Twaseen Mazumder

Professor Mcintosh

FIQWS 10108

10/22/20

Islamophobia: A misguided perception of Muslims

By definition, Islamophobia is a term that means fear or hate directly intended for Muslims. This is based off incidents in the recent decades that caused most people to believe that Islam is a radical religion and that Muslims who follow it are “terrorists” who cause fear in the hearts of people. This is the narrative spread by Western Media, which many people blindly believe. Due to this, Islamophobia has greatly spread without many people being aware of the impact it has upon Muslims all over the world. 

Islam is a religion that is followed by more than 1.8 billion people around the world. At the core of Islam is its principles, which consist of 5: Shahadah, Salah, Zakah, Sawm, and Hajj. Muslims look to the Quran, which is the book revealed to Prophet Muhammad, as a means of guidance to better themselves. Islam itself originates from the word “salam”, which means peace. Even though Islam is based upon these principles and is a religion of peace, many people are fooled by the misconception that it is a radical religion and that its followers are “terrorists” who harm others. After incidents such as September 11 and the Oklahoma City Bombing, in which Muslims as a whole were blamed as a result, hate crimes became frequent and often targeted Muslims because of the prejudice the general public has towards them.   

Composition of 2 Genres

For the first genre, I chose to write a magazine article. Magazine articles are easily accessible for the common citizen, and people of different ages can get their hands on magazines rather simply. Since articles can be extremely long at times with complicated and difficult to understand vocabulary, I decided to avoid this and utilize simple vocabulary for easier comprehension of the main topic being discussed, which is Islamophobia. The intended audience targets people of all ages to inform them of Islamophobia. In the article itself, I decided to focus more on the concept of Islamophobia and its related terms, how people perceive it, and how Muslims who have to deal with this issue are affected greatly on a day-to-day basis. By doing so, readers will have a basic understanding of what Islamophobia really is and the effects it has upon Muslims. This would increase awareness of Islamophobia directly and as a result the general public will be more understanding of the situation Muslims have been put in. 

For the second genre, I chose to write a social media post. The main reason why I chose to write a social media post is because nowadays, social media is a diverse platform which many people use to highlight their problems. I chose Twitter because compared to other platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, it is more effective when it comes to informing people, especially with the spreading of movements regarding important issues such as political incidents and discrimination against other races. Since my intended audience is the same as the magazine article and is intended for the general public majority who don’t understand what Islamophobia is, using a Twitter tweet would be an ideal method of informing others as Twitter has millions of users who range from young teens to adults. In the tweet itself, I used simple and easy to understand vocabulary so that readers can easily understand what the tweet discusses and so that they can have a grasp of what Islamophobia itself entails. As for the post itself, I decided to highlight the impact of Islamophobia through the use of data values, which help to show how much Islamophobia has spread throughout the word and the different perceptions people have of Muslims.

The process of writing this Composition of Two Genres essay differed greatly from the approach I took towards my Source Based essay in multiple ways. I had to focus more on the genres and spend time thinking more about the audience strategy I would use for each genre I used. Also, instead of going in depth concerning the rhetorical situation, I made sure to completely focus on the genres themselves and the audience strategy by being straightforward. One barrier I encountered was deciding on a genre that would appeal to the majority of the general public without having any wide age gaps. It took me a while, but soon I came across a magazine article and realized that it would suit me perfectly. Another barrier I faced was figuring out a second genre that would be able to spread and reach people at a rapid pace. This was an issue for some time until the thought of social media crossed my mind. With the help of social media, I could surely get my points about Islamophobia to be more widespread. In the first genre, I chose to write a magazine article.  The intended audience I was targeting were people of all ages to inform them of Islamophobia.  Because magazine articles are accessible for people, and the fact that people of different ages can get their hands on magazines, I believed that magazines would be an effective genre for conveying this purpose. In the second genre I chose to write a social media post. The intended audience I aimed for here is the same as the magazine article and is intended for the general public majority who don’t understand what Islamophobia is. I ended up choosing to write a social media post because nowadays, social media is a diverse platform which many people use to highlight their problems. Once people see something that piques their interest, some are inclined to share it with other friends and family members, which leads to a spread of mass information. By taking advantage of this aspect, the social media post that I made would garner attention and be known by a large number of people rapidly. I found myself utilizing rhetorical practices such as logos when writing as it helped me effectively prove my point with statistics and data that show facts about Islamophobia.