A peaceful muslim?

Question

I am a well practiced Muslim, I am peaceful, I live in the western world and I respect British law and interact peacefully with the people around me - just as my religion orders me to. I have never had a fight, and I am totally in love with my wife whom I treat like a princess - Just as my religion tells me to. I regularly discuss religion with Jewish and Christian friends, who are always surprised at how close Islam is to their religion (especially jews). With all that in mind, how is it possible that Islam has such a bad name? How can it be that people don't just dislike islam, they think it to be evil? How is that possible, when nothing within the Religion of Islam show's it as evil? 10 points for an open honest answer without swearing or nastiness please.

Al hamduliallah - there are some truely honest and beautiful answers so thanks to you all.
MD - I have to take exception to your comments, mainly because of the sincerety in which you write, you truely seem to believe what you say is true. May I suggest that you re-read the Koran and the Hadith as something has been mis-understood. Also to discribe a religion which encompasses more than 1/4 of the world's populations as a 'cult' is both disrespectful and totally inaccurate. I urge you to open your mind ever so slightly and re-read the texts you claim to have read - read them well and question the words, then I am sure the truth will come out to you.

Answer 1

I have not made up my mind about Islam. I can tell you this. I went to a mosque here in town a number of years ago, before 9/11. And I was open minded. I picked up literature about the religion and its practices at a table there. This is what one of the brochures said. It said that Christians and Muslims can live in peace as long as the Christians don't try to convert the Muslim (I have no problem with that) and that the Christian does not say that Jesus is the Son of God. It went on to say that this is blasphemy. Another place it said that Muslims must kill blasphemers. So you see this is a problem. A Christian must not denounce Jesus and a Muslim says that we must or die. And this was at the mosque. Later after 9/11 the leaders of the mosque came to talk at our Church. And I asked him about the literature that I got from his mosque. He said anyone could put things on the table for people to read. Well it is clear to me that at least some Muslims believe this or it would not have been there. For me this is the problem why Islam could be the religion of Satan. To a Christian only Satan would ask someone to denouce Jesus as the Christ or die. And since the Muslim religion came after the time of Jesus, it makes sense. If I were Satan that is what I would do. So you see this is the problem Christians have with Muslims. And a secondary thing is the disrespect shown to women, but this is secondary and cultural and more easy to make allowances for.

Answer 2

I am reading "the suicide factory" at the moment which is about the Finsbury park mosque & its role at the heart of international terrorism.

Its a fascinating read & shows how charasmatic figures like Abu Hamza al-Masri & Omar Bakri Mohammed amongst others can manipulate young impressionable & sometimes vunerable muslims into believing their twisted views on the Koran & Islam.

Unfortunately TV & the media only focuses (perhaps understandably some would say) on the negative side of Islam even though the jihadis' represent a tiny minority.

It was much the same with the IRA, the way Irish news were covered in the media you would come to the conclusion that all Catholics are terrorists.

Answer 3

I would blame the media. If something bad occurs, they have to blame someone. Throughout history the media has span hate campaigns against various groups of people. This gets out of control as they use it to make money, sell more papers etc. In turn this ends up creating a moral panic. The media create so much negativity around something that people begin to believe what they say and they become scared. It is something that they know nothing about, only what the media is telling them. Occasionally this scared feeling results in panic and leads to the public displaying negative attitudes. At the mimute there is a spread of 'islamaphobia' caused by the media creating a moral panic. A while since people were scared of the 'hoody gangs'. In the 1970's it was the mods n rockers. GIve it a while the media will soon get bored and find a new target.

Answer 4

I think there are two main reasons why many Westerners view the entire Islamic community to be violent(even though you and I know for fact that violence and Muslim cannot coexist in the Islamic faith).

First: The terrorists have taken words like "Jihad" and turned it into a catch-all phrase for what they're fighting for. The reality is Jihad is used as defensive warfare to protect Muslims and Islam and has very clear rules of engagement. However, fundamentalist/radical terrorist have perverted the use and meaning of Jihad to fit their own system of beliefs. Unfortunately, a lot of non-Muslims have no idea that there is a difference between a terrorist Jihad and a Muslim Jihad; nor do they take the time to understand.

