Every group of people is usually associated with a stereotype of some sort, and at most of the times, these stereotypes are not really valid, for instance, the most common stereotypes are: The French are romantic, The Irish are Alcoholic, the Blacks are all gangsters and drug dealers, The Asians are smart, but they can’t drive, and The Americans are generally either really stupid or really smart.
Muslims though, have more than their fair share of stereotypes, some are true, some are debatable, and some are downright ridiculous. Here are top 4 of the latter category:

1- Muslims wanna blow everything up

The Stereotype:
Let’s be honest here, what’s the first thing you think of when you hear any of the following words:
Muslim, Mozlim, Islam, Muhammad, Mosque, Arab, Afghanistan..
your answer will most likely be something like this:
Terrorist, Terrorizt, the evil religion, the guy who invented the evil religion, Bomb factory, camel-riding terrorist, the mother load..

And what’s nonsense about that?
Islam is the second largest religion on the planet, with nearly (1.5 billion) followers, which accounts for about 19% to 22% percent of the population of planet earth. That’s a lot of terrorists!
This means that if Muslims wanted to, say, keep the world for themselves, they could. All that they have to do is to tell everyone to take down 4 non-Muslims. so what's keeping them from that?

only four? damn it..

Interestingly enough, if you look at the world’s recent history, you will see that Muslims have almost no mention in deadly wars, crusades and genocides!, and when they are mentioned, they are often the casualties in such events!

Ok, so how did it stick?

The answer is the same for most of stereotypes: The Media.. well, that and some real terrorists!
Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last 30 years, you’ve seen a lot of movies, many of them featuring some crazy-ass Muslims trying to bomb the hell out of everything that moves, it’s a good thing John Travolta is always there to save the day and send the crazy bastards back where they belong.

Blow that up... suckers

And Al-Qaida, which is basically a world-wide mafia that has vast resources and a heavily customized image of Islam as they want it.
But if you dig deep enough in any religion, you will most probably find all kinds of shit from holy wars or creepy crimes committed in the name of that religion, regardless of the principles it’s based upon… That’s what’s great about human beings.. they always find a way around..

even the Buddhists..

2- All Arabs are Muslims, and all Muslims are Arabs

The Stereotype:
Arabs and Muslims are two interchangeable words.

And what’s nonsense about that?
Both statements are wrong. According to wikipedia, Arabs are a pan-ethnicity of people of various ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities, whose members, on an individual basis, identify as such on one or more of linguistic, cultural, political, or genealogical grounds.

Long story short, Arabs are people whom origins date back to 800 BCE, while Islam is a religion that came after good 1500 years. Although most Arabs accepted Islam as their religion eventually, but before that, they were originally either Jews, Christians, or pagans who worshiped idols made of stones and fruit!.

OH MY GOD... you are so delicious!

Now days, Arabs make only about 15% of Muslims around the world, on the other hand, 10% of Arabs are Christians and Jews.

Ok, so how did it stick?
To be fair, Islam was born amongst Arabs, and at one point in history, Muslims were 100% Arabs, although that changed with time, and more people from different ethnicities accepted Islam, weather it was caused by Islamic conquests, or Muslim Merchants spreading the word.
Also noted is that: the prophet of Islam was Arabic, the Holy Qur’an (the holy book of Islam) and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) are written in the Arabic language, add to that the pilgrimage, a primary duty that requires every Muslim to visit the Kaaba (which is in Saudi Arabia) at least once in their lifetime.

3- Muslims worship the evil god: Allah

The Stereotype:
Muslims worship some evil god, he’s the one who told them to kill everyone else, his name is Allah.

And what’s nonsense about that?
The word Allah, is the Arabic word For “The One God”, it’s not a name of god, more of an attribute. What’s more interesting is that all Arabs use that word to address their god, be it Muslims, Christians or Jews. So basically, Allah is God. The basic difference between the theology of god between Muslims and Christians is the concept of trinity. Where Muslims believe god to be what Christians believe to be the father. They also consider the Holy Spirit to be an Arch Angel, and Jesus as a highly respected prophet.

Ok, so how did it stick?
Again, the media... or in this case, the lack of it. This happened due to the fact that Arab and Muslim scholars insisted on keeping the word Allah without translation in the Quran, for that if it got translated, Christians could easily confuse it with their own version of god (i.e. The Holy Trinity).
So the deal is, both Christians and Muslims believe in one god, only in Christianity, it’s more of a three-in-one deal, while in Islam, god is only one of the three-in-one Christian god, if both sides would call him god... well, you can see where it could get confusing.

Sorta...

4- Muslims treat women like crap

The Stereotype:
Muslim men hit their wives, make them cover their whole bodies, forbid them to go out, study, drive, work… they basically treat them like sex-slaves and baby-making machines.

And what’s nonsense about that?
Almost all of the above; this is probably one of the silliest accusations, as Islam actually improved the status of women dramatically form previous traditions.

Before Islam, women in the Arabic region were treated as “objects” rather than human beings, literally, that when the husband died, his wife was considered part of the inheritance, and the older son had the right to be the new husband!.

This was the case until Islam came, such violations were prohibited, women were finally treated as human beings, they had the right to own, inherit, work and earn their own money, marry, divorce, teach, learn... etc. In fact, back in the Middle Ages, Muslims treated women much better than their European peers.

You will probably be surprised to know that about 80% of new converts to Islam in the west are women. This fact alone should be enough to convince you that this stereotype can’t be furthest from the truth.

To illustrate, here are some of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad regarding women:
“Be gentle with your womenfolk”
“Women are Men’s peers, He who honors them is Honorable, and He who insults them is Miscreant.”
“The Most faithful of you, and the closest of you to me, are those who are most kind to their family.”

Ok, so how did it stick?
Islam is not just a religion; it’s a life style, a moral and spiritual guide to life. Some people didn’t get that. They took the spiritual part, incorporated it in their lives, and left out the moral code, the result is: a hybrid of Islam and various subcultural backgrounds (which differ from place to place) that often contradicts the Islamic moral code.

Mix that with extremism, and you have a dangerous mix that doesn’t have anything to do with the teachings of Islam. Afghanistan is the obvious example.

say cheese...