9/11, ‘Middle-Ages Islam’ and Pogonophobia

September 11th 2001 has swept the world with its repercussions. Some consequences were blatantly obvious and some others were not.

There is no doubt that the global economy was hurt, that stock markets fluctuated and (after an eventual retaliation by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq) that oil prices soared to record highs.

There is no doubt that casualties were high, that families were destroyed and innocent people were heinously murdered.

It is safe to assume that the citizens of New York have been (to say the least) gravely and in essence permanently affected by the events.

The list goes on, the repercussions have affected the US’ foreign policy and placed its allies ‘on guard’ against Muslim extremism. This extremism continued to manifest itself by similar (but less dramatic) events such as the Madrid bombings of March 2004, the London bombings of July 2005 or those which have recently targeted Red Sea resorts in Egypt over the last 18 months.

9/11 was the magnum opus of Al Qaeda – par none. The organization’s devious schemes and master-mindful orchestrations have managed to send potent messages across the world – ‘Muslims are in a jihad (a misconstrued Holy War since the world jihad in Arabic literally means ‘struggle’) against the West.’ Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri’s occasional audio and video messages sent through the Al-Jazeera network continue to ‘assure’ Western governments that threats remain imminent.

9/11 has also caused inconceivable damage to the Muslim world’s reputation. Prior to 9/11, those who had no image of Islam to paint are now able to convey a clear picture. One thinks of Islam, one thinks of violence, terror and backwardness. The phenomenon of the media and internet has contributed immensely to such a stereotype. Images of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other areas of the region are convincing viewers that Islam still resides in the Middle Ages.

A common image televised or posted on the internet constitutes of a male wearing a turban, a long ghalabeya (white dress), holding a Kalashnikov and most importantly wearing a large beard – this is Militant Islam. Other images include all the above minus the Kalashnikov, alluding to non-violent Islam.

Such stereotypical images have pigeon-holed Muslims in to distorted and completely unrepresentative symbolism. However the more these images are portrayed, the more the stereotypes are reinforced.

What is peculiar is that 9/11 has exacerbated the interesting social phenomenon of Pogonophobia, the odd but existing fear of beards. As one’s mind associates his/her perception of individuals based on stereotypes (i.e. try thinking of a Mexican, an African-American, a Southerner or an Asian and write down the first connotations which pop in your mind), seeing males with large beards and conspicuous, suspicious and malice looking faces implies that they are Muslims extremists, possibly terrorists and violent.

The majority of Al Qaeda members (which have been the unfortunate façade of Islam) appear constantly in the media. In fact today, Pakistani authorities captured Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a Syrian Al Qaeda fugitive who has been wanted for his involvement in the Madrid bombings as well as other terrorist acts during the 1980s in Spain. Not surprisingly, based on the image on the website, Mustafa wears a large beard and a turban – again reinforcing the image which has started to permanently etch in the minds of viewers.

Since Al Qaeda is an extremist Muslim group, they idolize the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) destructively. Growing one’s beard in Islam is a sunna and not a fard. In other words, it is NOT obligatory however it is a habit the Prophet used to maintain. A pragmatic explanation would be that the Prophet (PBUH) used to grow his beard because it was a hassle to trim/cut/shave it during his time (likened to the Middle Ages) – in fact it is probably as simple as that! Unfortunately, extremists have taken it upon themselves to abuse such a simple trait and somehow convert in to a social fear (so destructive) that it has led non-Muslims (as well as many liberal Muslims) to stereotype.

The exacerbation of Pogonophobia is certainly an interesting and subtle consequence of the horrific events of 9/11. As I’ve mentioned in a variety of my other posts, Islam needs a new face if it seeks to survive and mold in to the modern world. Individuals should be free to do whatever they please with their images (as well as grow their beards) however given this current social phenomenon, liberal Muslims should be careful with the rampant stereotypes floating around the non-Muslim and Western world.