Lack of knowledge and understanding mostly. Islamic fanatics give the impression that islam is bad and the text of the koran when quoted tends to scare the crap out of non-muslims.

The government of this country, coupled with Christianity, have brainwashed the American people into believeing that Muslims are the Boogie Man and out to get everybody and created a let's get them before they get us environment of bigotry and intolerance. It's called 'fear manipulation' a well-known tool for controling the sheeple

People fear muslims because, in recent decades, militant members of that religion have been responsible for a whole lot of death and destruction throughout the world as they try to force others to accept their own brand of Islam. Often followers of other sects of Islam have also been the victims of these radicals. I am sure that most muslims would simply like to worship their chosen religion and go about their daily lives in a peaceful manner. However, this radical fringe of their religion is also the most visible. So, it gives the religion as a whole a bad name.

Because some people still feel racial indifferences towards others.

They are perceived as being intolerant of other religious groups and try to convert and dominate surrounding population

Ummm. Maybe because they blew up 2 buildings here and casue acts of terror all over the world?

Unfortunately, too many people are intolerant about others, who they don't understand.:(

People often fear what they do not understand.

The militant side of it has scared people. Christianity is just as bad, it's just not as violent at the moment.

Because as said below, Muslims have done some destruction here and its "oh my god, it couldnt happen here". What people fail to realize is that we're over there blowing up a bunch of their shit too but thats seen as justified. Which is just ridiculous. Its just like black people, we seem to not notice how many of them are hmm I dont know the right word to put here, not bad? Not 'gangsters'. BUT when we see some guy on tv caught for murdering someone, if they are white we kind of don't focus on it, but if they are black its "well of course". Its the way we are socialized. (I am a white woman by the way) It links again to women being bad drivers, I was having a discussion with someone about this after my boyfriend claimed that 9/10 bad drivers are women. So from then on, on our 1.5 hr drive home, any driver who showed "bad" characteristics, aka cutting people off, crazy speeding, going up peoples asses, not signalling etc etc etc... well guess what... 6 people in total was who we both agreed fit into the bad driver category.. guess how many were women? ZERO. I'm not saying some women are not bad drivers, but men are too. My boyfriend was just like oh well we happen to be running into those 1 in 10 bad men drivers. Hahaha. POINT I am trying to make is that, when I see a bad driver normally and its a guy I dont think about it, when its a girl I go "oh man, it had to be a chick". Its the same with Muslims, western society is still scared of them because anything that happens negatively that is done by muslims or even just any person with brown skin (though scientifically we all have brown pigments by the way, its just that some are lighter or darker), but yes so anything done by anyone who has brown skin, first they tend to be labelled as muslim, ESPECIALLY if they do something "bad". And we noticed it, it triggers in our mind because that is what society has taught us. Its extremely stupid. An ex-boyfriend of mine was well.. is, Muslim, and he was great, nothing "scary" (we broke up because it went from friends, to more then friends, back to just friends). I'm pretty sure I just rambled.. a lot.

Because my friend's son was killed in Iraq. Now the village where he attacked has medical and school supplies. The village elders rejected Al Quaeda's demand to return. I've had many Muslim friends. The radicals against us must be fought.

Because we are all humans, and it is human instinct to hate & fight each other.

because people think Muslim = terrorist. there are too many people out there that are too stupid to differentiate the two.

People are just bigots.

Interesting question. I didn't know people were afraid of Muslims; this is news to me.

Muslims have an explosive temparament. At least, the ones who get the most news coverage do.

Becasue some people dont take the time to educate themselves to know the difference between actual muslim people and the taliban. To these people, I say, there IS a difference people wake up! They hate the terrorists just as much as you do. Especially for taking over their otherwise peaceful religion and taking advantage of their children and their poverty by setting up those damn schools that teach kids how to hate. Last time I checked... Fear wasn't the most rational of the emotions.

It's not Muslim (Mohammedanism) or Christianity. It's the people.

Because all of the network cartels are bombarding negative propaganda against them around the clock day/night. Brainwashing societies. "Everything about Islam is Satan." My 2 cents.

I am not afraid of Muslims. I have some dear Muslim friends.

I'm not afraid of Muslims, I'm afraid of bigots.

Because they are stuck on themselves, and are idiots !!

Same reason those same people are afraid of runny noses and clouds.

Not afraid some of our buddies our muslims and we eat reguarly at the Arabic restaurant. We just love them up as God told us to.

Ignorance.

it is human nature to be afraid of things that we do not understand.

Okay PainterPete, what are you talking about. If women are worse drivers then when do men have more accidents? Wouldn't that prove the other way around? I think we are both the same at it, gender has NOTHING to do with it. And whats that about drunk drivers, how did that fit into it all? If you're going to comment on my answer at least make it relevant.

