ture, and spread a backward cultureö (McGowan, 1993, p. 20).
Events from the 1970s during the oil embargo, the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Iran, and terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers have promoted the stereotype of Muslims as determined to use violence to undermine Western culture and society. For many Americans, such images are reinforced by the perpetuation of such stereotypes in what might seem initially to be harmless forms of media. For example, the film Aladdin features an opening scene in which an Arab is threatened with having her hand cut off because she stole an apple for a hungry child. She sings of her home and its punishments as ôbarbaric,ö which further perpetuates negative stereotypes of Muslims for Americans and Westerners, including small children. As Abdurahman Alamoudi argues, ôSuch stereotypes complicate the process of assimilation and acceptance into American society that most Muslims desire. We would like to be recognized as another positive group, a group that wants to be part of the system and culture hereö (McGowan, 1993, p. 20).
In conclusion, assimilation or integration of Muslims into mainstream Western cultures and societies is challenged due to lack of education among Muslims and Westerners about each otherÆs culture and values. Some maintain that the Muslim extremists, a minority, cause prejudices and stereotypes because the majority of peaceful Muslims do not protest the use of violence forcefully enough when such acts occur. Others, ironically, maintain that this lack of education and challenge to integration can be overcome by the same force responsible for it, education. In Europe, where many Muslim communities exist, Muslim teachers like Abdullah Trevathan maintain that education will overcome the misleading notions of Muslims and Westerners in ways that will foster greater integration. As Trevathan (2005) maintains, education is needed that hammers out ôa new Musli...