Myths About Islam

[kristen999]

I have many friends who practice many faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. Over the last few days I've found the misconceptions about Islam spreading like wildfire and what's scarier, is how many people are lapping it with a spoon. I know it's a political year, and there are many controversies, but I thought I'd post an easy list of the top misconceptions about Islam.



1. Muslims worship a moon-god
Some non-Muslims mistakenly believe that Allah is an "Arab god," a "moon god," or some sort of idol. Allah is the proper name of the One True God, in the Arabic language. The most fundamental belief that a Muslim has is that "There is only One God," the Creator, the Sustainer -- known in the Arabic language and by Muslims as Allah. Arabic-speaking Christians use the same word for the Almighty.

2. Muslims don't believe in Jesus
In the Qur'an, stories about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (called 'Isa in Arabic) are abundant. The Qur'an recalls his miraculous birth, his teachings, and the miracles he performed by God's permission. There is even a chapter of the Qur'an named after his mother, Mary (Miriam in Arabic). However, Muslims believe that Jesus was a fully human prophet and not in any way divine himself.

3. Most Muslims are Arabs
While Islam is often associated with Arabs, they make up only 15% of the world's Muslim population. The country with the largest population of Muslims is Indonesia. Muslims make up 1/5 of the world's population, with large numbers found in Asia (69%), Africa (27%), Europe (3%) and other parts of the world.

4. Islam oppresses women
Most of the ill-treatment that women receive in the Muslim world is based on local culture and traditions, without any basis in the faith of Islam. In fact, practices such as forced marriage, spousal abuse, and restricted movement directly contradict Islamic law governing family behavior and personal freedom.

5. Muslims are violent, terrorist extremists
Terrorism cannot be justified under any valid interpretation of the Islamic faith. The entire Qur'an, taken as a complete text, gives a message of hope, faith, and peace to a faith community of one billion people. The overwhelming message is that peace is to be found through faith in God, and justice among fellow human beings. Muslim leaders and scholars do speak out against terrorism in all its forms, and offer explanations of misinterpreted or twisted teachings.

6. Islam is intolerant of other faiths
Throughout the Qur'an, Muslims are reminded that they are not the only ones who worship God. Jews and Christians are called "People of the Book," meaning people who have received previous revelations from the One Almighty God that we all worship. The Qur'an also commands Muslims to protect from harm not only mosques, but also monasteries, synagogues, and churches -- because "God is worshipped therein."

7. Islam promotes "jihad" to spread Islam by the sword and kill all unbelievers
The word Jihad stems from an Arabic word which means "to strive." Other related words include "effort," "labor," and "fatigue." Essentially Jihad is an effort to practice religion in the face of oppression and persecution. The effort may come in fighting the evil in your own heart, or in standing up to a dictator. Military effort is included as an option, but as a last resort and not "to spread Islam by the sword."

8. The Quran was written by Muhammad and copied from Christian and Jewish sources
The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a period of two decades, calling people to worship One Almighty God and to live their lives according to this faith. The Qur'an contains stories of Biblical prophets, because these prophets also preached the message of God. Stories are not merely copied, but the oral traditions are referred to in a way that focuses on the examples and teachings that we can learn from them.

9. Islamic prayer is just a ritualized performance with no heartfelt meaning
Prayer is a time to stand before God and express faith, give thanks for blessings, and seek guidance and forgiveness. During Islamic prayer, one is modest, submissive and respectful to God. By bowing and prostrating ourselves to the ground, we express our utmost humility before the Almighty.

10. The crescent moon is a universal symbol of Islam
The early Muslim community did not really have a symbol. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Islamic caravans and armies flew simple solid-colored flags (generally black, green, or white) for identification purposes. The crescent moon and star symbol actually pre-dates Islam by several thousand years, and wasn't affiliated with Islam at all until the Ottoman Empire placed it on their flag.