Because their lunatic fringe actually is quite dangerous even outside their land of Jihad - as a couple Dutch activists and artists have found out. And the rest seem oddly quite on the matter - perhaps they are afraid too? +6

Whoa! I will state one more thing and then I believe I will leave. Are you ready as a Muslim to disavow the actions of your fellow Muslims who commit terroist acts and kill innoce men women and children in the name of Allah publicly. IF not your the one with the problem. You poor poor creature.

Because the Koran preaches things that are not acceptable in this society. It speaks of "punishment for nonbelievers" and "sending signs by the way of terror". (Sura 17) It also talks about men being superior to women (in Sura 4) as evidenced by women being expected to cover everything but their hands, feet and face. Granted there are extremists in every religion, but this religion is not a peaceful one. "We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after loss." How is a religion such as this something we should be tolerant of?

I'm not afraid of them anymore than they are afraid of Christians...Christians have a right to worship their Father and Moslems have a right to worship theirs....they have a right to follow Mohammed and Christians have a right to follow Christ... there are bad Christians as their are bad Moslems....people are afraid of both....Muslims and Christians of bad behaviors , which use God and Allah as an excuse to promote themselves and their bad behavior.....and as Dr. Laura says, " there is NO EXCUSE for bad behavior"

these people just lack knowledge and are too ignorant to open their mind to others beliefs..you dont see many muslims afraid of christians or butests or hindus or any religion..i just think muslims are more confident in their beleifs which could intimidate others

same reason people dont like gays. fear in religion.

there is alot of propaganda against the muslims. this i think is sad. even though i do not know many of them. what i have learned in life is that there is good and bad in all races. i am hispanic by race, mexican to be specific. i am aghast at times when i hear that other races are afraid of mexicans. we are considered to be a very violent people. this could not be further from the truth. all of my friends come no where near the perception that some have of who we are. they are all peace loving, hard working, and down right decent human beings. any one would be proud to have them as neighbors. so it is with the muslim race. i believe they can get a bad rap because of how the media portrays them as usually being terrorists. i happen to be convinced of what the bible says that "God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him." (acts 10:34,35)

because the "extremist" Muslims are very EXTREME in that they murder in their Allah's Name for their own ends.jihad, their so called holy wars; not so unlike the extremist Christain holy wars / Roman Catholic and their terrorism in and of history..not all Muslim r so..the ones that practice their Allah's /Mohammed's.... I believe the Muslim Allah nor the Christian Almighty tends to want this ...it is not the brotherly WAY....

I'm not afraid of Muslims one or two bad apples shouldn't spoil the rest nor rot the tree of friendship for future generations to follow in fellowship LOL

People are afraid of extremists and they come in all flavors and sizes and colors. Whether Muslim, Christian, KKK member or someone else..they are very scary. Happy Wednesday! :)

I'm hardly afraid of them, but I sure intend to be armed around them. : )

Because a lot of people like to make ethnic stereotypes.

All the muslims I've met personlly in my life are very peaceful. I've met a lot more asshole christians than muslims, that's for sure. But American media doesn't put positive muslim figures on T.V.. They are motivating people to hate Muslims because we are at war with a part of the world that largely practices Islam, and they need soldiers. That's all.

Most Americans have never met a muslim and all they know about them is connected to 9/11 and terrorism. If we take the time to set aside the prejudice and realize that, just like most religions, the majority of muslims obey the command to love others and would never twist their faith in Allah (God) into something evil like what happened on 9/11. Most muslims understand that being 'an American' is not the same as "being a Christian" because America is composed of all religions, all races - in other words, to declare something as being a war on infidels and then to slaughter innocent people is not what the Qu'ran or Mohammed is demanding. The evil behavior that some Americans display is not what ALL Americans stand for and believe in.....individual rights are what America stands for and a terrorist group can not, should not judge the behavior of a few Americans as being the beliefs and behavior of ALL Americans. So basically it boils down to fear. Fear of being persecuted by another culture, another relgion than what they are familiar with, in their own home by some who LIE and pretend they are working for Allah when they are only being evil and working for Satan.

Assalam-o-alikum! Because most of them are extremists one way or other. I've solid proof so dare me. We use to preach vocal and not the way of the our Prophet (pbuh). He use to show others practically about what Islam is.

Because sometimes they explode

For the same reasons most Germans were afraid of Jews in the 1930's. Ignorance.

You need to live in Israel to know the answer, I dont want to reffer terrorists to muslims, but this is not far from being true... I seriously don't want to name all those people terrorists, but there is not much information for people who live outside Israel... I know the truth, belive me... It's not a game here, It's not a life...

