Isn't everyone representative of his own belief system in a certain way.
Every one represents a personality not just his/her belief system . And so you know personality is shaped by many factors like education, parents, friends, culture and customs, experiences and last but not the least belief system.
So, this temptation might be natural at times. (with the exception of Muslims in the west who might be stereotyped more than others)
Yes it is natural to stereotype but I guess it is an animal instinct still present in some humans. Muslims are not the only species stereotyped in West . There are blonds, then there is battle of sexes based on gender stereotyping. Rednecks, cowboys, Yankees , Irish , German all kinds of stereotypes are present in west.
On a broader scale, why are some people tempted to stereotype people of a certain group on the basis of few examples, specially in the case of minorities.
For example. Pathan and Sikh jokes being the favorites ones in India and Pakistan, specially the ones showing people of both groups stupid and foolish.
There can be more examples related to other group of people.
Why do we stereotype you ask ?
Many factors :
1. We are looking for common factors. It helps us remember.
2. people prefer to hang out with people who are like them at a certain level. You feel completely accepted in your group.
3. we have certain types of fears
4. we don't trust our thoughts,instincts,intelligence and intuition.
being a stereotype is far more easy
5. ignorance and mental laziness
On a lighter note , there is positive stereotyping also.
Like people living in cities are stereotyped as cultured , liberal and open minded.
Chinese students are stereotyped as brainiacs in west.
A couple of decades ago in USA people from India and Pakistan were considered as either doctors or engineers only.
Same used to be the case in Middle East.