media guide to islam-yalonis

Commissioned by: Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs- State of Kuwait

With the guidence of:Ameen for Public Affairs - Kuwait

Advisory for Research and Consultancy- Middle East

A Study by:Communique Partners a Market Intelligence Consultancy© 2005 by Communique Partners LLC

State of KuwaitMinistry of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs

CommuniquePartners

The Journalist’s Guide to Islam & Muslims

Introduction 5

Western Public Opinion 6

Drivers of Media Coverage 9

Overview of Islam, the Religion 12

Modern Day Islam 14

Glossary of Muslim Terms 18

Glossary of Common Muslim Phrases 19

Reporter’s Rolodex 20

Websites / Resources 22

Articles 23

Books 23

Guidelines for Journalists 24

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Journalist’s Guide to Islam & Muslims Copyright © 2005All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs- State of KuwaitMinistries complex, Block 16P.O.Box: 13 Safat, 13001 Kuwait

Ameen for Public AffairsP.O.Box: 131 Sharq, 15452 KuwaitPhone: +965 246 0483 Fax: +965 246 [email protected]

Advisory Research and ConsultancyP.O.Box: 1174 Sharq, 15462 KuwaitPhone: +965 246 0480 Fax: +965 246 [email protected]

Communique Partners LLCA Market Intelligence Consultancy822 D StreetSan Rafael, California 94901 USAPhone: 1-415-453-9030Fax: 1-415-480-2089Chris Yalonis, [email protected]

5The Journalist’s Guide to Islam and Muslims

Welcome to The Journalist’s Guide

to Islam and Muslims. This

reference guide is developed for journalists,

by journalists and analysts, with the

aim of helping ensure accuracy when

covering Islam and Muslims, especially in

theWestern media.

Despite the fact that Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the World, few journalists understand it. Few know where to go for accurate and balanced information about one of the world’s major faiths.

For many journalists, it’s sometimes difficultto separate religious belief from the influenceof politics and culture. There is considerable confusion as to who speaks for Islam. In fact, too much misinformation about Islam is passed along as fact. Too often harmful stereotypes that breed intolerance are being reinforced.

This guide is intended to clear up some of the confusion and make it easier for journalists to prepare informed stories. This Journalist’s Guide to Islam is not intended to be compre-hensive. But it covers most of the areas that a general assignment reporter might encounter during the course of preparing a story with an Islamic angle. It is also not intended to serve as either a defense or an apology for Islam. Rather it is written for any journalist who requires some ready and timely resources.

It starts with a historical context of the percep-tion of Islam and Muslims in the West and the drivers of that perception. It then provides a basic overview of Islam, its core beliefs and its presence in the world. The guide looks at a few important themes, including jihad and the role of women in Islamic society. We offer some guidelines in covering Islam and Muslims, including required sensitivities. Finally, we of-fer some useful resources, particularly on the World Wide Web. In short, we hope this assists journalists in doing their job more easily and effectively.

This guide was edited by Chris Yalonis and Gabrielle Mogannam, of Communique Part-ners, a market intelligence and consulting firmin San Francisco. They are the authors of a ma-jor global study done in 2005 on the perception of Islam and Muslims, which includes inter-views of major experts on Islam and the media, public opinion surveys in Europe and the US, as well as analysis of important reports and books on the subject. The study was commissioned by The Kuwaiti Ministry of Islamic and Cultural Affairs, with the guidance of New Future, a leading Kuwaiti media firm. Study objectivesincluded an analysis of the perception of Islam in the West, its drivers, the role of the media, and the means to improve multicultural and re-ligious understanding. The study can be found at www.islamperceptions.org.

INTRODUCTION

6 The Journalist’s Guide to Islam and Muslims 7The Journalist’s Guide to Islam and Muslims

In national public opinion polls run in

Western Europe and the US in 2005 by

Communique Partners, Muslims rated the

lowest in overall favorability among various

religious groups. 27% of those surveyed

overall had a very or somewhat unfavorable

opinion of “Muslims who live inside my

country” and even a higher percentage had

a negative opinion of “Muslims outside my

country” and “Arab Muslims”.

A quarter of the respondents believed that all or most Arab Muslims are anti-American, but only 9% believed that all or most Arab Mus-lims favor terrorism. Only 17% believed that all or most Arab Muslims favor modernity and only 6% believed that they are in favor of equal rights for women.

Ignorance of and lack of empathy with Islam is widespread. Half of the respondents said they had very little or no knowledge at all of Islam or Arab Muslims. 76% said that “my re-ligion and Islam are very different” or that they “do not know enough to determine if their reli-gion and Islam have a lot in common”.

Media is influential in shaping the percep-tion of Arab Muslims. The study identified TVdocumentaries and news as the most influentialmedia in molding feelings about Arab Muslims, followed by newspapers. Each of the other me-dia outlets, such as books, magazines, movies, and websites had half the influence of TV. Aquarter of the all respondents read or watched TV regarding Islam and Muslims at least 1 or more times a week, mostly news about the war on terror and in Iraq. About 37% had very lim-ited exposure to news and information about Islam and Muslims (once every 2 months or more or never in the past year).

Important as an impetus to the creation of this guide, nearly three quarters of the respondents believe that the media depicts Arab Muslims and Islam accurately only half of the time, not often or never.

Clearly, this is a call for a more accurate, bal-anced depiction of Islam and Muslims by mem-bers of the media.

