Greetings, aji!
As you can imagine, these questions have been hotly debated in the
last year, and there are many inflammatory essays, for both sides,
available on the Internet. I have tried to provide you with as
balanced a set of references as possible.
Islam in the Media
------------------
"Anti-Islam in the Media: An Executive Summary of a six-month case
study of five top Canadian newspapers (October 20, 1997 - April 20,
1998)" from the Canadian Islamic Congress (June 1998)
http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/minrep/resource/reports/cdnislam.htm
"Islam in the Western Media" by Bashy Quraishi from The Multicultural
Skyscraper Newsletter (Vol. 1 No. 3. Friday, October 12, 2001)
http://www.multicultural.net/newsletter/article/issue3-bashy.htm
From "Living Islam" by Akbar S. Ahmed:
http://muslim-canada.org/livingislam2.html
"The UN Speaks Against Anti-Islam in The Media", from the National
Association of Muslim Journalists
http://www.blackjournalism.com/muslim.htm
From the website of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)
"Media Advisory: Media March to War" (September 17, 2001)
http://www.fair.org/press-releases/wtc-war-punditry.html
"Arabs in the Media: Victim or Villain?" by Samia Yakub
http://www.mts.net/~dkost/media_arabs2.htm
From "re:constructions", a site launched by members of the MIT
Comparative Media Studies community:
"British Media Portrayals of Muslims In the Wake of the September 11
Attacks" by William Conte, (September 28, 2001)
http://web.mit.edu/cms/reconstructions/communications/ukmuslims.html
From the "Honest Reports: A Resource for Media Professionals" website:
"Islamophobia & the media"
http://www.honestreports.com/islamophobia.asp
Honest Reports is a pro-Islam site which nevertheless appears to
present the issues in a fairly well-balanced way: their list of
related news article:
http://www.honestreports.com/reportingnews.asp
Muslims and the meaning of the Quran
------------------------------------
"Qura'n Needs To Be Re-Interpreted To Reflect The True Spirit Of
Islam" by Tashbih Sayyed, Pakistan Today (Friday, April 12, 2002)
http://www.paktoday.com/reflect.htm
From the August 1996 newsletter of the "Islam 21 Project: The
International Forum for Islamic Dialogue"
"Current Discourse"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-3.htm
Fundamentalism and Authenticity
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-4.htm
"The Quranic Call and Reform Discourses"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-5.htm
"Pre- Islamic Arguments"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-6.htm
"Updating Tools of Knowledge"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-7.htm
"The Case Against Modernity"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-8.htm
"Derivations of Islamic Discourse"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-9.htm
"From Concepts to Popular Slogans"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-10.htm
"The Way Ahead"
http://www.islam21.net/pages/issues/english/august96-11.htm
Selected paragraphs from "In the Shadow of the Prophet" by Milton
Viorst, from Professor Deborah B. Wyrick's class guides for NC State's
College of Humanities and Social Sciences:
http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/wyrick/debclass/viorst.htm
"What kind of Muslims are Afghanistan's ruling Taliban?" by Kathy
Gannon and Richard N. Ostling - Associated Press Writers (September
19, 2001)
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/home.pat,local/3accfcdf.919,.html
"Who are the Taliban and how do other Muslims see them?" by Kathy
Gannon and Richard N. Ostling - Associated Press Writers (March 18,
2001)
http://web.archive.org/web/20011111132855/http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/side/1076334
"Breeding Ground: Fundamentalists Pervert Teaching of Islam" by
Jonathan Schanzer, Investor's Business Daily (September 24, 2001)
http://www.meforum.org/article/80
"Seeking truth about Islam" by Nick Grabbe, Daily Hampshire Gazette
(November 17, 2001):
http://www.gazettenet.com/9-11/11172001/8690.htm
Effect of English Translations of the Quran
-------------------------------------------
"Translations of the Quran: The Holy Quran's Translation in English"
by Abdullah Yousuf Ali:
http://members.tripod.com/iaislam/Quran/translations.htm
"Excellent, but I must point out..." review by reader of "The Holy
Qur'an: Text, Translation & Commentary" by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:
http://www.alude.com/books/itm0940368323.htm
"Translating the Untranslatable: A Survey of English Translations of
the Quran"
by A.R. Kidwai, The Muslim World Book Review (Vol. 7, No. 4 Summer
1987):
http://www.soundvision.com/info/quran/english.asp
"English Translations of the Quran" by Al-Muhajabah
http://www.muhajabah.com/translation.htm
"Is There An Ultimate Translation Of The Quran?" by DR. A.
