Thursday, December 16, 2010
Is Islam a Synonym to Terror?
This is a question that would more or less get affirmative answers from all across the world. However, this article tends to give a "NO" as an answer to the question.In order to back up this answer, one must first understand the reasons as to why Islam is thought of the source of terrorism. A few are listed below:
1. Most of the terrorists identified are/were Muslims.
2. All of them made a terror-attack in the name of the religion i.e. Islam.
3. A part of the Quranic verse from the chapter 'Al-Ma'idah 5:45' which implies the punishment severity in Islamic law: "an eye for an eye".
4. Islam oppresses women, in terms of education, work and clothing as well.
This article tries to put forth satisfying explanations for each of the above mentioned misconceptions. At the outset, it requires only simple common sense to understand that the first point is nothing but a stereotyping or a hasty generalization done by people. One must be aware that apart from being the only religion after Christianity which guarantees the existence of Jesus Christ, Islam is also the second largest religion with a current strength of 1.8 billion followers (30% of the entire world population) which also makes it the fastest growing religion. It is quite likely, as can be understood from these facts, that every major terror-attack that had ever happened at least had one or more Muslims involved in it.
Now taking in to account, it is true and is painful to accept but a large number of Muslim youths are often mislead and are drawn in to terrorism by treacherous Islamic & Non-Islamic leaders. These leaders blanket their actual political intentions with the name "Jihad" which in Islam means "a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels" and win their confidence by raising their passion for spirituality. The concept of Jihad is mentioned in the Quran but what these leaders deliberately don't teach the youth is that it is to be applied only when the existing infidels pose a threat to their existence. So long as Islam is allowed to be followed undisturbed and unperturbed conducting Jihad would in fact be a sin.
But one must notice that such actions generally occur in countries that have a democratic plus a secular government. For instance, India, the largest democracy of the world is a secular country and as such there are many political parties in the country. Now in order to exemplify the poor governance of the ruling political party, an opposing party would try and create havoc in the city or country by engaging mislead youngsters in to religious riots since India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and is also largely dominated by Hindus. With this cunning strategy, which is similar to the famous "Divide & Rule" strategy of the British, enables the opposing party to beat the otherwise well governing ruling party at the time of elections. Since,little knowledge is a dangerous thing, young Muslims are brainwashed and are victimized. They are not even taught the meaning of the word Islam which means "Submission" and by submitting to the will of God Islam tends to teach its followers to live in harmony with nature and thus is "Peace". One must understand that there are as many bad muslims as there are bad followers in other religions.
Some people also point out the verses from the Quran to portray Islam as a religion that encourages violence. A typical example is the verse in the Quran from the chapter 'Al-Ma'idah 5:45' - "an eye for an eye". Nevertheless, people tend to read or listen to only a part of the entire verse and hence interprets the statement out of the context. The complete verse is as follows: "And We ordained for them in that (Torah): A life for a life, and an eye for an eye, and a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and a (similar) retribution for wounds;" which mentions the law that God had revealed in the "Torah" which refers to the whole body of Jewish sacred writings and comprises the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
This also implies that Islam is yet another Abrahamic religions following Judaism and Christianity. Jews and Christians are referred to as the people of the book in the Quran. Now Islam does ordain an equivalent revenge for a murder (as per the verse) however in order to arrive to a conclusion one must also consider the other scriptures such as the Hadith and the Sharia in one context. on an analysis of these scriptures one would understand that Islam firmly imposes that criminal rulings should be applied by a government and not by an individual and there are a series of conditions which must be met before applying the punishments as per the Islamic law. Also such the severity of such punishments can be reduced considering the factors such as the circumstances in which the crime was committed, mental condition of the accused etc. Hence, by individually implementing the "an eye for an eye" punishment is definitely a sin in Islam which confirms that Islam doesn't encourage violence.
Lastly, the most common accusation that a Muslim has to face is that Islam oppresses women. Well it has nowhere been said in the Quran or the other Islamic scriptures that Islam prohibits women from being educated. In fact, the Islamic Prophet, Mohammad (peace be upon him) had said, "God, His angels and all those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge" (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 422). As can be seen that the prophet (peace be upon him) had mentioned "others" and not a specific gender, it implies that in Islam knowledge is supposed to be acquired by all irrespective of their gender. Clothing is another aspect that is to be discussed.
People argue that women in Islam are oppressed since they are forced to wear over-modest clothes. It is true, that in Islam, women in presence of male strangers (and also men other than certain members in the family), are supposed to reveal only their face and hands. Now, before getting in to the depth of this condition, one question that is to be answered is that is it only Islam which imposes such laws? Christian Nuns wear clothes identical to that of Islamic women. Why do they do so? Why aren't the Christians or the Church questioned on their oppression to nuns? According to the first book of Timothy, women are told to adorn themselves in modest clothing - "...that women adorn themselves in modest apparel..." (1 Timothy 2:9). Similar practices are also evident in Jewish traditions as well. Now as to why is this modest clothing required? Consider a scenario where a man with an ill-intention (or say a rapist) sees two women walking towards him. One in a modern outfit while the other in a modest clothing pretty much like the Islamic way or that of a Christian nun. Which among them would tempt the man more towards his malicious intentions? Obviously, the man wouldn't give a second look towards the more modest woman.
Towards the conclusion, Islam only tends to bring light and knowledge to one's life just as any other religion. It's teachings are either misinterpreted or are wrongly presented by some people for personal gains. People are advised to confirm their understanding about the religion from authentic sources before arriving at a conclusion about Islam.
