Why Is Islamic History in the West Reduced to Terrorism?

 

Why Is Islamic History in the West Reduced to Terrorism?

Introduction

Whenever I hear the word Islam on Western TV, the next word is often terrorism. It feels as if Islamic history is nothing but bombs, attacks, and fanaticism. For me, this is painful not just because I am a Muslim, but because I know Islam’s past is far richer than that. (Esposito, Islam and the West, 1999)

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How This Narrative Grew

We must be honest: this narrative didn’t appear overnight. Since 9/11, Western media has framed Islam equals terror. Even Hollywood, since the Cold War, often cast Arabs or Muslims as villains. (Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs, 2001)

As a Muslim, I understand why the trauma exists. But if we stop there, then countless pages of Islamic history that once enlightened Europe will stay forgotten.

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A History Cut Short

In Western schoolbooks, Islam often appears only as ‘the conqueror’. Yet, Islamic conquests under the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Ottomans brought science, philosophy, and art into Europe’s heart. (Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests, 2007)

Andalusia who still remembers from Western school lessons that Cordoba once had libraries with hundreds of thousands of books while Europe struggled in the Dark Ages? (Menocal, The Ornament of the World, 2002)

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The Pattern of Media Bias

I often wonder why terrorism by a small Muslim group sticks so strongly, while state or non-Muslim terrorism rarely gets labeled the same way? (Said, Covering Islam, 1981)

Here lies the issue: framing. When the perpetrator is Muslim, the headline says Islamic Terrorism. If not Muslim, the word terrorism often disappears, replaced with ‘lone wolf’ or ‘mentally ill’. (Poole, Reporting Islam, 2002)

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Are Muslims Completely Innocent?

As a Muslim, I don’t want to be hypocritical. We must admit there are radical groups hijacking Islam for politics. ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram they exist. But equating all Islam with them is like equating all Christians with the Ku Klux Klan. (Roy, Globalized Islam, 2004)

I believe the majority of Muslims want peace, jobs, education for their kids, and normal lives. Sadly, the majority’s voice is drowned out by one suicide bombing.

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Why Does Islam’s Golden Age Rarely Appear?

I often ask: why do Cordoba, Baghdad, Cairo, and Samarkand rarely appear in Western films or popular books? One answer may be because that story doesn’t sell. Terror attracts more clicks than science, poetry, or astronomy. (Ahmed, A Quiet Revolution, 2011)

Yet Europe owes much to Muslim scholars Al-Khwarizmi with algebra, Ibn Sina in medicine, Al-Zahrawi with modern surgery. (Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, 2007)

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Impact on Young Muslims

This narrative pattern has lasting effects. Many young Muslims in the West grow up feeling alienated. They’re trapped in double identities Muslim at home but constantly forced to defend themselves in public. (Cesari, Why the West Fears Islam, 2013)

For me, this is unhealthy. Young Muslims should feel proud of Islam’s scholarly legacy, not just busy explaining they’re not terrorists.

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It’s Partly Our Fault Too

I must admit, we Muslims share some blame. We don’t write enough, document enough, or brand enough. While the West makes big films about the Crusades from a European view, how many major films show who Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi was from a Muslim perspective? (Zuhur, Images of Enemies, 2005)

If we stay silent, others will define us.

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What Can Be Done?

I believe the solution is not anger or censorship. The solution is counter-narrative. Islamic history must be revived — through books, films, social media. Muslim historians must write in global languages. (Ramadan, Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity, 2001)

I write this hoping one article sparks curiosity that Islam is more than war it’s also the pen.

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Closing

As a Muslim writer, I stay neutral. I don’t deny radicalism exists. But I won’t let Islam’s history be caged in terrorism alone. Islamic civilization once bridged knowledge across continents. If we forget that, our generation loses pride. (Lewis, What Went Wrong?, 2002)

For me, the narrative must be reclaimed not to glorify the past, but to build a fairer future. And to remind the world, Islam is not synonymous with terrorism, just as the West is not synonymous with colonialism.