Addressing Muslims’ Image Problem

I have to admit my view of Muslims is influenced by a stereotype and it is not a pretty image. It comes mostly from the news but also from movies, books, political cartoons, and unfortunately from some of the few Muslims I have met. You know the picture: intolerant, sexist, violent, and ignorant are among the adjectives that come to mind. I realize it is unfair to paint all Muslims with that brush. If all one knew about Christians came from the nightly news one might think we were all murderers and rapists. So in recent years I have tried to make myself better informed by reading up on Islam and its history. On occasion I accept invitations to attempts at interfaith dialog. Last week I picked up a FAQ by Dr. Zakir Naik from the Islamic Research Foundation. A Plano Mosque handed it out as background reading for a class directed at non-Muslims. The FAQ is intended to dispel common misperceptions. It doesn’t. Some of it is downright offensive. I won’t conduct a point by point disputation but Dr. Naik defends polygamy partly by asserting that since there are more women than men in the world, some women have no choice but to marry a man who already has one wife. Otherwise she becomes “public property.” I’m not making this up. Worse, he insists that not wearing a veil invites molestation. I would call that blaming the victim. My wife and daughters go out in public unveiled and attractively dressed. They are most certainly not inviting molesters. He contends that western society, far from uplifting women, has degraded “them to the status of concubines, mistresses, and social butterflies…” Talk about a stereotype! I have a couple of (well intended) suggestions for Muslims like Dr. Naik who would have people like me think more positively about Islam and Muslims. Don’t be so defensive. Promote the virtues of Islam without excusing bad behavior among Muslims. Yes, Islam is a peaceful religion but most of today’s suicide assassins are Muslims. I’d like to hear what their fellow Muslims propose to do about that, not hear it dismissed as it often is with the bromide “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” If you don’t see anything wrong with terrorism you are reinforcing my stereotype. Modesty is certainly a virtue and Muslims are right to promote it but when they tell non-Muslims their women are no better than prostitutes they should not expect a sympathetic ear. Don’t pretend the hijab has never been used as an instrument of repression. Those stories about Taliban mistreatment of women aren’t all lies. Who is going to speak up? Be careful of double standards. You may not see them but your listeners do. When you decry the 1492 expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain as a great humanitarian catastrophe many would agree. When you see nothing wrong in the seventh century massacre and mass deportation of Jews and Christians from what is now Saudi Arabia you betray a moral inconsistency. Caliph Omar viewed the presence of unbelievers on hallowed ground as sacrilege. So did Ferdinand and Isabella. Most of all, be sensitive to the legitimate concerns of your audience. I often get the impression Muslims are only interested in monologue, not dialog. Spokesmen like Dr. Naik appear oblivious to the non-Muslim point of view. He makes me wonder if he has ever really talked to any. I would like very much to understand what so many Muslims, and especially Arabs, are so angry about. I would feel a lot better if more Muslims gave me the idea they were as anxious to understand what makes me worry about them.