Nihamathullah, Radiance Weekly:
http://leb.net/pipermail/lexington-net/1999-December/001716.html
Changes in perceptions of Islam Since September 11
--------------------------------------------------
"American Muslims Struggle for the Soul of Islam" by Hasan Zillur
Rahim, Pacific News Service (January 10, 2002)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12201
"Muslim Students Talk About Life in U.S. Since 9/11" by Brian Handwerk
and Zain Habboo, National Geographic News (September 10, 2002):
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0910_muslimkids.html
"Talking about Islam after September eleven" by Mahfuzur Rahman, the
Daily Star (Bangladesh) (Volume 3 Number 1003, July 05, 2002):
http://www.dailystarnews.com/200207/05/n2070509.htm#BODY4
"September 11, 2001 Attack raises questions about Islam" by Steve
Young, Instructor of Philosophy and Religion, McHenry County College
(Winter 2002, page 2):
www.supportmcc.org/news/newdirections/winter02.pdf
"US Public Opinion Toward Islam and Muslims" by Ismail Royer, Islam
Today (April 2, 2002):
http://islamtoday.net/english/special_report/opinion2.pdf
"Radical New Views of Islam and the Origins of the Koran" By Alexander
Stille, the New York Times (March 2, 2002):
http://www.rim.org/muslim/qurancrit.htm
Film about Islam
-----------------
"Islam - Empire of Faith" (2000) Muze Description:
"Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley narrates this three hour
documentary about the political history of one of the world's greatest
religious and cultural philosophies. The rise of Islam began as the
Roman Empire collapsed, and quickly took its place as an Imperial
force, lasting for more than one thousand years. Showcasing rare
Islamic art and architecture, the history of Islam is explained in the
greater context of world history to demonstrate its far-reaching
influence. Members of both the U.S. Congress and Buckingham Palace
have used this program to further their understanding of the storied
history of Islam."
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_fullinfo.php/masterid=110760302/ut=4452de55e0f2841f
Search Strategy
Islam "in the media"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Islam+%22in+the+media%22&btnG=Google+Search
muslim "interpretation of the quran"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=muslim+%22interpretation+of+the+quran%22&btnG=Google+Search
"English translations of the quran"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22English+translations+of+the+quran%22+&btnG=Google+Search
"views on Islam" changes "since September 11"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22views+on+Islam%22+changes+%22since+September+11%22
"views of Islam" changes "since September 11"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22views+of+Islam%22+changes+%22since+September+11%22&btnG=Google+Search
Before Rating my Answer, if you have any questions, please post a
Request for Clarification, and I will be glad to see what I can do for
you.
I hope this Answer provides you with exactly what you needed!
Regards,
aceresearcher |
Clarification of Answer by
aceresearcher-ga
on
16 Dec 2002 12:01 PST
aji,
I'm sorry, it was my impression that "Looking for an reasonal, well
argued opinion" meant that you wanted links to such opinions, for
which I gave you quite a few. If you haven't had a chance yet to read
these articles, I encourage you to do so. Many of them were written by
people who are considered reasonably objective experts on issues
regarding Islam, and would be far more persuasive and well thought-out
than an opinion from non-experts such as myself.
I would especially refer you to the two articles written by Kathy
Gannon and Richard N. Ostling. Ms. Gannon is the AP's Bureau Chief in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Mr. Ostling is a Senior Correspondent
for TIME, specializing in religion. I feel that their articles are
well-written and based on sound research.
I can tell you that I firmly believe that there is NO question that
the media has been grossly biased and less than fair to the Islam side
of the issue. (For perspective, I am a Caucasian who was raised in the
U.S.Midwest, and who has no close Muslim friends or relatives.)
While there has certainly been a decent amount of fair coverage (and I
have tried to make my links of that type as much as possible), in my
opinion, a great deal of what has been presented in the media has
been:
1) Written by people with a Christian background who know little or
nothing about Islam and have not taken the time to educate themselves
about it, or written by people who are devout Muslims and consider all
other points of view invalid;
2) Written by people with either a Christian or Muslim religious
agenda;
3) Written by people who are so outraged about the events of September
11 that they have developed a "speak English and become a Christian,
or get out of the U.S." viewpoint (if they didn't already feel that
way before September 11); and
4) People who have little or no knowledge of U.S. political history,
and do not realize that the U.S. Government's actions toward other
countries have not always been ethical or honorable.
Certainly, because the U.S. has been such a driving force in much of
the content that is available on the Internet, the sheer volume of the
available webpages is weighted heavily to the Western/Christian point
of view.
While there is absolutely NO excuse or justification for the horrible
things that were done to innocent U.S. citizens on September 11, the
sad truth is that the U.S. Government has given people in other
countries a great number of valid reasons to hate us. As a nation, we
are very ego-centric and ethno-centric, and have arrogantly appointed
ourselves judge and jury for the rest of the world, sometimes
committing acts that we would condemn if they had been committed by
other nations.
Unless and until we as a nation are willing to learn our history,
scrutinize and analyze it heavily, and use what we learn to guide our
actions going forward, I have no doubt that there will be in the
future extremists who will use our less-than-honorable acts as excuses
to propagate yet more of this senseless violence.
Again, Before Rating my Answer, I encourage you to first read through
all the links which I have provided. After that, if you still have
questions, please post a Request for Clarification, and I will see
what I can do for you.
Regards,
aceresearcher
|