WESTERN PERCEPTION - A HIS-TORICAL PERSPECTIVE:

Western Perception of Islam and Muslims has long been dominated by confrontation and neg-ativity. In Europe, Islam was a direct military threat for centuries. Christian thought-lead-ers saw Mohammed in a lowly state. European colonialism rooted in Islamic territory. Europe had a direct experience with Islam, but never welcomed it in Europe.

In the US, there has been little experience or representation of Islam up to the 1980’s. Today, Muslims represent between 1-2% of the US population, 3% in the UK and 7-10% in France and between 5-10% of the other EC countries. The US embassy hostage crisis in Iran in 1979 defined much of America’s perception of po-litical Islam. In the 1990’s, US perception con-tinued to be dominated by militant, extremist and political issues. These were reinforced by the attacks on US embassy’s and military bases in Africa, and the Middle East. The general perception was that the primary public face of Islam was anti-American and militant.

The 9/11 attacks in the US dramatically in-creased the visibility of Islam. “The image of Islam is not something that a lot of people thought about prior to 9/11. But after 9/11, a broad new group of Americans sought out books on Arabs and Muslims, and there emerged many news talk radio and TV pro-grams and lectures on Islam and Muslims”, says Akbar Ahmed, Chairman of Islamic Studies at American University.

“Experts”, some legitimate and some question-able as to credentials, emerged to speak on Is-lam, often incorrectly, in media interviews. The biggest question on most American’s minds was “Why do Muslims hate us so much?” President George Bush early in the immediate days after 9/11 made a concerted effort at communicating to the public that Islam was a religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims are not anti-American or terrorists. Yet, in the years following, according to many analysts, that mes-sage has not been adequately reinforced by the Bush administration.

DRIVERS OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF ISLAM AND MUSLIMS:

Much Western literature and popular culture has portrayed Arabs and Muslims negatively over the past 200 years. This has occurred in the absence of really positive and hopeful and ac-curate images of Muslims that include everyday people but also heroes, people who are extraor-dinary people.

TV coverage of terror and war: Most people’s perceptions of Islam and Muslims in Europe and the US are shaped by media coverage. The media has been slow to cover ordinary Muslims

and Islamic culture, preferring to show graphic images of fiery imams, gun toting militants, andanti-American demonstrations, with emotions and actions taken in the name of Islam. “If it bleeds, it leads”. News directors will lead news coverage with terror attacks, anti-American demonstrations, and hostage images to shock and engage jaded viewers. The absence of a countering view contributes to the selecting of these stereotypes and people start to believe them.

Stereotyping in movies, TV shows, cartoons, and other media: Some cartoonists say the easi-est way to describe a Muslim is a guy in a funny headdress. Few western TV programs and mov-ies have characters of Middle Eastern descent. If they do, they have been often been stereotypical, wide-eyed, bumbling, radical militants.

Public Perception Stereotyping: The per-ception of Muslims and Islam varies by coun-try, ethnic group, and whether the discussion is about Muslims as individuals or Islam as a political movement. The majority of people in the US and Europe have a favorable opin-ion of Muslims as individuals, as neighbors, friends and work colleagues. But in a politicized context, Muslims and Islam are viewed mostly negatively, especially those of Arab descent.

Common stereotypes include:

• Terrorist• Anti-American• Anti-modern• Anti-women rights• Anti-democracy• Shady rich, oil sheik• Religious zealot, using Islam to justify militant

extremism

Conservative “experts” and pundits: Until recently, there has been a predominance of mostly conservative, anti-Arab leaning “experts” and pundits that make themselves available for news and media interviews. For example, there are about 300 think tanks in the US, mostly in the Washington-Boston corridor. The large

WESTERN PUBLIC OPINION


majority of them are conservative-leaning and many of them have set up Middle Eastern sec-tions and Islam studies groups. Some of these groups tend to write and speak publicly on the dangers and threat of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism. Many see Islam increasingly as a monolith and cultural and security threat. These conservative think tanks are often funded by wealthy conservative and pro-Israeli donors and foundations. The members of the think tanks, or “fellows”, have an academic aura in their reputation and positioning, but in truth, their writings and talks are not held to the peer review as in university circles. But they are often on TV and radio and lecture circuits, placed by highly paid professional speaker bureaus and public relations firms. There has been few coun-tering Islamic spokespeople.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: About 70% of Americans are slightly or very pro-Israel. Jewish interest groups have been active in American politics and opinion making for over 40 years. They are well funded and have relationships with news professionals and journalists. Many other ethnic, religious and industry groups have successfully funded PR and lobbying efforts. Relative to these groups, the European and American Muslim communities do not have strong PR or lobbying efforts.

Christian Fundamentalists: Leading Christian spokesmen in the US, such as Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, and Jerry Falwell have made anti-Muslim public comments and even hold well formed anti-Muslim positions in their lectures and preaching.

Silencing of Muslim self-criticism: Relative to other ethnic groups, Muslims in the West do not tend to speak up and write editors or call in to news organizations or TV shows when anti-Muslim and anti-Arab broadcasts are made. This contrasts with the Jewish, Hispanic or African American communities, which are much more vocal. Muslims do not want to ap-pear openly critical of fellow Muslims, lest they be seen as contributing to the extensive forces of condemnation.

News coverage of the Muslim world,

against this backdrop of historical

and ideological conflict has tended to

portray Arabs as monolithic, generally

aggressive and incompetent in nature,

while the focus on terrorism has added the

element of irrationality and threat.

