The Truth About Islam: Come and Learn
Aminah Galal | Jan 04, 2010 | Comments 19
Islam has been placed in the limelight for the past decade; almost every news broadcast mentions Islam or Muslims in one way or another. “Experts” have emerged and taken it upon themselves to educate, or attempt to educate, us on this apparently complex and foreign religion.
We are told that Islam is a religion that is based in the vast deserts of the Middle East and that its followers all come from the mysterious lands of the Orient. We are told that Islam preaches the conversion of mankind by force and that it calls for the death of all “infidels” by waging a holy war called Jihad.
We are told that Islam is a patriarchic religion that oppresses women, beating them and forcing them to hide behind a veil. We are told that Islam can’t coexist with the West and modernity. We are told that Islam cannot and will not understand science and its advantages, that Muslims around the world recite and follow the Qur’an blindly, or in other words, are brainwashed. We are also told that the more devout a Muslim is, the more he or she hates and wants to destroy the West.
I can continue this article by refuting every one of the points mentioned above. I can tell you that Arabs make up only 15 percent of the Muslim population, that Muslims can be found in almost every country, and that the majority of Muslims in the United States are African-American. I can tell you that in the Qur’an it states, “There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2:256). I can write Qur’anic verse after Qur’anic verse about how Islam honors and liberates women, how Islam gave rights which women in the West were only able to attain during the 20th century 1400 years ago. I can give you a full logical explanation about how Islam is a timeless religion and is completely compatible with the 21st century. I can reference the multitude of scientific miracles in the Qur’an, from a detailed explanation of embryonic development to an explanation of the geographic functions of mountains, most of which were only discovered by scientists during the previous century. I can even write telling you how Islam is a religion of peace, kindness and compassion and how such virtues are highlighted throughout the teachings of this faith.
But what is my word, that of a mere student, against those of so-called “experts” who write best-selling books, give lectures at universities and appear on “fair and balanced” news shows? No matter how many articles I could write, these “experts” have already shaped our image of Islam. But I cannot help but feel that as students in one of the best institutions of higher education, if we allow our perception of Islam to be completely shaped by others, that we are belittling our own mental capacities. We have proven that we can think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions by getting to where we are now, so why do we not do so with Islam?
Islam is a religion that calls for one to think, reason and reflect. Several verses in the Qur’an call people to ponder, to go out and figure things out. The first word to be revealed in the Qur’an was “read.” That is why the Muslim Student Union (MSU) is calling students on this campus to come and challenge their minds and hearts and to try and understand Islam through its quarter-long event titled “Islam Awareness Quarter: Knowing the Strangers.” Come and listen to what the real experts on Islam, Muslims themselves, say about the religion. Listen to why the former rapper Loon decided to leave fame and fortune and convert to Islam. Why the former youth pastor, Yusha Evans or the British activist Hamza Tzortis decided to convert to Islam as well. Come challenge yourself to wear the hijab, the Muslim women headscarf, for a day and learn about the status of women in Islam from a Muslim woman herself.
Islam calls for understanding, and there is a verse in the Qur’an that states “O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another” (Qur’an 49:13). The MSU is inviting you to attend our events throughout the quarter with an open mind, putting aside pervious perceptions or stereotypes, and with a willingness to understand not only the religion of Islam in general, but also the guy or girl sitting next to you in class. For more information please visit www.msu-uci.com.
Aminah Galal is a third year history major. She can be reached at agalal@uci.edu.
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oh and FYI those “Muslims” who do those suicide attacks and bombs aren’t muslims because whoever does commit suicide goes straight to hell……
so those people who are stupid enough not to know that, obviously aren’t practiced muslims
first thing is first:
how are you going to say that muslims don’t want peace when you are going to the wrong sources to indicate that? just because of some people’s wrong- doing, doesnt mean that all muslims are that way. muslims are against terrorism just as much as anyone else.
Know this:
during war, it is forbidden for a muslim to kill, harm, or torture women, children, elders, innocent people, or even trees.
and suicide is absolutely intolerable in islam, even if you are in PAIN…
so those people who are terrorists like in 9/11 who killed innocents are not even close to being muslims, because one of the biggest sins a Muslim can do is harm an innocent person.
if you want to go to REAL and True resources to know about islam, just buy a Qur’an that is translated in english, and if you have some opposing views about things in there, you just let me know so i can clear some things up for you…
islam is truely a peaceful religion, and just like all the other religions, there are people that give the wrong example about islam, and those people aren’t the people you should look to…
i dare you to research the true things, and maybe that would change your mind…
Oh, and to all the “Holier than thou” people who have commented on here, more people have been killed in the name of Jesus than in the name of Allah or Mohammed. Remember the Spanish Inquisition? In that instance, people were killing in the name of Jesus and it was the Muslims, of all people, who allowed for an entire people to survive by allowing those who escaped persecution to live in their lands.
It should be noted that what I said in my previous comment is a shot at the hypocrisy of the MSU and not necessarily a shot at the religion itself.
