religion before. Also, most
of the things that I know about Islam arent very positive, I decided to learn more about it so I
can see how Islam really is and not just how it is perceived by the American media. The main
reason I wanted to learn about Islam is because of Al Qaeda since many believe the reason
behind their attack was due to the fact that they want everyone in the world to convert to Islam. I
wonder whats so special about Islam that some extremists are willing to kill innocent to believe
the same thing as them.
There are many questions that I have about how Islam in the Middle East affects the
people there and the countries as a whole, and some of those questions are: Why do Islam people
suffer so much in the name of god? How does Islam view other religions? What do innocent
citizens in the Middle East view terrorism regarding the 9/11 attacks? How do extremists justify
their actions using the Quran? Are there verses in the Quran that can justify what is happening in
the Muslim world such as war and terrorism? How do extremists use religion as their scapegoat
toward violence? How do the Muslim people in the Middle East perceive America in their news
station? Why do Muslim women so few rights compared to men? What does the Quran say about

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how different genders should be treated? Why do so many Muslims in the world America? What
causes some Muslim people to turn into extremists?
Since Islam, such a big religion, there are so many different ways to get answers that I
hope to get and the best way that I plan on getting the answers is by looking at Articles from
academic journals, popular web sites, literature, social media and many other sources of media
such as television. I will also interview an Islamic friend from high school who has a serious
devotion toward Allah and Islam and wonder how he feels about Islam and why he feels like that
so I can get a basic understanding of how they think of their religion and how they feel about the
American media depicting them as evil human beings. I will also look at quotes from the Quran
and Hadith to see what teachings the Islamic people are supposed to follow. You cannot guide
those you would like to but God guides those He wills. He has best knowledge of the guided
(Quran/28:56). This quote from the Quran is saying people should choose their own religions
and no one can be forced to believe something, yet the extremists are killing innocent people so
the whole world follows Islam.
Since Islam is a very broad topic, and it is impossible to cover everything about it, if
needed, the subject may need to be narrowed and if needed, I will change it and focus on how
Islam is viewed in one specific small country in the Middle East, such as Qatar.
Although this has a very little chance of happening, but if my preliminary research turns
up with very little information, the way that I will broaden my subject is by explaining of how
Islam began and the history of Islam and how it became the second biggest religion in the world
and why it is thought of as evil through not only the actions happening in the 21st century but
since the beginning of the formation of the religion Islam.