Some argue that Islam and Arabs are portrayed negatively because they present a culture in op-position to Western values, and because Western political and financial interests are in opposi-tion to certain local interests. In modern times, concepts of democracy, liber-alism, freedom of expression, moderation, and tolerance have become political and cultural characteristics of Western societies. Concepts outside these features tend to be seen as ideo-logically opposed and unacceptable. It is in this context that Islamic fundamentalism, com-monly associated with terrorism, fanaticism, violence and the codes of punishment in Islam (e.g. cutting hands, stoning, rape, etc.), has been widely reported and defined as a threat to West-ern values.

Some analysts have accused the media of be-ing a propaganda machine dominated by the system’s elites and used for “managing” public opinion. To the extent that Islam is contrary to Western interests, its treatment in the news would follow this pattern of biasing and man-aging and the manufacturing of negative per-ceptions and stereotypes about Arabs, Islam and the Middle East. An example here would include the widespread coverage in 2005 of the young Pakistani woman whose punishment by village elders was to sentence her to a gang rape. Given that women are raped in Western cities as brutally as anywhere else, why would such a story receive such coverage (a 2-page spread in Newsweek, for example), except to maintain stereotypes of Islam already manufactured. The underlying theme common to this ap-proach is of Western ideological, state govern-ment or corporate influence on news organiza-tions and reporters that results in stories skewed

toward these interests. Support for this view has also come from research that finds very few dif-ferences in coverage of the Middle East across various Western nations. France and England, for example, have had more direct involvement historically in the Middle East, having colonized and then partitioned the region, than has had the United States. But in many cases, national interests and common cultural biases, make for similar coverage.

HAS ISLAM REPLACED COMMUNISM AS THE WEST’S BIGGEST THREAT?

Along these lines, some have even argued that as Communist ideology has retreated from international attention, Islam has replaced it, appropriating the old imagery of difference, threat and irrationality originally associated with Communism. Terms such as “Islamic fundamentalism,” like “Communism,” have be-come ideological constructs, allowing Islam to be defined as a threat to Western interests andMuslims as extremists threatening the values of Western societies.

DRIVERS OF MEDIA COVERAGE


SIMPLICIFCATION OF COVERAGE:

Another issue has been the common simpli-fication in coverage of “Arabs” or “Muslims,”treating these populations in a generally undif-ferentiated manner as single entities. Group-ing together the vast complexity of the Islamic or Arab worlds under the labels of “Islam” or “Arab,” fall prey to precisely the kinds of biased frames of understanding propagated by Western news coverage. Islamic nations stretch from Africa to Asia with roughly 1.2 billion follow-ers around the globe There is also a significantIslamic diaspora, with estimates of 1.5 million Muslims in Britain, and 5 million in the United States (Husseini and Naureckas, 1993). Most Muslims in Britain are of Pakistani and Indian descent, while among the 5 million Muslims in the United States, roughly 42 percent are Afri-can Americans; 24 percent are South Asian; 13 percent are of Arab descent; 5 percent are Afri-can; and 16 percent come from a host of other origins.

Islam is also fractured along important religious lines as in, for example, Shiite and Sunni Mus-lims. How well could all this diversity be studied in terms of coverage if the only category was that of “Muslim”? It would be akin to studying

“Christianity” by grouping together and thereby ignoring distinctions between, France and Ar-gentina, Russia and the United States, Catholics and Protestants.

This issue is also relevant for analysis of cover-age of “Arabs.” There are a number of different countries grouped under this label, stretching over two continents, as well as distinct groups, diasporas and nations without countries, each with varied histories, religions, cultures and politics. Labels not only hide true complexity, they hinder true understanding. Western cov-erage of Muslims and Arabs has often treated them as a generalized “other” and ignored the vast complexity that belies those labels.

MEDIA CONTRAINTS:

An important explanation for biased coverage focuses on the requirements and practices of newsgathering in Western press agencies. This is a business that is highly conscious of costs and profits and is only marginally aware of complexinternational history and events. Constraints are on news stories, reporters and organizations.

In terms of stories, the pressure of deadlines for example, forces stories to be short, easily acces-

sible and less well in-vestigated. Thus a story of a Hezbollah attack might easily be char-acterized as “another” attack in a “continu-ing” conflict, without amore detailed investi-gation into the reasons behind the particular attack, or more gener-ally, into the reasons and nature of a contin-uing conflict. Secondly,conventions of fairness force stories into two sides, often neglecting important other forces that explain the issue more completely. Understanding a Palestin-ian attack, for example, requires not only the Israeli and Palestinian sides (the two sides for an “unbiased” or “balanced” story), but also probably various factions within each side, as well as the influence of key religious leaders andneighboring states or forces. Thirdly, reporters compete among themselves to have their stories published. This prestige of bylines forces stories to be shorter and to fit within expected framesof coverage of particular issues.

Reporter constraints translate to high turnover rates of international reporters and common unfamiliarity with international events leading to less investment in international stories and less critical judgment in coverage. It takes an extended stay in a locale for a reporter to realize the complexities of that place. A lack of prepa-ration for international coverage leads to stories with facile generalization and gross oversimpli-fications. Reporters’ unfamiliarity with a foreignsetting as well as general concerns for efficiencyalso lead to an over-reliance on official sourceswho are easy to access and considered “safe” in journalistic terms.

Organizationally, the common standards of newsworthiness force coverage when there are single, important events to the detriment of continuing coverage of important but slower-breaking stories. This tends to focus stories on negative events, simplify complex events and fails to provide historical context. And lastly, organizational resources greatly influence theability and likelihood of a news organization to have space for an international story, to have

a reporter assigned to an international story, to have a foreign news desk, to have a reporter spend an extended stay in a foreign country, or to have continuing or investigative coverage of an international story.

