Stereotyping Islam in Western Perceptions between Fundamentalism and Phobia: Analytical and Critical Reading

This research is a serious attempt to shed lights on the stereotyping Western perception of Islam and Muslims and the reflections of that on Islam-West relations. The researcher tackles the topic from different sides and dimensions covering the importance, objectives and methodology. The research also throws lights on Western Orientalist thoughts that draw a negative image of Islam and Arabism. It covers the fundamentalist idea in the context of the concept itself, the content and the reasons responsible for the rise of political Islam especially after the 1967 debacle and Iranian Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Accurate studies were conducted about the Western perception of Islamic fundamentalism and how these Western interpretations and comments developed to the extent of making phobia around Islam and Islamism especially after September 11th , 2001.The importance of this research lies in rationally assessing the relationship between Islam and the West in three successive stages. In the first one, the Western Orietalism stereotyped Islam in a very defaming manner to the extent of equating it with backwardness and inability to develop. In the second stage, Islam was connected with fundamentalism and extremist thought, especially after the rise of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Islamists' bad intention to confront secular regimes in the Arab World. In the third stage, Islam turned to be a real fear, threat and phobia, in the time of Holy Jihad and "suicide bombing" and due to the direct confrontation with the US in Iraq and Afghanistan