why is it so many Americans assume that Muslims are all Arabs?

Question

i find it very strange.because 80% of muslims in the world are non-arabs (so that means only 20% are arab.

iam american.my parent's(they were converts) parent's were american.but im still muslim.

Answer 1

Because it is typical for Americans to stereotype. And, because a few of that religion gave the rest a bad name.

Answer 2

I think it's because the Middle East seems to have the highest concentration of Muslims. People from that region are commonly called Arabs no matter what their religious views or ansestory is. Most Americans think that if you wear a turban or a white robe all the time you must be a muslim arab.
It's the same reason we still call Native Americans "Indians". Chris Columbus originally called them indians because he thought he was in India.
The truth is that most Americans don't care enough to know what other cultures are all about so we bunch them all in a group. We don't get it so we call it what we want.

Answer 3

There are a lot of people who understand this, BUT stereotyping is so common especially since that is what is basically in the media. The media is horrible in some ways. Showing too much information about some things, and not enough about others. JUST like there are so many people in the world who think all or even most Americans are bad because what they see on TV or because they experience a few bad Americans. I once had one friend in Germany and one in England who both said many of the people they knew considered all Americans just like the people who are on Jerry Springer!!!! The world is full of ignorance.

Answer 4

There are a lot of great things about America and Americans but our NOTORIOUSLY short attention span is not one of them. That, plus the actions of what I assume is only a small percentage of Muslams which are not favorable but I suppose make good press have left people with some bad ideas and falce impressions.

If it makes you feel any better this sort of thing happens to a lot of groups. A great many people get a little bit of information and never look further. The result is that whatever the information in question told them (good, bad or otherwise) is what gets applied to the entire group. If I knew how to fix that I'd tell you.

Answer 5

Most Americans think of the Middle East when they think of Islam. Interestingly the original Muslims were not Arabs, but persians.

Muslim refers to a follower of Islam.

Arab refers to natives of Saudi Arabia and the surrounding countries. This is only one part of the Middle East. The people of Iran and Iraq are not Arabs, but persians.

Answer 6

The Arabs are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

A Muslim is an adherent of Islam. Literally, the word means "one who submits to God". There are approximately 1.2-1.3 billion Muslims worldwide.

Answer 7

I think it is prolly cause of where Islam originated, it's kinda like some people think all Arabs are Muslim when I know that is not true.

For instance there are many Arabs in America who are Christian.

Also not all Iraqi-Americans are Arab, some are Chaldean and the Chaldeans who are Catholic have asked they don't be labeled as Arab because they are not Arab.

Answer 8

Because the media shows us images of Arabs with the words Muslim. People are stereotypical, its like most people think of Christians and think Caucasian

Answer 9

Most Americans don't know this because most Americans don't care much about what goes on outside of this country. Most people in the States are Christian, so most are so out of touch with the demographics of Islam. I'm American and I care about religion and politics. Just look at all the STUPID answers here on this site. That proves it.

Answer 10

Simple...because it wasn't thought about that much until the WTC and the Iraqi issue, which was tied to Arabs. Part of our overall issue of going into Iraq was not doing the proper homework on the religion and culture in advance.

To my knowledge, Judaism is the only religion tied solely to one ethnic group.

Answer 11

Funny if it wasn't so sad. Some people on here are truly clueless. Several people here have criticized Americans for stereotyping people yet there very point is stereotypical.
"MOST Americans are clueless and are quick to judge".
Thanks for summing up almost all 300,000,000 of us in one sentence.
First reponse"Because it is typical for Americans to stereotype".
Read that very slowly and go look up the definition of stereotype.