I actually agree with much of what you are saying, but do you see how you are conflating what you are saying about Arab/non-Arab treatment in the Muslim world with the issue of Arab/Muslim portrayal in the media?

Even though much of that is true (I have traveled to Arab lands and know what you speak of) this does not mean that it is ok to say that “all Arabs stink” or call for all Arabs/Muslims to be wiped out. I think you would agree that if a person said such a thing about blacks, Latinos or Asians, that they would be put on the fringes and not allowed to come on mainstream television shows for interviews as an ‘expert’ on those people.

These are separate issues. Many in the blogishere, would have you think that all Arabs/Muslims are violent medievalists. It’s just not true.

Just a note on dwindling numbers of Arab Christians in Lebanon and other places: Arab Christians tend to have less children as well.

That is faulty reasoning - you say the women in drawings from Muslim countries the 1800’s shows them covered. Yes - in the drawings, they are covered. That does not tell me about their clothing in real life. If I look at a drawing of life in China from the 1800s, and all I see are rickshaw pullers, that does not mean all Chinese were rickshaw pullers. The drawings you cite present the viewpoint of that artist, which is helpful, but cannot be relied upon for historical accuracy.

You cite Christians fleeing Arab lands as their economic fortunes dip, but you only use Palestine. In Lebanon, prior to Israeli bombing, you had years of economic growth, but no comparable growth in the percentage of the Christian population. In Egypt, the economy has gone up and down for the past 2 decades, but the Christian population has gone steadily down. Economics is not to sole reason - an inhospitable environment fostered by the majority culture also plays a role.

KXB if you mean by hijab a specficic style worn by Arab Muslim women that is becoming Pan-islamic that is one thing; but you can look at drwings from the 1800’s and see that in almsot every Muslim country, the vast majorty of Muslim women were covered.

However, I’m definitely planning on expanding the project, and hope Ms. Salloum will respond then.

(So yeah, I’m not going to join the preceding argument, as I don’t have the strength right now.)

The reason people assumed you were Arab after donning a head scarf is quite simple - because a head scarf is associated with Arabic culture, not Pakistani. Slowly, it is becoming a pan-Islamic article of clothing, even though it’s most likely origin is in the Caucauses - many Eastern Orthodox women also wear headgear similar to head scarves.

In Pakistan, head scarves were rare prior to Zia’s Islamization drive in the 1980s, in an attempt to placate Islamist parties that would otherwise object to hid dictatorship.

If an Arab woman wore a salwaar kameez, wouldn’t people assume she was South Asian?

Your response shows exactly how convoluted this whole issue is. The article above does not talk about Islam but talks about stereotyping of Arabs in the media, yet you saw fit to talk about Muslims in general. I am Pakistani and before I started wearing hijab I was racially ambiguous and often people thought that I was Latina or Caucasian. However, after I donned the hijab people automatically assumed that I was Arab. I have two biracial boys, with no Arab blood but I guess they are “Arab” too.

The problem with stereotypical Arab cartoons and other negative media images is that it is damaging to all Muslims because often when people see these images, they see ALL Muslims as such because of the tendency to see these two groups as one in the same.

Yes, there are a lot of cultural misunderstandings. Changing one’s name is NOT a requirement. David Chapelle is a Muslim. He did not change his name. Some Muslims think that becoming Muslim is like getting “made” by the mafia

On the Palestinian issue, you DEFINITELY have a point and I talk and write about this all the time.

I do not intend to say that Arabs are devoid of problems, but there HAS been a misrepresentation of them in the media that has dehumanized them (and Muslims in general) in an unfair manner

I’m not suggesting that there is no diversity among Arabs or within Islam – in my post I explicitly wrote that Islam needs to acknowledge its diversity, not smother it with an Arab identity. While there is some degree of acceptance of this diversity within the US, it is not true of Islam globally. Adoption of Arabic dress is just one example. Changing names upon conversion is another. A couple of years ago, I attended a wedding between a Bengali Hindu woman and Bengali Muslim man – before they got married, she had to adopt a Muslim name for her family to use. Prior to that, I knew a Hindu guy who married a Muslim woman – she was not required to change anything about herself. In South Asia, Muslim families like to claim Arab ancestry, believing it is better than what was really the case, that ones ancestors converted into Islam.

Another instance of where Arab interests are dominant in the Muslim world is politics. We are told that the world’s Muslims are upset that the Palestinians do not have their own country. This is probably true – but there are other non-Arab Muslim populations that have various grievances, ranging from countries such as India, Thailand, China, and the Philippines. Yet, you do not see Arabs care about their Muslim brethren across the globe. Arab nations responded poorly to the tsunami which devastated Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim nation. Similarly, South Asian Muslims that toil on worksites throughout the Middle East are treated like crap, despite being members of the ummah. That they are not Arab is more important that they are Muslim.

And, with the increase of air travel, this means more Muslims can perform the hajj. One unintended side effect is that once they return from Mecca, many then try to change their own countries to reflect life there. After all, if that is the land of Mohammed, then if you want to be a good Muslim, you should make your country reflect that. Saudi Arabia certainly believes that, which is why it funds mosques and schools throughout the world.

Arabs may want to showcase their own diversity – they just won’t allow it for other Muslims.