Tasneem Hoque
09/23/19
Megan Skelly
English Composition
Rise of Islamophobia
Islamophobia is very common in America today and all over the world. Due to current events, it has still not died down. Ever since 9/11, the fear of the religion itself has increased immensely and has even caused people to take action, that ultimately has led to more attacks, violence and tragedy. This topic has multiple parts to it, which includes the idea of stereotypes, terror groups, gun violence, racism, community and even the president of the United States and his stance on Islamophobia.
The article “In the aftermath of Christ Church shooting, local Muslims experience fear, support” by Imani Cruzen, talks about the shootings that took place in Christ Church, New Zealand at two mosques. In the event that took place this year, 50 people were shot and killed at a Friday morning prayer. The rhetorical situation is that, the author Imani Cruzen, felt the need to write this article as a result of multiple attacks happening that are directly connected to Islam. Imani was an intern at the Minneapolis/St.Paul Minnesota business news and a reporter for the Star Tribune. As a reporter and journalist, she has published multiple scholarly articles having to do with issues that the word faces in the 21st century. For this article, she interviewed members of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Minnesota. The audience is the people, meaning everyone in the world who has seen what Islamophobia is doing to communities and everyones’ need for awareness. When she writes “we’ve been waiting for an incident to happen”(Cruzen 1), she shows that she is targeting those people who have the power to stop Islamophobia because she is trying to help them understand that Muslims are always in danger. It is also the people who have Islamophobia, in other words people who are scared of Muslims and make believe whatever they hear about them. “Students making assumptions about their Somali or Muslim peers before getting to know them (Cruzen1).
The purpose of this would be divided into more than one part. Given that the author is multiple people, it is clear that the writer gathered a list of opinions from these people to show her audience that people are suffering from the same problem. The purpose is to establish that people need to come together as a community to protect and support one another. She literally says “a community comes together”(Cruzen 1). This itself has a very calm yet steady tone, in which it says this has to happen. It does not even have to be just an actual attack, but small interactions. The author includes this part “Samia Abdi said she was driving near campus when a group of men saw her and yelled “Allahu Akbar.”(Cruzen 1). This adds on to the purpose by saying that people face verbal attacks everyday so they need their community to stick with them. There is also a very disappointed tone when the author includes “While we are shocked in the sense that it’s a horrific attack, we’re not surprised that it actually happened because these types of attacks have been at a high level,”(Cruzen1). This shows that Islamophobia has risen to the point of actual physical violence, including ones with the use of guns. Imani calls attention to everyone to show that it is disappointing to hear people say they can predict attacks because of what has been going on and that situations, especially with guns must be under control. In other words, gun laws need to be secured. The community has to stick together to make that happen. The genre is written in the form of a news article, interviewing people and the medium is delivered in the form of an online article. The stance the author is on is to help spread awareness on Islamophobia and in support of bringing communities together to put an end to it.
The New York Times Article “Our Brother, Our Executioner”, talks about how people can often be compelled to hide their religion because of fear of getting singled out and attacked because they are Muslim. The rhetorical situation is that the author felt the need to address this because Muslims are always living in constant fear of someone attacking them no matter what because of recent public beliefs. The author of this article is Omer Aziz, a Muslim who wrote ”Brown Boy: A Story of Race, Religion, and Inheritance.” He speaks about his own experiences as a Muslim man living in America and the difficulties he has had portraying his own identity and talks about how no matter what, Muslims are always getting punished. Because he is the author, the audience is able to receive a first hand point of view on being Muslim in America, as well as understanding the constant fear they are living in. The audience of this article are mostly people who are racist and have something against Islam. Specifically those who believe that Muslims are a threat to America, such as the president of the United States, Donald Trump. “We want to belong, to be good neighbors, to call the white man who enters our place of worship our brother” (Aziz 1). This is targeted towards those people to show them what Muslims really want, which is no violence or terror.
The purpose of this article is to inform the audience that while they might be scared of Muslims in America, Muslims themselves have an even greater fear of stepping their foot outside, everyday. The author wrote that after 9/11 he was “taught to retreat into invisibility because of the dangers of being Muslim”(Aziz 1). This shows that the author hid his identity from the world because he was scared of how people might react; this alone makes it obvious that other Muslims do not feel the safety they need and while people are scared of them, they are scared of people. The tone throughout the article is very steady and fearful as he says “the whole Muslim community has been forced to accept collective guilt and punishment for every act of terror or violence”(Aziz 1). The tone here is very calm, yet effective because the author knows what he is saying is true, yet at the same time he is scared of that. His calm tone seems to portray his and many other peoples’ beliefs that if someone who identified as a Muslim commited a crime, then the whole Muslim community would pay the price for that, which steers up anxiousness and fear. The genre is a news article, in this way he is targeting everyone in the world who reads the New York Times. The medium is a paper copy section in the newspaper itself and an online website version. With these two, he is able to reach out to a larger variety of people and inform them about this issue. It is very clear what his stance is on this point. He is on the side of humanity for all and less fear. Everyone should be protecting each other and when something unfortunate happens, the blame and punishment should not go to one race or religion, but it should only be focused on the person or group who directly committed the crime. No one should spend their life living in fear of something bad happening to them.