Islam is one of three major religions (Judaism and Christianity having preceded it) that claims connection to the prophet Abraham’s monothe-istic understanding of God. Believers consider Islam the final divine revelation of the one, trueGod, and a corrective and perfection of the previous revelations. Islam is an Arabic word derived from salaam (peace), and is generally translated as “surrender or submission to the will of God.”

Islam offers a complete system for govern-ing societal and personal conduct, including economic, political and moral guidelines, and teaches that God will decide eternal reward or punishment on a future Day of Judgment.


After Christianity, Islam is the second

most widespread of the world’s

religions, claiming more than 1.2 billion

adherents, primarily in Asia and Africa but

increasingly in Europe and the Americas.

Islam views itself as a universal faith, but its origin in the Arabian Peninsula and the fact that many of the religion’s holiest places are in the Middle East give Islam an Arab ethnic flavorthat remains strong today. Only about 10 to 12 percent of Muslims worldwide, however, are Arabs. Islam has developed diverse expressions while taking root in various cultures around the globe. Indonesia, for example, has a larger Muslim population than all the Arab countries combined. Significant populations of Muslimsalso reside in India, Iran, other parts of East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Roughly 45 na-tions have majority Muslim populations and approximately 30 other countries also have siz-able Muslim communities.

There are about 200 million Arabs.

• Arabs can be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, an atheist or a follower of another faith.

• Arab Muslims constitute only about 10% of the Muslim population of the world.

ISLAM AND MUSLIMS:

The word “Islam” is derived from root words Silm and Salam, which mean “peace.”

A Muslim follows the teachings of Islam, a monotheistic religion characterized by a doc-trine of submission to God and to Muhammad

as the chief and last prophet of God.

ALLAH THE ONE AND THE ONLY GOD: For Muslims, Allah is the name of the “One and Only God.”

• Allah has a total of ninety-nine different names, including: The Gracious, The Merciful, The Beneficent, The Creator, TheAll-Knowing, The All-Wise, The Lord of the

Universe, The First, and The Last.

Muslims consider Allah the creator of all hu-man beings and the god for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, and oth-ers.

MUHAMMAD:

Muslims believe Muhammad was the last Prophet of God to humankind and the finalMessenger of God. He was born in 570 C.E. (Common Era) in Makkah, Arabia.

Muhammad, considered to be the summation and the culmination of all the prophets and messengers that came before him, was entrusted with the power of explaining, interpreting and living the teaching of the Qur’an.

There are two major branches of Islam, based largely on the divisions between successors to

the Prophet Mohammed: Sunni, with the most followers, and Shiite.

Sunni Muslims constitute a 90% majority of the faith’s believers. Considered to be mainstream traditionalists, Sunni Muslims often practice their faith within secular societies and adapt to a variety of national cultures. Like all Muslims, Sunnis follow the sources of law -- the Qur’an and Hadith.

Shi’ite Muslims promote a strict interpretation

of the Qur’an and close adherence to its teach-ings. They believe in 12 heavenly Imams (per-fect teachers) who led the Shi’ites in succession. Shi’ites believe that the 12th Imam, the Mahdi (guided one), never died, but rather went into hiding. The Mahdi awaits the optimum time to reappear and guide humans towards justice and peace.

SOURCE OF ISLAM:

The legal sources of Islam are the Qur’an and the Hadith. The Qur’an is the “exact word of God;” The Hadith is the report of the sayings, deeds and approvals of the Prophet Muham-mad.

THE SPREAD OF ISLAM

During the 100 years following Muhammad’s death, Islam spread to many parts of the world, including West Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia, as well as large parts of what had been the Roman and Persian empires. It has been commonly said that Islam was spread by the sword, a claim that dates back to the time of Christian crusades in the Holy Land. More than anything, that depends upon the perspective. Because Islam historically combined the roles of spiritual and political leader in one person, po-litical and territorial aspirations often were con-fused with missionary zeal. Moreover, because Muslim beliefs and values were often at odds with the prevailing culture, Muslims found themselves as much under attack, as on the at-tack. More to the point, Muslims believe it was their witness of faith that accelerated the spread Islam across most of the known world.

“...I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life,” Mohan-das Gandhi wrote in Young India. “It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regards for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and follow-ers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These, and not the sword, carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble.”

The Qur’an encourages followers to acquire knowledge and explore the universe. Islam made tremendous contributions to the intellec-tual, scientific and cultural progress of human-ity during a time when Europe was regarded as being mired in the Dark Ages. The period from the 10th century to the 13th century is often known as the Golden Age of Islam. Muslim scholars contributed to a variety of fields: Art,music, physics, medicine, education, literature, astronomy, geography, mathematics and archi-tecture. Cairo, Baghdad, Cordoba and Samar-kand were centres of scientific research. Theiruniversities, in Spain, Egypt and elsewhere, were unequalled. Islam is credited with opening the way for the European Enlightenment.

OVERVIEW OF ISLAM, THE RELIGION


The roots of modern day Islam were

sown a couple of centuries ago when

the once proud Muslim empire began

to be overwhelmed by expansionist

movements dominated by European

colonialists. Much of the Muslim world is

still suffering the impact of those exploits.

Now Muslims the world over are looking

to reassert themselves after a long period of

humiliation and oppression, sometimes at

the hands of foreigners and sometimes at

the hands of their own leaders. Muslims are

not a monolithic group. Further, there is no

centralized authority within Islam.

