VEILED: PERSPECTIVES
“When I step outside of the house, that’s my time to convey the message of Islam - to a Muslim and to a
non-Muslim. That’s the most I could do on my part because actions have a greater impact in our society
than words. This is why [the media has a certain violent view of Islam and Muslims}. I don’t blame everyone, some people really don’t have exposure to what Islam really is, but I would definetly blame myself if
I’m not doing the job to give that exposure and tell them Islam is actually otherwise and I’ll try my best to
convey that.”
Groups (such as ISIS) that call themselves Muslim and preach to following Islam portray a negative view
of the beliefs through their violent actions and essentially non-Islamic ways of life. Looking at an image,
we want to associate it to something else. The misconception of Islam is largely infl uenced by those groups
and the media’s lack of diversification and academic stance.
The Qur’an is originally written in Arabic text. As any other translation, we know how easy it is to lose
meaning through direct translation. Reading translations of the Qur’an may lead you to think of the text
as something it is not. A line states that if one were to commit a criminal act, their hand must be cut off.
Hand in arabic has two meanings: the physical organ and the connotational definition of authority. Islam
does not promote the cutting off of a person’s hand, rather it punishes their vices by stripping them of their
authoritative power and leadership as they do not embody ideal good-natured values and actions.
“Modesty is a feeling and beauty does not only come from our physical
appearance, beauty can be classified in different ways from looks, to
intellect, to spiritual depths, and so on.”
39