This list was from: http://islam.about.com/od/commonmisconceptions/tp/myths.htm which has several more links with detailed information. There are plenty of other resources out there if people would like some.

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I took a religious course on the various religions of the world (that are still in existence) and the things they all have in common are teachings of peace, love, hope, forgiveness and faith. Not one of them pushes for hate and violence.

People corrupt religion, always for their own personal ends. Religion doesn't corrupt people.

[gaffsie.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm glad Swedish school children have to learn about all the religions of the world. There's still a lot of fear-mongering about Islam, but at least young people get to learn the basics about what Islam really is about.

[vecturist.livejournal.com]

Very cool of you to post this. At my last job, my boss and a couple of my co-workers were all Muslim. My boss was from Iran and my other co-workers were from Sudan and UAE - we had quite a few discussions and although I knew a bit already, I really learned a lot (I even joined them in fasting for Ramadan as an experience). If the average American knew the basics about Islam, that'd go a long way.

[ga-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I have no problems at all with people who worship differently than I, who have a different viewpoint of a supreme being (or don't believe in a supreme being at all). What I have a problem with is a small percentage of people trying to force their beliefs on us all. Are all Muslims terrorists? Definitely not. However, the vast majority (and I'm talking over 95%) of the active terrorists today are Muslim. The terrorists, those who encourage and support them, those who provide the money paid to the families of homicide bombers - those people are the ones who give Islam a bad name. And, ultimately, moderate Muslims - the ones content to "live and let live" with other religions and The West - do no one any favors (especially themselves) by not rising up and denouncing the radicals, shouting them down. I firmly believe that if that were to happen, then the countries currently dominated (and downtrodden) by radical imams, Al Qaeda or the Taliban would be able to join the 21st century within a generation.

[berryann.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this entry!

Our societies are full of stereotypes that are untrue and can be very harming. All the world's religions are genuinely good and spread love only. Nevertheless a bunch of "fundamentalists" or "extremists" living within every faith are able to make it a powerful and deadly tool serving their wicked needs.

I don't think there is much a regular person can do about terrorist acting in the name of some religion. What we can do is build more tolerance towards other regular, and genuinely good people who only happened to have been born in different cultures.

[coolbreeze1.livejournal.com]

Very cool. Thanks for taking the time to post this. I sometimes wonder if the consumer-nature of our media isn't to blame (at least in part) for so many of the misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. The news reports on stories that sell and garner public attention, and when it comes to Islam, those are too often stories about Muslim extremists. Somewhere in all of that, we (generally speaking) lose sight of the word "extremist" and focus only on "Muslim." Muslim extremists are so named because they hold extreme views, practices, and beliefs within Islam and a Muslim framework. Understanding what the vast majority of Muslims believe would go a long way in dispelling so many fears of the unknown and of those who are different. I think many moderate Muslim do speak out against this and do try to educate others about what they believe, but those actions and stories are not necessarily ones that make our headline news, unfortunately.

[syble4.livejournal.com]

Around last week I found my brother listening to a recording of some guy on the internet giving a speech about the 'evils' of Islam. I asked him why he was listen to it and I was shock to hear he believed this guy because he was on the internet, so it must be true. WTF?!

It's now up to me to re-educate my brother on how not to listen to stupid people.

[purple-cube.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. As a Hindu growing up in a multicultural city in the UK, I'm really surprised at how much I didn't know from what you've written. Your statistics in one of your comments are really interesting too...I wish the mainstream media - both in the US and UK - paid more attention to them, and to debunking these myths.

Would you mind if I linked to this on my LJ?

[tielan]

Takes me back to my Year 12 Physics class. Four girls: one Christian, one Muslim, one Hindu, one Atheist, discussing religion and differing religious beliefs. :)

There are important differences, sure. But there are also important similarities. And extremists of all stripes.

[rsharpe.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was aware of this. I worked for several years with a lady who had legally immigrated here from India. She and I had several fascinating conversations about religion and her role in India as a woman in her father's household.