That is why contradictions are evident to people both inside and outside the Muslim commu-nity. Those contradictions often catch the eye of reporters looking for an angle. Unfortunately, while there are a variety of interpretations, media accounts headline the extremes without paying attention to the viewpoints of moder-ate, mainstream Muslims across North America and elsewhere, who comprise the majority. It is a complex situation that, all too often, is over-simplified for the benefit of readers and viewers,to the point where news accounts are distorted. This does an enormous disservice to the broad-er Muslim community because the reporting tends to be alarmist, reinforcing stereotypes and setting the stage for racial or religious profiling.

It is important to put the apparent tensions and contradictions within the Muslim community into context. Reporters must seek out Islamic scholars and commentators. Journalists report-ing on Islam must cultivate trustworthy sources

to help them sort out the social, cultural and political factors that have become interwoven with the Islamic beliefs and customs in different countries around the world. It is also important to avoid the temptation to label terrorist activi-ties as Islamic or ascribe responsibility to Mus-lims. Simplistic, sensationalized reporting load-ed with newspeak or jargon must be replaced by clear, accurate and nuanced reporting.

DAILY LIFE:

For many Muslims, Islam is a religion, culture and a way of life. The Quran advises its ad-herents on prayer and conduct, but also on all aspects of daily living from clothing and food to finances, dating, marriage, and family. In some Muslim countries, there are enforce-able laws that affect daily life regarding, among other things, dress, education and employment. In non-Muslim countries such as the U.S., some Muslims choose to strictly follow all aspects of Islam in daily life, while others may only follow some rules, such as prayer and dietary rules, but choose to wear Western clothing rather than traditional robes or dresses. Amid the various guidelines, the overarching theme to all aspects of living an Islamic lifestyle is moderation.

WOMEN AND ISLAM:

When the Western media portray Muslim women, it is most often as victims of oppres-sion. Indeed, countless Muslim women across the globe are struggling for basic human rights. In Saudi Arabia, women are forbidden to drive, travel alone and enter all but selected gender-segregated professions.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan barred girls from school and ordered the beating of women if they ventured outside without a burkha cov-ering them from head to toe.

While some believe Islamic law condones these and similar practices, increasingly others, both within and outside Islam, dispute and even condemn such interpretations. Those who con-demn these practices point out that centuries of patriarchy and misogyny have shaped Islam religious traditions. And they argue that a care-ful reading of the Quran and Islam’s teachings

about gender reveals a more favorable per-spective on women. A vocal array of academic scholars emphasizes the Islamic tradition’s pow-erful female characters, its progressive laws and its revolutionary views on women and faith.

Islam counts women among some of its most revered spiritual teachers, and it credits women with guiding the Prophet Muhammad and pro-tecting his legacy. The Quran speaks explicitly to women as well as men and declares them spiritual equals. Muslim religious law is based not only on the words and revelations of men, but also on the witness and insight of women.

The women at the origins of Islam -- Khadijah, Aisha, Fatimah and others -- played key roles in shaping its future. Aisha, one of Muhammad’s most beloved wives, is the source of more than 2,000 hadith, the revered collection that records the words and deeds of the Prophet.

At its inception in the Arabian Peninsula in the sixth century A.D., Islamic law gave women new rights, and today it continues to protect a woman’s right, among other things, to divorce or to receive financial support if her husbanddivorces her. In contemporary times, Muslim women have led not only mosques -- in Iran, for example -- but political parties, feminist movements and modern nations such as Paki-stan, Turkey and Bangladesh.

WHAT IS JIHAD?

There is no term in Islam that is so misused or abused as jihad. Contrary to popular under-standing, jihad does not mean holy war. The concept of holy war does not exist in Islam. It is a term that originated during the Crusades by the Christians. Nor is it a war to force Islam on others. The Qur’an states, “There is no compul-sion in religion.” (2:256) Rather jihad means to struggle or strive for a better way of life. It refers to the difficult task of implementing Allah’swill at every level of life, personal, social and political. The most urgent task for a Muslim is to remove injustice and wrongdoing from one’s heart and from society. The most important struggle is purifying the heart. The only time that jihad is permitted in a combative sense is in self-defense—as a defensive war waged against unjust leaders, not against the people of a coun-try. Furthermore, only a recognized head of

state or governing body can declare jihad. Islam condemns suicide, terrorism, kidnapping and hijacking. All such acts are regarded as criminal and should be punished. People who undertake such actions in the name of Islam have hijacked the religion for their own political purposes. In wartime, Islam prohibits soldiers from harming civilians, children, women, the elderly and reli-gious men, including priests and rabbis.

SOME ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES:

• Oneness of God: Islam rejects the idea of multiple manifestations of Allah.

• Oneness of mankind: People are created equal in the Law of God. There is no superiority of one race over another.

• Oneness of Messengers and the Message: Muslims believe God sent different messengers throughout the history of humanity. All came with the same message and the same teachings, but some people misunderstood and misinterpreted them. The prophets and teachers of Christianity and Judaism are also the Prophets of Islam: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ismail, Jacob, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad.

• Angels and the Day of Judgment: Muslims believe in unseen creatures created by God for special missions. Muslims also believe in a Day of Judgment when all people of the world will be brought for “accounting, reward and punishment.”

• Innocence of Man at Birth: Muslims believe people are born free of sin. Only after they reach puberty will they be accountable for sinful acts. Forgiveness through true repentance is always available.