It’s really hard to hear/read anything claiming that Islam is a religion of peace when it comes from a Muslim who attends UCI and who is also probably associated with the Muslim Student Union. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that the violence and whatnot comes from the extremists and that that is not solely an issue with Islam; however, any talk of Islam being a peaceful and tolerant religion coming from a member of MSU is hypocritical. I’ll be more open to listening to someone from MSU talk about peace and tolerance in Islam as soon as MSU cleans up what is pretty much a “Death to Israel” week late in Spring Quarter and stops having speakers like Amir Abdel Malik Ali come to campus. I attempted to listen to one of his things in my freshman year and I was so disgusted by it that I walked away and never looked back.
And before you say it, telling people that “Islam means peace” while ignoring the elephant in the room wearing the explosives vest is actually not very reassuring, nor is it an efficient tactic. Neither is placing the blame on invading armies or oil greed or whatever Koorosh was crying about.
At the end of the day, there are still millions of people out there murdering innocent people and children in the name of Allah, and teaching their kids to do the same. If you don’t like the effect this slandering has on people’s view of your religion, then take responsibility and do something about it instead of just placing blame or ignoring it.
I don’t need to prove anything to you – and if I do, you will deny it like all other closed minded, hate blinded people such as yourself.
We don’t need to apologize for things we have not done nor do we support! Don’t you get it? If joe-shmo stole your wallet, I dont have to apologize for stealing! It doesnt make any sense. Why should I, the innocent, feel like a suspect for nothing?
Nonetheless, always condemn and condemn but honestly, none of that condemnation is given any clout. And if you dont have the mind to go out and search in sincerity and not just to pick and choose that which goes against Islam for the sake of your whims and justification for hatred or hell-raising rhetoric then there is really not much else anyone can do to get you to understand the truth behind the myth.
If you dont choose to search for the truth, the truth won’t find you..
Prove it, Amani. All I see these days is Muslims supporting terrorism. And if they’re not doing that, they’re making excuses for it. But none are actively working or speaking against it. If you don’t like the way we Westerners think, then stop being lazy and take responsibility for your religion. Until then, you have no reason to whine about it.
A, no, I think its just you – and others who think like yourself. Please go educate yourself
Tell me Koorosh, do all Muslim radicals say the world is out to get them so they don’t have to take responsibility for the madness their religion is causing these days, or is it just you?
Yes, great approach Ali, lets totally ignore every socio-political factor and just blame Islam. Because there’s no way that things like, say, hundreds of years of colonialism and imperialism play into this. I mean the chaos in the Muslim World can’t be at all due to two American occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, continued bombings of Pakistan, and threats to attack Iran. The 50 year old Israeli Occupation of Palestine has nothing to do with this. Kashmir is a complete non issue. There is no conceivable way that it would be to the national interests of any country for there to be chaos in the Islamic World. Non whatsoever. Abundant oil and natural gas resources are totally irrelevant here.
Ali: Well said. Everything I was thinking and what people really need to know when learning about Islam.
Also Amani: It is not just Fox News serving this “hatorade”. CNN’s Anderson Cooper did a segment on radical Islam following the Fort Hood terror attack (committed by a Muslim who, according to eyewitnesses, shouted ‘ALLAHU AKBAR’ before murdering everyone he could). Just today I watched a panel discussion on Al Quaeda and the influence of radical Islam on MSNBC.
Face it, Amani. The time has come for Muslims to either begin denouncing all these terror attacks, like the recent attempted Detroit airplane bombing executed by a Muslim convert, or support them. I’ve heard practically no practicing Muslims, certainly no Muslim organizations like your CAIR (who is thankfully being investigated after the publication of Muslim Mafia) publicly denounce Islamic extremism. Only a handful of not-so-religious Muslims, and no more than two religious Muslims.
But I waste my time. Your excuses and denial say everything. If you are unwilling to denounce this barbarism, then there is a reason. I’ll be damned if I know what it is, and I’m beginning to think it’s sheer blind ignorance.
Unless you support it. And that’s a whole different story.
Where do you get this stuff from? Lol, seriously, your nonsense is absolutely amazing. You need to stop watching Fox News and overdosing on that hatorade, brother. It’s not good for the intellect or the soul.
Haha, I mean, I thought it was funny when you called your self Ali and now this?
Amana,
Your generalizations know no bounds.
Here are some facts for the readers to dig their teeth into:
“Other religions kill, too.”
The Muslim Game:
Bringing other religions down to the level of Islam is one of the most popular strategies of Muslim apologists when confronted with the spectacle of Islamic violence. Remember Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber? Why pick on Islam if other religions have the same problems?
The Truth:
Because they don’t.
Regardless of what his birth certificate may or may not have said, Timothy McVeigh was not a religious man (in fact, he was an atheist). At no time did he credit his deeds to religion, quote Bible verses, or claim that he killed for God.
The so-called “members of other faiths” alluded to by Muslims are nearly always just nominal members who have no active involvement. They are neither inspired by, nor do they credit religion as Muslim terrorists do – and this is what makes it a very different matter.
Islam is associated with Islamic terrorism because that is the association that the terrorists themselves choose to make.
