Why do people choose to believe all the negative press about Islam and Muslims?

Answer 1

Because

The West, whether Christian or dechristianised, has never really known Islam. Ever since they watched it appear on the world stage, Christians never ceased to insult and slander it in order to find justification for waging war on it. It has been subjected to grotesque distortions the traces of which still endure in the European mind. One symptom of this ignorance is the fact that in the imagination of most Europeans, Allah refers to the divinity of the Muslims, not the God of the Christians and Jews; they are all surprised to hear, when one takes the trouble to explain things to them, that 'Allah' means 'God', and that even Arab Christians know him by no other name."
(Unveiling Islam by Roger Du Pasquier)

"The use of false evidence to attack Islam was all but universal..." (Norman Daniel: Islam and the West)

"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Prophet Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
(Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840)

"History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated."
(De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London, 1923.)

"Head of the State as well as the Church, he (Prophet Muhammad) was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a police force, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man ruled by a right divine, it was Muhammad..."
(Reverend Bosworth Smith in 'Muhammad and Muhammadanism,' London, 1874.)

"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad (peace be upon him)?...This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls...The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?""
(Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris, 1854.)

"If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam...I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity...I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”
(Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.)

"Arabia was idolatrous when, six centuries after Jesus, Muhammad introduced the worship of the God of Abraham, of Ishmael, of Moses, and Jesus. The Ariyans and some other sects had disturbed the tranquility of the east by agitating the question of the nature of the Father, the son, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad declared that there was none but one God who had no father, no son and that the trinity imported the idea of idolatry...I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of Qur'an which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness."
(Napolean Bonaparte as Quoted in Cherfils, ‘Bonaparte et Islam,’ Paris, France, pp. 105, 125.)

"We have never heard about any attempt to compel Non-Muslim parties to adopt Islam or about any organized persecution aiming at exterminating Christianity. If the Caliphs had chosen one of these plans, they would have wiped out Christianity as easily as what happened to Islam during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain; by the same method which Louis XIV followed to make Protestantism a creed whose followers were to be sentenced to death; or with the same ease of keeping the Jews away from Britain for a period of three hundred fifty years."
(Thomas Arnold in 'The Call to Islam.')

"In the eyes of history, religious toleration is the highest evidence of culture in a people....It was not until the Western nations broke away from their religious law that they became more tolerant, and it was only when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture. Before the coming of Islam it (tolerance) had never been preached as an essential part of religion...The various sects of Christians were represented in the Council of the Empire by their patriarchs, on the provincial and district council by their bishops, in the village council by their priests, whose word was always taken without question on things which were the sole concern of their community..."
(Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall in his 1927 Lecture on 'Tolerance in Islam,' Madras, India.)

"The Islamic teachings have left great traditions for equitable and gentle dealings and behavior, and inspire people with nobility and tolerance. These are human teachings of the highest order and at the same time practicable. These teachings brought into existence a society in which hard-heartedness and collective oppression and injustice were the least as compared with all other societies preceding it....Islam is replete with gentleness, courtesy, and fraternity."
(H.G. Wells)

"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically....the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
(Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris 1890. Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of Islam,' London 1913.)

Answer 2

in my opinion some people choose to believe the negative press about Islam and Muslims because they had no knowledge about it. other people already knows some of it but did not try to understand it. this problem has been going on for centuries but no one has ever tried real hard to solve it. the thing is, if people had some respect on Islam this wouldn't have existed at all.

Answer 3

The negativity is almost all the press focuses on. Billions of Muslims each day live in peace. Unfortunately, that is not a front-page story. But...if a Sunni Muslim blows himself up in Iraq, and dozens die, it's all over CNN and every newspaper in America and throughout the world.

I know what you're saying, though. These horrific events should not define for us what Islam is all about. Being a teacher, I have had many Muslim students. It is through them, and through reading about Muhammad, that I have grown to respect and admire Islam. The actions of a few terrorists cannot change that.

peace be with you

Answer 4

I lived in the Middle East for eight years in Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.With my experience living there as a Christian, I believe that people are being lured into a false sense of security by the US press by their constant statement that Islam is a peaceful religion and all the terrorist violence is perpetrated by a fundamentalist few.

That is only a half truth. While only a few do the violence, a huge majority of the others support the terrorist acts and provide money for the terrorist operations. There are only a very small minority of Muslims who believe in peace and tolerance of other religions. These few are outcasts in the Muslim community because they do not use violence to convert the world to Islam and establish Islamic law throughout the world. These peaceful people are considered the enemies of Islam the same as the West.

In Christ

Answer 5

Read the scriptures (quran and ahadith) as well as the earliest sira (available from amazon). Put all that you read and understand into one neat package and then reread the lot in context, place and time. Then you might want to reconsider what you posted. Muslims can be good and some bad but the core of the issue is mohammmed and his quran and what he claims and says in the ahadith. Is it all the truth ? There is only one possible conclusion if you do as .suggested above. Stop listening to what muslims tell you about islam. Islam is NOT what scholars, mullahs, sheikhs, imams, youtube videos and websites and even other muslims tell you. It IS what the scriptures say, teach and ordain for and to muslims. John

Answer 6

I choose not to believe it all, however, I do not see the Muslims around me, speaking out in defiance against those who are giving their religious beliefs a bad reputation.
Why are not the Muslim nations of the world, not joining in this war against terror, against evil and wickedness?
Why doesn't Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, help to defend the people of Iraq from Syrian and Iranian terrorists and let US forces go home? These are the things I wonder.
Actions speak louder than words.
God Bless you all....Peace.

Answer 7

Those that are threatened theologically by Islamic Monotheism will use any negative news about Islam to unite everyone they can in a battle to save the Trinity.

The pen is mightier than the sword !



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Answer 8

Dunno. Maybe because we never hear about the great strides at...gee, I can't even imagine what a Muslim research hospital would be called. Bomb Israel Hospital? How about their great strides in...technology? Agriculture? Or maybe that great Egyptian car I drive? Coffee? There's gotta be something they're good at besides drilling for oil and exporting workers to Europe.

Answer 9

Cause 96% of people believe whatever a TV tells them. They think TV is real when its not. Few grasp this concept cause they have been raised on TV and don't know any better.

Answer 10

its coz of muslims who dont understand their religion and nonmuslims who judge islam and profit mohamed without even readimg the holly quran ... non muslims always get wrong informations about muslims they dont even bother themselves to search for the truth ...... all what the can do is to make fun of us

Answer 11

Most Americans believe anything they read or hear..no one has a mind of their own anymore.....We are becomming a country of dumbasses