Islam - 
​Disrupting Assumptions

Muslim Countries Aren't Just in the Middle East

Many Americans associate Islam with the Middle East. While there are millions of Muslims in the Middle East, there are way more OUTSIDE of the Middle East! In fact, less than 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East or Northern Africa!

Learn more from this Pew Research article that explores the worldwide Muslim Population. Remember that each religious tradition is internally diverse because of different cultural and political factors that have led to change over time. Think about how different "Muslim life" is in each of those countries.

If you want to dive into the rabbit hole, here are three different links from Pew Research that go further. If you dive in, please remember the dynamic nature of values. Think about how much American society has recently shifted in issues such as gender and sexuality.

Reza Aslan: "Stop saying Muslim countries​!"

Just like we saw earlier in the year, many cable news pundits do not understand religion. Watch as Reza Aslan tries to explain relatively simple concepts. Aslan does say a lot, so it may be easy to get lost in different arguments. His main claim is that "there is no such thing as a Muslim country. There are so many diverse expressions of Islam." Keep that in mind as Aslan explains how we need to re-frame our thinking of Islam as oppressive, backwards, or barbaric.

Videos like this are what they're talking about when they refer to Bill Maher's views on Islam.

Note: Sorry for the video's 'clickbait' title. Cable News...

Muslims Create Peace, Too

This is an important video. We've seen a lot of violence in the Israel/Palestine region, but that's just part of the story. This is an excerpt from the incredible documentary called Encounter Point. It tracks several peace keeping missions between ordinary Israelis & Palestinians. For our purposes, the first 3.5 minutes & the last 3.5 minutes are the most important. Think about the struggle between cultural violence & cultural peace. Think about how this may have challenged your assumptions about the Israel/Palestine region.

Some Next Level $#!+

You don't have to continue beyond this, but there's some good stuff here...especially the concept of orientalism​.

We've been trained to be unable to properly see Muslims

In Western media (& even academia at times), Asians are often presented as different, other, and sometimes even diametrically opposed to western values. Not all Asians are presented as the same (often split into simple categories, such as Chinese, Arab, or Indian), but they are almost always presented as radically different or even backwards from Westerners. Even Disney had to change Aladdin after several lines were widely seen as problematic and offensive. This article from Khan Academy can serve as a good introduction for students. The Guardian ranked Edward Said's book, Orientalism, as the 8th best non-fiction book of all time. Their review of Said's book is a better text for a higher-level summary.

Each Mosque is Different

Quick explanation of a project that showed Bassam Tariq the diversity of Muslim expressions in America.