The Truth About Islam

"The Truth About Islam" seems to be a popular topic for bloggers and free-lance writers like myself providing content for online publishing sites such as Triond, Bukisa, Associated Content and Helium, especially in the aftermath of the lives lost in the United States on Monday, September 11, 2001.

In my opinion, those who are unfamiliar with the truth about Islam write most of these stories. I've yet come across a story written by a non-Muslim that tells the truth about Islam. Ignorance of this kind is unacceptable and disheartening to me both as a Muslim and as a writer. I believe people, especially writers, have a responsibility to tell the truth even when they are expressing an opinion.

More often than not these stories, which are written under the pretext of being truthful, are anything but truthful. They are the opinion of a writer who voluntarily chooses to write about specific point of Islam, of which he or she disagrees, without providing a fair comparison between Islam and other religions. Essentially, these writings are a rebuttal to Islam manipulated in such a way that readers are given a false sense of the truth.

The other day I read one of these "The Truth About Islam" stories on Relijournal.com. In this particular story, the writer, who has more than 20 years of experience writing business-related and cooking stories, writes, "The God of the Bible loves so deeply that He suffered upon Himself judgment's wrath against humankind's evil. He did so in order to establish a love relationship with, and reserve Paradise for, any who would love Him in return. Even in the Old Testament, when He disciplined, it was in response to rebellion against plainly prescribed standards of righteousness. Courts applied the rare severest punishments and only after careful investigation.

Allah, in the Koran and the Hadiths, cares only for submission and the judgment of the balance scales. His favor is applied on the basis of obedience alone and his mercy is arbitrary and predetermined. He awards almost all Muslims the right to punish others, especially in the name of jihad."

The writer makes no mention of "The Allah of the Quran," which seems odd given the title of the story. Likewise, I find it odd that the writer neglects to mention that the God of the Bible favors on the basis of obedience through the Ten Commandments. Does this surprise me? No.

This story, like so many other stories that have been written since September 11, 2001, is not about the truth about Islam but instead is about groups of people that exist amongst all of us. Terrorists. Like so many other writers before him, and no doubt the many to follow in his footsteps, the author has crafted yet another story linking terrorism with Islam.

The common approach used by writers for connecting Islam with terrorism can be summed up in the Arabic word - jihad. Many non-Muslims think they know what this word means. Unfortunately for Muslims, they don't. There are two forms of jihad - Lesser jihad and Greater jihad.

The Lesser jihad is what most writers are referring to when they use the word for validating their claim that Muslims are terrorist as the writer above attempts to do when he writes, "He awards almost all Muslims the right to punish others, especially in the name of jihad." Time and time again these writers neglect to mention that jihad in this context is a defensive measure. Yes, Allah does give permission for Muslims to protect themselves against religious persecution. I'm confused as to why Americans protest vehemently over a Muslims right to religious freedom when America's founders believed religious freedom to be the "first liberty." So to does Allah.

The Greater jihad, which is often ignored in stories written by non-Muslims writers because it does little to serve their purpose of connecting Muslims with terrorism, is an important truth about Islam.

This form of jihad speaks to the inner struggle Muslims face each day for Allah. These inward struggles can be many things such as pursuing a degree to become a better person, regularly performing the five daily prayers and avoiding that which is forbidden by Allah. These are not struggles facing Muslims alone. In fact, jihad can be compared to the inner struggles such as resisting sin through fighting off temptations, doubts or disbelief often preached about by Christian clergy.

The point that I am hoping to get across is this: terrorism is not a Muslim invention. Islam is not the cause of terrorism nor does it condone it. This is the truth about Islam.

Resources:

Relijournal.com, The Truth About Islam, retrieved from http://relijournal.com/religion/the-truth-about-islam/ on 21 May, 2009, 8 p.m.

Muslim Voices, What is Jihad, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad on 23 May 2009, 6:45 p.m.

Wikipedia, Jihad, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad on 23,May 2009, 6:41 p.m.

The Religious Freedom Page, retrieved from http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/, 23 May 2009, 7:19 p.m.