MODERN DAY ISLAM


PRACTICES OF ISLAM:

God instructed Muslims to practice five pillars:

Declaration of Faith: A Muslim must express his or her faith by de-claring in Arabic,“ there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Muslims must recite it, understand it and follow it by action in their daily life. Faith without ac-tion, and action without faith is fruitless.

Prayer: Muslims are required to pray five daily prayers.It is to be performed with mental concentra-tion, verbal communication, vocal recitation and physical movement to attain peace and harmony. There is also a special congrega-tional prayer on Friday at noon delivered in the mosque. It lasts about an hour. Ritual cleanli-ness is essential. Prayer can be performed any-where. In recent years, more and more employ-ers and educational institutions have created areas to which Muslim employees retreat for prayer.

Fasting: Islam relies on a lunar calendar. Fasting takes place during Ramadan, the ninth month in the lunar calendar. Every Muslim who has reached the age of maturity, usually around the age of 14 or 15, is required to fast. The fast begins at dawn each day and ends at sunset. Eating, drinking and smoking are not permitted be-tween dawn and sunset. For those who are mar-ried, sexual relations are prohibited from dawn to sunset. The sick, pregnant women, nursing mothers, women who are menstruating and people traveling are all exempted from fasting. People excused for medical reasons are required to feed a poor person one meal each day. Oth-ers are required to make up lost days later. As in other spiritual traditions, fasting is regarded as a blessing from Allah. It is regarded as spiritual training that enables a person to resist tempta-tion and develop self-control.

Support Almsgiving: Islam teaches that wealth is a trust from Al-lah and the poor and needy have rights on the wealth of the rich. It is a sin not to share one’s wealth with the needy or to allow them to suffer from hunger or disease. Muslims are required to make an annual payment to charity called zakat, as a means of purifying their wealth. The amount is based on a percentage of their in-come or property.

Pilgrimage to Mecca:

Muslims believe that the Prophet Abraham, acting on God’s command, built a place of wor-ship in Mecca solely for the worship of the one God. Known as the Ka’bah, Mecca is the centre of the Islamic world. It symbolizes the worship of Allah alone and is a symbol of Muslim unity. Once in a lifetime, Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage or

hajj to Mecca —if health and wealth permits. As many as two million Muslims from around the world gather annually in Mecca for the Hajj. Pilgrims dress in simple white garments to em-phasize their equality before Allah without dis-crimination because of race, color, language or nationality. It also reminds them that, regardless of their circumstances in life, they will all be buried wrapped in a simple sheet.

CELEBRATIONS:

News organizations often use major celebra-tions to focus on religious activities, such as Christmas and Easter for Christians, and Passo-ver and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for Jews. So it should be, for these are important events in the lives of believers. From the Islamic perspective, there are two major celebrations, Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. These events will vary from year-to year because of the Muslim use of the lunar calendar. In North America, it is important for news organizations to be mind-ful that the dates for the beginning of important activities such as Ramadan are determined by whether or not a new moon is sighted. Often-times, Muslim organizers cannot provide an exact date till the day before the event. Gener-ally, the Muslim community rents a large facility such as an auditorium or sports arena for com-munity prayer to mark these celebrations.

Eid Ul-Fitr: It comes at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. It is a time of great joy and gratitude as they complete their obligation of fasting. A special Eid prayer, visiting relatives and friends, exchanging greetings and good wishes characterize the festival. Children often receive money and new clothes. Sweets and other delicacies are served to guests.

Eid Ul-Adha: It comes at the end of the pil-grimage to Mecca. This is the greater of the two festivals and usually falls about 2 ½ months after Eid Al-Fitr. Even though only about two million Muslims actually make the pilgrimage, all Muslims celebrate its end. Here Muslims celebrate the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail, and Ismail’s willingnessto be sacrificed. (This is not to be confused withJewish and Christian belief that it was Abra-ham’s son, Isaac, through his wife Sarah who was to be sacrificed. Rather, Muslims believethat it was Abraham’s son Ismail, through his wife Hajir, who was to be sacrificed.) Becauseof Ismail’s total obedience, an animal was sacri-ficed in his stead.


Adhan: Call to prayer.

Allah: God.

Chador (Persian chaadar): A large cloth worn as a combination head covering, veil, and shawl, usually by Muslim women, especially in Iran.

Da’wa: Literally “invitation.” The invitation of non-Muslims to Islam.

Du’a’: Individual, private supplication.

Eid: A day of festivity and major religious holi-day.

Fatwa: An Islamic decree issued by a mufti or a religious lawyer on a specific issue. A fatwa hasno weight unless accepted by the community of scholars, their consensus is recognized as legal opinion to be followed. Islam has no central authority, which allows diversity of opinion, though major scholars agree on core issues.

Fiqh: “Understanding” in matters of religious law (shari’ah).

Hadith: “Report, account.” A tradition about Mohammed, what he said or did. The hadiths were collected and came to be a record of the Prophet’s Sunna, second only to the Qur’an in authority for Muslims.

Halal: Permissible by Islamic law.

Hijab: Clothing Muslim women wear in public. It is generally loose fitting and includes a headcovering. Also called a khimar.

Imam: Prayer leader.

Intifada: “Shaking, uprising, insurrection.” This word usually refers to the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Isa: Prophet Jesus; Arabic name.

Jihad: Effort and striving in the path of good—does not mean, or translate, as holy war.

Qur’an: Islam’s revealed scripture.

Shari’a: Islam’s law.