Muslims who compare crime committed by people who happen to be nominal members of other religions to religious terror committed explicitly in the name of Islam are comparing apples to oranges.
Yes, some of the abortion clinic bombers were religious (as Muslims enjoy pointing out), but consider the scope of the problem. There have been six deadly attacks over a 36 year period in the U.S. Eight people died. This is an average of one death every 4.5 years.
By contrast, Islamic terrorists staged nearly ten thousand deadly attacks in just the six years following September 11th, 2001. If one goes back to 1971, when Muslim armies in Bangladesh began the mass slaughter of Hindus, through the years of Jihad in the Sudan, Kashmir and Algeria, and the present-day Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq, the number of innocents killed in the name of Islam probably exceeds five million over this same period.
In the last six years, there have been perhaps a dozen or so religiously-inspired killings by people of all other faiths combined. No other religion produces the killing sprees that Islam does nearly every day of the year. Neither do they have verses in their holy texts that arguably support it. Nor do they have large groups across the globe dedicated to the mass murder of people who worship a different god, as the broader community of believers struggles with ambivalence and tolerance for a radical clergy that supports the terror.
Muslims may like to pretend that other religions are just as subject to “misinterpretation” as is their “perfect” one, but the reality speaks of something far worse.
Hi Ali,
First of all, I highly doubt that this is your real name
and if it is, its a shame that a person with a Muslim name such as yourself would not even understand what his religion truly does say. And for this I would like to extend the invitation to you to come to this series of events as well.
Second, this event is not going to be about the bad things a minority of Muslims do or are purported to do
Third, this is more about learning what Islam really is about, what the Islamic scripture says + it’s context and how almost every Muslim sees and knows their true faith.
I would like to know what you mean by your very offensive comment here. Are you saying that everyone you see who identifies as Muslim or who you think is Muslim is automatically a terrorist and does not seek peace?
Would it be fair to cling to the mediocre, uneducated rhetoric full of conspiracy theories against Islam and Muslims?
I would like to think that you are more intellectually adept to make a distinction between those who commit the acts of terror and those who you see all around the world and even in passing as you peruse the campus.
Surely, it would stupid for me to say that just because a serial killer was raised Christian, Jewish or Buddhist, that all Christians, Jews and Buddhists have a tendency to be serial killers.
John,
Are you trying to tell us the Koran is not filled with verses relegating non-Muslims to an inferior status?
Are you trying to tell us the Koran is not filled with verses extolling violent jihad against non-Muslims?
Are you trying to tell us the history of Islam –and this dates back to the example Mohammed set– is not filled with violence against non-Muslims?
If you are trying to tell us it is only “a tiny minority o Muslims who commit such horrible acts” then you are really something else. The facts do not support your pollyannaish world-view. If you take a cursory look at the following website you will read irrefutable evidence that refutes your naive comments about Islam:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/index.html#Attacks
Anything whether an idea, an economic, social, or political system, a value, etc can always be taken, abused and used to carry out injustice…To actually define Islam by this tiny minority of Muslims who commit such horrible acts would be foolish at best. Islam itself is not the issue here… its the people who claim to be acting in the name of Islam when in reality, they couldn’t be any farther from it. It seems that this series of events is aimed at addressing Islam at its true core and I commend these efforts.
Aminah writes, “No matter how many articles I could write, these “experts” have already shaped our image of Islam.”
No Aminah, Islam “shaped our image of Islam”.
To wit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qxjocm5fCc
No doubt Aminah will tell us Islam is a religion of peace as witnessed below by their activities since the New Year began. Happy New Year to these vitims and all thanks to the devout Muslims who carried out these attacks.
Date Country City Killed Injured Description
2010.01.03 Pakistan Waziristan 2 killed, 5 wounded. A bombing and separate rocket attack leave two people dead.
2010.01.03 Iraq Tal Abta 3 killed 0 wounded Three road construction workers are gunned down by Muslim terrorists.
2010.01.03 Pakistan Bajaur 2 killed, 4 wounded. Two tribal elders are blown to bits by a Taliban roadside bomb.
2010.01.03 Pakistan Hangu 4 killed, 2 wounded. A Taliban roadside bomb ends the lives of four people.
2010.01.02 Iraq Mosul 2 killed, 0 wounded Two local cops are gunned down by Sunni terrorists.
2010.01.02 Somalia Dhusamareb 47 killed, 150 wounded. al-Shabaab Islamists assault a small town. At least four dozen people are killed in the fighting.
2010.01.02 Iraq Baghdad 1 killed, 21 wounded. Jihadi bombers take out a civilian and injure two dozen others.
2010.01.02 Pakistan Orakzai 3 killed, 0 wounded. Three civilian village guards are ambushed and killed by Islamic militants.
2010.01.02 Afghanistan Nimroz 5 killed, 6 wounded. Five civilians are killed when Sunni terrorists bomb their pickup truck.
2010.01.01 Pakistan Shah Hason Khel 105 killed, 100 wounded. Children are amply represented among over one hundred spectators massacred at a volleyball tournament by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.