In the name of God, The beneficient, The merciful! (Bismillah!)
The above is what every Muslim is supposed to believe in and declare before beginning any task and that’s because it shows exactly what Islam preaches, the fact that we pray to a merciful God, and what better way to start a conversation on “why are Muslims always portrayed as either poor or a terrorist” in media? and when will this stop?
The mainstream western media projects Islam as inimical to civilized values, in an attempt to demonize Islam as it fits in well with the western geopolitical interests in arms and oil, the same is duplicated by Bollywood and South Asian media as it serves the interests of our political propaganda and works as the best distraction from real issues like education, health, etc…The infamous Hindu-Muslim disunity, a perfect divide, and rule concept that most seem to ignore or deny.
Since I’m a proud Indian Muslim, I’d like to focus on Bollywood and its portrayal of Muslims!
In the 50s – 80s Bollywood era, Muslims were not identified by their religion, they were entire movies based on Muslim folklore, such as Hatim Tai, etc…however, all that slowly deteriorate, starting in the 90s era, with movies such as Bombay (1995), when the Muslim heroine declares her wish to marry a Hindu, her father draws a knife on him, though after marriage, her husband allows her to continue her religious practices, or In Sarfarosh (1999), a Pakistani spy enters India as a ghazal singer, albeit one who bites ears off baby goats, giving a sinister turn to the poetic tradition, while the main character, of course, a non-muslim who is portrayed as a selfless action hero who is ready to die for the nation and his beliefs, Movies like Mission Kashmir (1998) or Fiza (2000) marked the beginning of countless movies some even today that portrays Muslims as terrorists.
Fast Forward to the current era:
Let’s take any Bollywood movie, for example and you’ll find one Muslim in almost every movie these days, who’s a friend, just one good guy (that portrays that not all Muslims are “bad”, one in a billion, rare gems) whereas all other Muslims are portrayed as terrorists or poor roadside tea sellers, etc… It’s interesting how this one good guy is never from rich family backgrounds, no! this guy is just a below-average person, sometimes with only one scene or at the most the friend of the main lead, for example, Ali in Dhoom (2004), Farhan Qureshi in 3 Idiots (2009); Aslam Khan in Rang de Basanti (2006);
And before you think, this is better than being portrayed as a terrorist, let me do a quick reality check, we are being fooled by the industry because these people are termed as “Modern Muslims”, a term that’s an insult to Muslims everywhere, because these Muslims are never shown as praying salah (Muslim prayer/namaz), they smoke, they take liquor like water, they have no issues with anything termed immoral in Islam, does not wear a hijab or modest clothing and all that with a “Muslim” name.
An extremely successful propaganda, as most people (non-muslims) believe this theory or notion that has been showcasing all Muslims that follow Islam as “bad” or downright “terrorists” if he/she is praying in any scene (it’s funny how the Azaan – a call from prayer is playing in the background while the person is praying! an inside joke) or if he/she is wearing a burkha, she is oppressed or hiding something, that reminds me, a burkha is used by the main leads and other characters as a means to hide from the negative characters (regardless of their religion).
The first step to solving any problem is accepting that there is a problem, and now that you know there’s a problem and a Big one at that! when will this stop? because according to statistics by Pews Research Center and others, there are 1.907 billion Muslims around the globe, that’s 24-25% of planet Earth’s population, of which only 0.09 or less have been identified as extremists groups or “terrorists”, and let’s not forget that the word Terrorist by definition is a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims and he/she can be from any religion, although from what I gather, all religions preach love and also, unite, if we only read our own scriptures and exclude the middle-men (the saints, gurus, etc…) we would know better.
I’m writing this, in the hopes of a better tomorrow, where we can see Indian rom-com such as the Australian “Ali’s Wedding” (do check it out, it’s pretty good) and movies with main leads as a Muslim who loves to pray, hang out with friends and go about his life, just like everyone else does, in this beautiful world.