The Image of Islam according to the Western Caricatures after September 11

Caricatures, as independent media or through other media, play an important role in cross-cultural communications and possibly bring about substantial changes to tribes, nations, and states. Examples of this influence can be seen in the Danish insulting caricatures. Based on this event and with the intention of knowing more about the Western caricatures on Islam, this paper, using the method of content analysis, seeks to examine the Western caricatures, and their concepts about Islam. In this regard, the theories of foregrounding and convincing are deemed as the theoretical basis for this study. The results show that the Western caricatures have emphatically depicted Islam and Muslims as violent, anti-West, and hostile to the Western civilization values; they have made a profound impact on the growth of Islam-phobia around the world and particularly in the West.