1. Most of the terrorists identified are/were Muslims.
2. All of them made a terror-attack in the name of the religion i.e. Islam.
3. A part of the Quranic verse from the chapter 'Al-Ma'idah 5:45' which implies the punishment severity in Islamic law: "an eye for an eye".
4. Islam oppresses women, in terms of education, work and clothing as well.
This article tries to put forth satisfying explanations for each of the above mentioned misconceptions. At the outset, it requires only simple common sense to understand that the first point is nothing but a stereotyping or a hasty generalization done by people. One must be aware that apart from being the only religion after Christianity which guarantees the existence of Jesus Christ, Islam is also the second largest religion with a current strength of 1.8 billion followers (30% of the entire world population) which also makes it the fastest growing religion. It is quite likely, as can be understood from these facts, that every major terror-attack that had ever happened at least had one or more Muslims involved in it.
Now taking in to account, it is true and is painful to accept but a large number of Muslim youths are often mislead and are drawn in to terrorism by treacherous Islamic & Non-Islamic leaders. These leaders blanket their actual political intentions with the name "Jihad" which in Islam means "a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels" and win their confidence by raising their passion for spirituality. The concept of Jihad is mentioned in the Quran but what these leaders deliberately don't teach the youth is that it is to be applied only when the existing infidels pose a threat to their existence. So long as Islam is allowed to be followed undisturbed and unperturbed conducting Jihad would in fact be a sin.
But one must notice that such actions generally occur in countries that have a democratic plus a secular government. For instance, India, the largest democracy of the world is a secular country and as such there are many political parties in the country. Now in order to exemplify the poor governance of the ruling political party, an opposing party would try and create havoc in the city or country by engaging mislead youngsters in to religious riots since India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and is also largely dominated by Hindus. With this cunning strategy, which is similar to the famous "Divide & Rule" strategy of the British, enables the opposing party to beat the otherwise well governing ruling party at the time of elections. Since,little knowledge is a dangerous thing, young Muslims are brainwashed and are victimized. They are not even taught the meaning of the word Islam which means "Submission" and by submitting to the will of God Islam tends to teach its followers to live in harmony with nature and thus is "Peace". One must understand that there are as many bad muslims as there are bad followers in other religions.
Some people also point out the verses from the Quran to portray Islam as a religion that encourages violence. A typical example is the verse in the Quran from the chapter 'Al-Ma'idah 5:45' - "an eye for an eye". Nevertheless, people tend to read or listen to only a part of the entire verse and hence interprets the statement out of the context. The complete verse is as follows: "And We ordained for them in that (Torah): A life for a life, and an eye for an eye, and a nose for a nose, and an ear for an ear, and a tooth for a tooth, and a (similar) retribution for wounds;" which mentions the law that God had revealed in the "Torah" which refers to the whole body of Jewish sacred writings and comprises the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
This also implies that Islam is yet another Abrahamic religions following Judaism and Christianity. Jews and Christians are referred to as the people of the book in the Quran. Now Islam does ordain an equivalent revenge for a murder (as per the verse) however in order to arrive to a conclusion one must also consider the other scriptures such as the Hadith and the Sharia in one context. on an analysis of these scriptures one would understand that Islam firmly imposes that criminal rulings should be applied by a government and not by an individual and there are a series of conditions which must be met before applying the punishments as per the Islamic law. Also such the severity of such punishments can be reduced considering the factors such as the circumstances in which the crime was committed, mental condition of the accused etc. Hence, by individually implementing the "an eye for an eye" punishment is definitely a sin in Islam which confirms that Islam doesn't encourage violence.
Lastly, the most common accusation that a Muslim has to face is that Islam oppresses women. Well it has nowhere been said in the Quran or the other Islamic scriptures that Islam prohibits women from being educated. In fact, the Islamic Prophet, Mohammad (peace be upon him) had said, "God, His angels and all those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge" (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 422). As can be seen that the prophet (peace be upon him) had mentioned "others" and not a specific gender, it implies that in Islam knowledge is supposed to be acquired by all irrespective of their gender. Clothing is another aspect that is to be discussed.
People argue that women in Islam are oppressed since they are forced to wear over-modest clothes. It is true, that in Islam, women in presence of male strangers (and also men other than certain members in the family), are supposed to reveal only their face and hands. Now, before getting in to the depth of this condition, one question that is to be answered is that is it only Islam which imposes such laws? Christian Nuns wear clothes identical to that of Islamic women. Why do they do so? Why aren't the Christians or the Church questioned on their oppression to nuns? According to the first book of Timothy, women are told to adorn themselves in modest clothing - "...that women adorn themselves in modest apparel..." (1 Timothy 2:9). Similar practices are also evident in Jewish traditions as well. Now as to why is this modest clothing required? Consider a scenario where a man with an ill-intention (or say a rapist) sees two women walking towards him. One in a modern outfit while the other in a modest clothing pretty much like the Islamic way or that of a Christian nun. Which among them would tempt the man more towards his malicious intentions? Obviously, the man wouldn't give a second look towards the more modest woman.
Towards the conclusion, Islam only tends to bring light and knowledge to one's life just as any other religion. It's teachings are either misinterpreted or are wrongly presented by some people for personal gains. People are advised to confirm their understanding about the religion from authentic sources before arriving at a conclusion about Islam.
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by : AMAK
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