Abstract:
Abstract: Representation of Islam in Western media and literature has
categorized Islam under few characteristics like ‘fundamentalist’,
‘terrorist’, ‘anti-Western’ etc. Moreover, the 9/11 attack in the USA, US
invasion into Iraq and Afghanistan and the huge propaganda, analysis and
opinion of those events afterwards in the media, is found stereotypically
identifying the whole race of Muslims as terrorists. The declared ‘War on
Terrorism’ by the USA and comments of many US scholars on it make the
situation worst because of the reductive meaning of the chosen words
indirectly validates any type of US attacks on any Muslim nation. Beyond
Belief by VS Naipaul, Satanic Verses by Salman Rusdie, Clash of
Civilization by Huntington and some articles by other US scholars like
Michael Ledeen, David Hanson and Robert D. Kaplan show some
stereotypical points of view of Islam. This paper reveals that representation
of Islam in these writings and in the media is biased and stereotypical. To
support this revelation Edward Said’s Covering Islam and to clearly
understand the politics of representation Stuart Hall’s theory of
representation is used. Stereotypical representation creates nothing but
distance between the Westerns and the Muslims. To remove the distance we
must clearly understand the politics of representation of Islam and the
Muslims.