Ummah: The Muslim “community” or ideal state worldwide.

Ahl al-kitab: “People of the Book.” The term referring to Jews and Christians.

Alhamdu-lillah: “All praise is due to Allah.” A Qur’anic phrase repeated by Muslims in all situ-ations of life.

Allahu akbar: “God is Great.” Used when ac-knowledging or recognizing an individual or an event.

Assalamu Alaikum: “Peace be upon you.” An Islamic greeting.

Bismillah: “In the name of Allah.” All actions of a Muslim should begin with this phrase to en-sure good and meritorious conduct.

Insha Allah: “God-willing.” A phrase often used.

Jazaku Allahu Khayran: “May Allah reward you.” A form of saying thank-you.

Masha Allah: “Due to Allah.” Pronounced when praising.

Pillars of Islam: The 5 basic devotional-ritual duties of Islam:

Shahada: testifying that “There is no god but God and Mohammed is the Messenger of God.”

Salat: “five daily prayer services;”

Zakat: “almsgiving;”

Sawm: “fasting during daylight in the month of Ramadan;

Hajj: “pilgrimage to Mecca.”

Subhana Allah: “God alone is worthy of praise.” Used in appreciation or time of achievement, or blessing.

GLOSSARY OF COMMON MUSLIM PHRASESGLOSSARY OF MUSLIM TERMS


Mahmoud Ayoub Professor of Islamic Studies Department of Religion Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. E-mail: [email protected] Office: 215-204-5603 Home: 215-849-6571

Ayoub is well versed on the religious fundamen-tals of Islam, Muslin-Christian relations, and interfaith dialogue. Born and raised in Lebanon, he has a doctorate in the history of religion from Harvard University.

Alan Godlas Associate Professor of Religion University of Georgia, Athens, GA. E-Mail: [email protected] Office: 706-542-1486

Godlas is a leading academic expert on esoteric and mystic Islam, including Sufism. He has cre-ated a Web site on Islam that offers a comprehen-sive scholarly review of Islam, as well as of Suf-ism, Arabic, Western religions and related topics. http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/home.html

Ingrid Mattson Professor of Islamic Studies Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian/Muslim Relations, Hart-ford Seminary, Hartford, CT. E-mail: [email protected] Office: 860-509-9531 Fax: 860-509-9539 Mattson, a Canadian convert to Islam, is an academic expert on Islamic law or Shari’a. Ad-ditionally, Mattson is a source on contemporary issues related to Islam and American Muslims. She is vice president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Ann E. Mayer Associate Professor of Legal Studies Wharton School of the University of Pennsylva-nia, PA. E-Mail: [email protected] Office: 215-898-5717 Mayer is an authority on comparative law, hu-man rights law, and Islamic jurisprudence

Seyyed Hossein Nasr Professor of Islamic Studies George Washington University, Washington, D.C. E-mail: [email protected] Office: 202-994-5704 Born and raised in Iran, Nasr is among the lead-ing Islamic scholars in the U.S. Nasr is fluent inEnglish, Persian, Arabic and French. He received his education in Iran and the U.S., where he received his doctorate from Harvard University. Nasr is the author of 20 books and hundreds of articles.

Roger Hardy

BBC Middle East Analyst Freelance Journalist Contact through BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Roger Hardy is a BBC Middle East analyst and freelance journalist who has specialized for many years in the Middle East.

Tudor Lomas

Jemstone Director

The Jemstone Network Ltd Heldre Cottage, Collards Lane, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 2HU Phone: 00 44 1428 641000 Fax 00 44 1428 643675 Email: [email protected] www.jemstone.net

Lomas is Director of the Jemstone Network, a media and development consultancy which he established in 1999 after four years on second-ment from the BBC to an EU-funded project aimed at increasing contacts and understanding between media professionals in the Middle East and Europe.

Dr. Richard Stone

The Runnymede Trust, Suite 106 The London Fruit & Wool Exchange Brushfield Street London E1 6EP Tel: 020 7377 9222 Fax: 020 7377 6622 Email: [email protected]

Dr. Stone is chair of “Islamophobia” (A report by the Commission on British Muslims and Is-lamophobia)

He was an adviser to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, 1997-1999, and is chair of the Uniting Britain Trust and of the Jewish Council for Ra-cial Equality. He is vice-chair of the Runnymede Trust.

REPORTER’S ROLODEX

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.arches.uga.edu/%7Egodlas/home.html





WEBSITES / RESOURCES

Websites for Journalists covering Islam and Muslims:

http://www.maynardije.org/resources/covering-news/accuracy/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/

http://www.faithandmedia.org/pdfdocs/guide-islam.pdf

http://mediaguidetoislam.sfsu.edu/home/index.htm

Other Web resources on this topic:

• Informational Resources on Arab-Americans, the Arab World and Islam

http://www.adc.org/education/aainfores.htm

• 100 Questions and Answers about Arab-Americans: A Journalist’s Guide

http://www.freep.com/jobspage/arabs/index.htm

• The Quran online (1 or 2) 1. http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/

2. http://www.islam.tc/quran/

• The South Asian Journalists Association provides a stylebook, sources and a roundup of coverage for journalists.

http://www.saja.org/stylebook.html

• Newswatch is a site dedicated to diversity in journalism, with commentary on media performance.

http://www.ciij.org/

• Maynard Institute for Journalism Education http://www.maynardije.org/

• The Religion Newswriters Association maintains an extensive set of resources on religion and covering religion.