The article “Identifying and rectifying the root causes of Islamophobia” talks about how Islamophobia began and how this one thing led to a more deeper concern of hating Muslims, which evidently led to violence. The author of this article is Dale Sprusansky, a writer for the Washington Post. He does not have a cultural relationship with Islamophobia, so he does interview people with more knowledge such as John Esposito. The audience is those people who make assumptions based on news reports and take the word of the president of the United States. “The president has also surrounded himself with individuals who have engaged in Islamic rhetoric”(Sprusansky 1). This directly shows the reader the president’s true image as someone who only supports Islamophobia and is not reliable because he does not have a variety of views on Islam, except those that are negative.
The purpose is to argue that the main root cause of Islamophobia is not Muslims themselves, but people who have the power to manipulate the minds of everyone in the world and choose to do so by turning them against one another. The author felt the need to write this because people are easily convinced of anything the media spreads. It is important that they understand that not everything the media covers is true because most of the time they are just trying to sell a fake story. “Fox News was by far the worst offender, he noted, with 100 percent of their stories about Muslims being negative”(Sprusansky 1). By writing this, it does prove the author’s purpose because he does make it seem a little suspicious that all the stories are negative because at least one should be disapproving the rest. The tone is very annoyed as it says “It is a tool of public manipulation, it is eroding our freedom and democratic principles”(Sprusansky 1). This is showing the audience, yes it is all fun and games for them, “but for Muslims out there, it is actual hell. It plays with their freedom and restricts them from being a full American with rights.” The genre is a magazine article and the medium is delivered in the form of an electronic copy. This is so that the people out there can become aware of what they are rooting for, real news or fake news. It is clear that the author stands with the idea that Islamophobia roots from manipulation and the constant harassment of Muslims by those who want to say whatever they want just because they dislike Muslims.
Lastly, the social media post that was posted in 2015 was about the issues going on in the United Kingdom. The author of this is the current president of the USA, Donald Trump. This is only one of his many posts negatively portraying Islam and spreading Islamophobia. His audience is his followers and he strives to show them that there is a problem with Islam that is bringing more and more danger to the UK.
The purpose of his post is to convince his audience that there is no other reason for the ongoing conflict in the UK, but Muslims. He literally says “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem”(Trump1). Just by stating “Muslim problem” makes it very clear that he is against Islam and is promoting Islamophobia by making his audience believe that Islam presents more threats. His tone alone is very immature, but in the sense that he believes he does not have to be sophisticated when it comes to this because he believes everyone should agree with him regardless. The genre is a public tweet with a medium of an informal social media post; given that he has many followers, he uses this to gain the attraction.
Overall, the first three sources do have similar purposes and stances. They all in general, want to educate the world about the roots and meaning of Islamophobia and agree that it does not help any situation. The rhetoric elements are used to show that so many people misunderstand the religion itself by seeing it as a religion of terrorism and violence. They all aim to help people understand that these are all misconceptions that could either be corrected or make the situation worse. The last source, however, is completely against Islam, so the stance is different, as well as the genre and medium it was delievered in, compared to the rest. It is by none other than the president of the United States, who seems to have very little knowledge, compared to the rest of the authors. He still confidently stands with his point of Islam being a religion of terror.
Works Cited
Aziz, Omer. “Our Brother, Our Executioner.” New York Times, 17 Mar. 2019, p. 7(L). SPN.SP01, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A578692548/SPN.SP01?u=cuny_ccny&sid=SPN.SP01&xid=165d31ff. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
Sprusansky, Dale. “Identifying and rectifying the root causes of Islamophobia.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June-July 2017, p. 51+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A497730661/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=4a50c8d0. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
“Tested in the cause of tolerance and respect; Faith.” Times [London, England], 25 Mar. 2006, p. 77. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A143674198/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=2c280d5d. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
Trump, Donald J. “The United Kingdom Is Trying Hard to Disguise Their Massive Muslim Problem. Everybody Is Wise to What Is Happening, Very Sad! Be Honest.” Twitter, Twitter, 10 Dec. 2015, twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/674934005725331456.
