Critique of an Article About the Muslim Community and Terrorism (Essay Sample)

Critique Essay
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Critique Essay
Introduction
In the article, the word "Allah Akbar" is not considered a phrase that causes fear among all of those who hear it. In fact, the author tries to explain how the modern mentality has changed the way the majority of US citizens react to the Arabic language. According to Clark (2016) "it should actually be spoken in public more often, not less, to avoid misunderstandings" (64). Moreover, the author claims that Americans have been misinterpreting Arabic to such an extent that Arabs themselves fear speaking their own language, as they can be suspected to be terrorists. Primarily, she bases her arguments on her classroom experience while teaching Saudi Arabian students. Actually, she says that Americans learn Arabic words from the media and associate them with terrorism. On the contrary, Clark (2016) states that these words have a positive meaning and are part of the everyday life in the Arabic world. Overall, the article shows the mistreatment Arabian nationals face while speaking their language in front of the foreigners.
Summary
In this article, the author bases her argument on the fact that many people have been associating Arabic with terrorism, and anybody who heard one speaking this language is considered a terrorist. On the other hand, Arabic is just a language and is used in the same contexts as English. Thus, it is unfortunate that any person heard using Arabic in public automatically becomes a suspect.
On the contrary, Clark (2016) claims that the language should be looked at differently. The author contradicts herself when she says that people should stop associating Arabic words with something unlawful; yet, extremists are the ones who have made the language widely known.
Evaluation
To begin with, the author’s claims do not seem to be backed by sufficient evidence, as she generally relies on her experience alone. Moreover, Clark (2016) does not consider the feelings of other people that might have a different perspective on the issue. In fact, this is evident because she begins by stating that it is through her students that she has learnt some Arabic words and their meanings. Therefore, the author has concluded that the language is not as harsh as people perceive it when they hear such words via the media.
For example, when one of her students describes himself as a jihadi, it raises eyebrows because the term is associated with extremism. In this case, the author states that she could not have prevented the student from describing themselves in this manner. Thus, it shows that she is biased as well. For instance, there is still a part of her that is not ready to fully accept that a "jihadi" is actually a positive word. When she states, "They pray daily in the back of our classroom, quietly murmuring, ‘Allah Akbar’" (Clark, 2016, n.p.). Currently, she associates this expression with quiet contemplation and peaceful class breaks (a moment to unwind). Overall, such comments show that her statements are based on personal experience alone.
Secondly, the author does not provide any statistics to support her arguments. She has only used the general language without any qualitative or quantitative data as the evidence. For example, she begins by stating that she has been a teacher for two years and does not provide any information on the average number of students that have been in her class during this time. When she states, "I overheard the students of one group repeatedly saying ‘Hamas, Hamas’”. In this case, Clark (2016) does not tell the exact number of students in the group. Thus, the lack of evidence raises a lot of questions among the readers. Some of the questions one of them may ask themselves include how many students in the group use the word "Hamas" openly as the author claims. Therefore, there is not even a single statistic that is provided to support the claims by the author. Moreover, when she gives the example, "my students have also taught me the everyday meanings of other words and expressions that many Americans have come to associate with Islamic extremism," she does not give the average statistics to show the percentage of Americans that associate Arabic words with extremism.
Lastly, the author uses oversimplifications and makes certain mistakes. For instance, she oversimplifies statements to make them look not that harsh while to other Americans those terms can be very harsh. For example, she states that "I can only imagine how a suspicious American might misinterpret an innocent discussion among my students about grammar" this statement is used to describe the word "Al-Qaeda”, which to many American is a terrorists group that can evoke their emotions. On the other hand, she uses general statements that do not possess any real value and are not convincing enough.
Response
In the article, the author presents a very strong argument on the positivity of the Arabic language and the way many Americans misinterpret the language. She vividly states that the language is like any other and that people connect it with terrorism. This is because most of the words they have heard come from the media and they are associated with ext...