It's the portrayal of hooded people beheading people on TV that causes fear... But like anything, I think there are extremes... Christians have not always been the "peaceful" people the tout themselves to be... There have been plenty of bombings, murder, etc done in the name of Christianity too... I think the flaw, in any religion, is the forced acceptance of a belief system...

Because about 1% of them are terrorists, now you might say "well that's a low number!" No, no it's not, the last figures I read were that Muslims make up about 25% of the world's population.. 25% of almost 7 billion people is a big number. Now let's do the math: 7,000,000,000 X .25= 1,750,000,000 now multiply that number by .01 (move the decimal left 2 spaces) 17,500,000. That's more than 17 million people of the Muslim Religion are terrorists. That's a big freaking number, that's why people are scared of Muslims...

The same reason a slight chuckle comes out when you see a black man running; 'Lol. Must be running from the cops' Ethnic stereotyping, for the most part is wrong, but you'll still hear a guffaw somewhere.

i am not persay afraid of muslims ....if your ever faced a muslim terrorist or a child who has been taught to hate and bring death to all infidels(non believers of allah and mohammed) then u would not need to ask.....these muslims who hide behind their god to murder and stop at nothing to do so...even murdering and suppressing their own.....and are validated by their allah for such.....are the ones that are feared...as they should be , they have a ruthless, determined, evil HATE......a very evil kind of people..... just ask an Afghani who lives as a TRUE MUSLIM.... TRUE MUSLIMS are afraid of the terrorists muslims....

afraid because of ignorance and propaganda

Ignorance.

When was the last time you heard of a Catholic blowing himself up in a public market? How about a Jew? Maybe a Baptist? When was the last time you heard of a Shriner chopping off someone's head on the internet? How about a Hare Krishna? Or maybe a Presbyterian?

I come from the Philippines and the Muslims set off bombs in the market place and killed a lot of kids and old people but I guess this may have made them unpopular in Mindannoa

Because the radical piece has ruined the whole pie.

Asymetric reporting of the tiny minority of Muslims who do bad. If I was an Afghani in my village and American bombing killed members of my family, I would be afraid of Christians. As a Christian, when I see the Weapon toting Christian fundamentalists shown training in the backwaters of America, I see exactly the same as the Al-Queda training camps, no difference in my opinion.

As a Christian and to be blunt, I fear no one, including Muslims. I have no reason to.

Because muslims have killed more fellow believers than they have of "infidels". Something is wrong in the country of Iran.

what type of muslums? peaceful or militant? I can think of different groups that use Christianity as part of there cause, one of them is the KKK

Some people are Islamophobes

Because they know from history what happens when evil goes unchecked.

They are brainwashed with this religion and make no sense...they would put bombs on their own children, really thinking thats what God wants them to do....

Terrorists are really giving Muslims a bad name and the more terrorists out their in Muslim guise, the more scared even I am getting.

Ssssssssssssssssssboooooom!

People who are afraid of other people because of their religion have xenophobia---fear of foreigners or their ideas. In order not to be fearful, one has to learn that not everyone is like us, but they are still people. We should try to understand we all like the same things---families, jobs, friends, good food, and a safe environment. We are are put here on this Earth so we should learn how to get along. We need to reach out and leave hate out of the picture.

Because they have donated their brains to an illiterate, paedophile murdering camel herder.

I think because they don't know Islam ..

Well I'm sure not!! We're all human, muscles, flesh, bones and brains (and some of us use them). I'm certainly not afraid of what someone else believes.

Not sure of what people you ask as if they are a group onto themselves but often people are scared of others because of past experiences, the unknown, what they have been told to think and or believe to be true, there are some people to be avoided and about 1,436 other reasons. +5

I don't ! except on aeroplanes trains et.c .. (sorry but I don't know what is under the burka) some people fear anyone who is too different from themselves.

I think its obvious why people who are afraid, are so? Sure its only a small percentage of muslims who are taking the Quaran literally but that small percent are muslim so when people see a muslim they think the worse. Thinking the worse is a natural thing for people, quite often a silly thing but natural instinct doesnt take probability into account. I'm Irish so i have experienced a simliar situation years ago. People use to think i was part of the IRA. I was slightly taken aback when it happened but i kind accepted it.

Why are people afraid of Midgets? Why are people afraid of flies? Why are people afraid of roller coasters? Why are people afraid of Virginia Wolfe? Fear is an irrational thing. Like Swiss cheese.

It is their waspish personality and angry eyes that concern me.

probably cause they think theyre all terrorists which isnt true and they wont give others a chance

The Quran is barbaric, and all Muslims must agree with it. All too many Muslims applaud the terrorists.

cause if some of them are terrorists, they think they all are

cause they think if a couple of them are terrorists they think they allare