http://www.religionwriters.com/

• The mission of the Anti-Defamation League is to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds. One section of its Web site details how ADL leaders have responded to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab-American violence.

http://www.adl.org/

• The American Academy of Religion operates Religion source, a free service that offers jour-nalists referrals to scholars with specific exper-tise in a variety of topics, including religion and politics, social issues, education, pop culture and ethics, among others. The service includes scholars who are not AAR members, and most of the sources live or work in North America. The referral service is supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Use of the service is restricted to journalists and other authorized users. You must register to use the service. To sign up, go to http://www.religionsource.org/ or call 404-727-4725

ARTICLES

• Sayyed Yousif al-Khoei Islam and the West: Western Media Coverage of Islam – a critical review Article available at: http://www.honestreports.com/documents/islamophobia.pdf

• George Gerges Islam and Muslims in the Minds of America Article available at: http://www.fathom.com/course/21701771/sessions.html

• Dealing with the Media, Guidelines for Journalists From the 2004 report from the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia (See Pages 72-80). Article available at: http://www.insted.co.uk/islambook.pdf

• Roger Hardy (BBC Middle East analyst and freelance journalist who has specialized for many years in the Middle East.) Islam and the West: Bridging the divide Article available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/special/islam/3182669.stm

• Freshta Azizi Scholars Press for Better Understanding of Muslim Opinion Article available at: http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/Freshta-Azizi-Understanding-Muslim-Opinion2004-11-02-voa46.cfm

• Jemstone Islam & The West Article available at: http://www.jemstone.net/islam.php

BOOKS

• Dr. Ahmed, Akbar (1998) Islam Today: A Short Introduction to the Muslim World, I.B. Tauris

• Ernst, Carl (2003) Following Muhammad, Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, University of North Carolina Press

• Esposito, John (2002) What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, Oxford University Press

• Said, Edward (1996), Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, Vintage

• Dr. Ahmed, Akbar (1989) Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society, Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Lt

• Bukhari, Zahid H., Nyang, Sulayman S., Ahmad, Mumtaz, Esposito, John L.(2004), Muslims’ Place in the American Public Square: Hope, Fears, and Aspirations, Altamira Press

• Philip Hitti and Walid Khalidi (2002), History of the Arabs, Palgrave Macmillan; 10th Revised edition

• Bernard Lewis (1997), The Middle East, Scribner; Reprint edition

http://www.maynardije.org/resources/coveringnews/accuracy/

http://www.maynardije.org/resources/coveringnews/accuracy/







http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/

http://www.islam.tc/quran/

http://www.religionsource.org/


The Society of Professional Journalists

has passed a resolution urging

members and fellow journalists to take

steps against racial profiling in their

coverage of the war on terrorism and to

redouble their commitment to:

• Use language that is informative and not inflammatory;

• Portray Muslims, Arabs and Middle Eastern and South Asian Americans in the richness of their diverse experiences;

• Seek truth through a variety of voices and perspectives that help audiences understand the complexities of Islam and relations between the Middle East and the West.

VISUAL IMAGES:

• Seek out people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds when photographing Americans and Europeans mourning those lost in terrorist attacks.

• Seek out people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds when photographing rescue and other public service workers and military personnel.

• Do not represent Arabs and Muslims as monolithic groups. Avoid conveying the impression that all Arab Americans and Muslims wear traditional clothing.

• Use photos and features to demystify veils, turbans and other cultural articles and customs.

STORIES:

• Seek out and include Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and men and women of Middle Eastern descent in all stories about the war, not just those about Arab and Muslim communities or racial profiling.

• Cover the victims of harassment, murder and other hate crimes as thoroughly as you cover the victims of overt terrorist attacks.

• Make an extra effort to include olive-complexioned and darker men and women, Sikhs, Muslims and devout religious people of all types in arts, business, society columns and all other news and feature coverage, not just stories about the crisis.

• Seek out experts on military strategies, public safety, diplomacy, economics and other pertinent topics who run the spectrum of race, class, gender and geography.

• When writing about terrorism, remember to include white supremacist, radical anti-abortionists and other groups with a history of such activity.

• Do not imply that kneeling on the floorpraying, listening to Arabic music or reciting from the Quran are peculiar activities.

• When describing Islam, keep in mind there are large populations of Muslims around the world, including in Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, India and the United States. Distinguish between various Muslim states; do not lump them together as in constructions such as "the fury of the Muslim world."

• Avoid using word combinations such as "Islamic terrorist" or "Muslim extremist" that are misleading because they link whole religions to criminal activity. Be specific:Alternate choices, depending on context, include "Al Qaeda terrorists" or, to describe the broad range of groups involved in Islamic politics, "political Islamists." Do not use religious characterizations as shorthand when geographic, political, socioeconomic or other distinctions might be more accurate.

• Avoid using terms such as "jihad" unless you are certain of their precise meaning and include the context when they are used in quotations. The basic meaning of "jihad" is

to exert oneself for the good of Islam and to better oneself.

• Consult the Library of Congress guide for transliteration of Arabic names and Muslim or Arab words to the Roman alphabet. Use spellings preferred by the American Muslim Council, including "Muhammad," "Quran," and "Makkah ," not "Mecca."

• Regularly seek out a variety of perspectives for your opinion pieces. Check your coverage against the five Maynard Institutefor Journalism Education fault lines of race and ethnicity, class, geography, gender and generation.

• Ask men and women from within targeted communities to review your coverage and make suggestions

Please visit www.islamperceptions.org for more information on this topic.

GUIDELINES FOR JOURNALISTS


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