The sheer terror of the mass shootings on Friday, 15\nMarch 2019 at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand sends chills down one\u2019s\nspine. The terrorist act which was aired live on Facebook left 51 people dead, some\n50 people injured and several missing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massacre was the deadliest in\nNew Zealand\u2019s history so much so that Jacinda Arden, the Prime Minister said\nthat it was one of \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s darkest days.\u201d Almost all media highlighted\nthat the shooter is an Australian whose beliefs include far-right extremism,\neco-fascism and Islamophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three days after the New Zealand\nmass shooting came news of the Utrecht tram shooting which left three people\nkilled and five others injured. While the shooter has been arrested, Dutch\nauthorities are looking into possible terrorist motive behind the shooting,\nalthough later reports indicated that the attack was most probably due to\npersonal and family disputes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, what is apparent is\nthat some of the narratives for both incidents in New Zealand and the\nNetherlands have put Islam in a bad light. Islamophobia is reported to be the\nmajor triggering factor that became the motivation for the white supremacist\nshooter in the massacre in Christchurch. This can be seen from his 80-page\n\u201cmanifesto\u201d which is full of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant tirades. The\ncontention is that Muslims are to blame for the troubles that white people\nface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the suspect in the\nNetherlands tram shooting incident is a Turkish immigrant, and almost\nimmediately the word \u201cterrorist\u201d is used in the media once his identity was\nreleased. The image of Islam and Muslims have somewhat been interlinked with\n\u201cterrorism\u201d particularly since the September 11 attacks in the United States in\n2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The media in general are very adept\nat creating images and perceptions as part of their agenda-setting. This\nagenda-setting would become the popular narratives that are fed to the masses.\nWith the aid of social media, these narratives that put Islam and Muslims in a\nnegative light are easily spread with just a click of a button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muslims seem to be struggling to\nshed these negative perceptions especially with on-going narratives equating\nIslam to terrorism. Concepts in Islam, especially jihad<\/em> and shahid<\/em>, are\nvery much misunderstood, giving rise to the misperception that Islam promotes\nterror and blatant killings of people. This misunderstanding, coupled with the\nrise of groups such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh, create narratives that give Islam an\nimage that is far from the true teaching of the religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, effective\ncounter-narratives are urgently needed to correct any misunderstanding that\npeople may have on Islam and Muslims. Counter-narratives may provide a way to\ncontradict popular narratives on Islam as well as overcome negative perceptions\non Muslims. In a way, this can become a form of engagement between popular\nnarratives which are negative and counter-narratives which show the true image\nof Islam and Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The use of counter-narratives would\nprovide a persuasive alternative voice to the public by highlighting and\nputting forth evidences that Islam is a religion that stresses on the need of\nmutual respect and peaceful coexistence. However, what is equally critical is\nthat the counter-narratives provided must be consistent, coherent and cohesive,\nand they must be presented in an organised manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Counter-narratives to show the true\nimage of Islam must provide unequivocal answers to the lingering questions that\npeople have on Islam. They must also be able to give explanations and clarifications\nto confusions that arose out of popular narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For counter-narratives to be\nsuccessful, data on popular narratives must be collected, analysed and\nthematised. This is crucial as those providing the counter-narratives must know\nwhat messages are contained in the popular narratives, as well as the\ndemographic profile of the people who follow these narratives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysis on popular narratives\nwould certainly pinpoint certain themes that must be addressed and answered\nconvincingly point-by-point in the counter-narratives which are then constructed\nfor dissemination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also critically important\nthat these counter-narratives are constructed by experts who can address the\nmisunderstood themes. If this aspect is neglected, i.e. failing to have experts\non Islam on board to provide the much needed input, then the constructed\ncounter-narratives would then be counter-productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next challenge is to\ndisseminate counter-narratives to the masses in an effective manner. Rightly or\nwrongly, most people seem to have a trust deficit on official or government\nmedia. Disseminating counter-narratives using official print or electronic\nmedia may not necessarily be the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The masses must be reached using\nsocial media platforms. At the same time, the people involved in disseminating\nthe counter-narratives must be people who are highly regarded as authorities on\nthe subject matter, and more importantly, they are trusted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As such, in order to present the\ntrue image of Islam, we have to engage trusted religious leaders who command\nrespect. Involvement from people who embrace Islam as their way of life would\nalso be effective as they can explain the reasoning behind their acceptance of\nIslam as their religion. Erudite scholars of Islam as well as respected Islamic\ninstitutions would equally have a big role to play in disseminating\ncounter-narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this day and age, effective and\nco-ordinated measures must be taken to correct the image of Islam in the eyes\nof the masses. Muslims could no longer afford to just let popular narratives, which\nare driven by particular agenda, paint how others perceive Islam. It is incumbent\nupon Muslims to work together, not in silos, and in a well-organised manner to\ncorrect these misperceptions and misunderstandings by providing\ncounter-narratives which are based on facts and figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sheer terror of the mass shootings on Friday, 15 March 2019 at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand sends chills down one\u2019s spine. The terrorist act which was aired live on Facebook left 51 people dead, some 50 people injured and several missing. The massacre was the deadliest in New …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bernama","category-232","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}