Second: The terrorists are the ones making all the noise and doing all the talking in the name of Islam. The Islamic community cannot get their points across when these violent people kill in the name of a religion-that's what gets our attention. Unfortunately, news stories connect the words "bomb" "killing" and "Muslim," and, again, we Westerners do not take the time to discern the difference.

Answer 5

I think the answer to your question lies with media coverage. In the '80s, Americans heard about airliners being hijacked by Arabs (who unfortunately a lot of people just assume to be Muslim). Then there's all the fighting in the Middle East, which in part includes Muslims. But I think the biggest reason is 9/11, which got more news coverage than any story I've ever seen. Osama bin Laden says that he is a devout Muslim, one who reads the Qu'ran every day and fasts just like Muhammad did. But he has twisted the words of the Qu'ran to fit his personal agenda against the West. He's a part of the Sayyid Qutb-spawned Islamic fundamentalist movement, but he's taken it to a whole other level, justifying suicide bombings as martyrdom (even though the Qu'ran expressly forbids killing yourself). This is the stuff that makes the news. You don't hear about Muslims like yourself, who treat their wives with respect and interact peacefully with those around him while maintaining their faith. That unfortunately doesn't make the news. It's not "interesting." It's more interesting to have an enemy; one that hates us and we can hate back. It's sad but true. I don't agree, but it's true.

Answer 6

Unfortunately I think that most of the problem has been caused by pure ignorance. Since 9/11 the media has tried to keep us terrified of "terrorists" and I think the average member of the public tends to lump all people of "Eastern" appearance together. ( I apologise if the use of the word "Eastern" is offensive, I couldn't think of a more polite way of saying it)

Personally I don't understand it, the UK was under the threat of IRA terrorism for what, 20-30 years?, yet no one attacked Irish people on the streets or stopped going to Irish pubs or anything. There are right wing Christians in the USA firebombing abortion clinics and using violence against those who work there but no one is demanding that Christians stop practising their religion. The general public need to understand that there are extremists in pretty much every religion, it doesn't mean that all people of that faith are extremists.

Alas, the era of "Live and Let Live" seems to be long gone.

Answer 7

What a lovely item to find here. Thank God-yours and mine- for the peacemakers. We are guilty of ignorance here and just as people used to think that the only good German was a dead German (equating all Germans with facism) so scare tactics and lurid media lead people to believe that all Muslims are potential terrorists. Please don't think that is what most people who meet Muslims seriously believe. We have always had scapegoats for our fears and predjudices and-you have to face it, a good number of Muslims have made their hatred of non-Islam-believers very, very obvious. Ask some of the people in 9/11 and the London bombings and attempted massacre on the tube what they think. Terrorism can't be fought by war- fight evil with good-not more & more evil. Sure, we do have more in common than many people think, so let's hold on to that and hope that God will forgive all our ignorance, prejudice and violence and help us live in harmony together. Education and dialogue with all moderates will help. There are plenty of instances of co-operation, that's how to defeat bigotry and the sins of persecution and violence. Nice to hear from you-keep posting. PS. First thing I did after 9/11 was to buy a book on Islam and try to acqaint myself with the central beliefs. I didn't find anything promoting violence- quite the opposite.

Answer 8

This world is not made for peace purpose. It is prison for some and paradise for some. Become a non muslim and u may find paradise here in this world but this is not advisable to the wise. As u see worldly life has a expiry date. But killing an innocent is a great sin for sure. And the definition of "innocent" in Islamic law differs from the constitution.

Answer 9

There are pletny of good people like you in the world, who practice Islam. But many others give it a bad name. There were photos from an rally in London where people who are Islamic had threatening signs. Things like that can completly change the way people think about things.

Answer 10

Salam,
Mostly the things going on in Iraq is giving Muslims a bad name. But Islam is the peaceful and God loving religion. i think people get scared because us Muslims really take our religion serious, it is our life. Every decision we make in life is based on religion. people just dont understand the religion. if everyone took a few minutes and learned the religion, i think everyone would be less afraid, and also less criticizing.