What is Islam?

As a Muslim, I hear countless remarks, constant degrading and false media representation on Islam. Why is Islam always singled out as the enemy? Why is the majority of the population afraid of us? Is it really all that hard to treat us with the respect and dignity that we so well deserve. I mean, wouldn't you want that respect and dignity, and don't you think you deserve it? So a few bad apples fell from the tree, but that is no reason to start pointing the fingers at all of us. I mean, you do not see us pointing our fingers at you about the Christian crusades, but we will not get into that. It is a whole other story within itself. This statement was not written to offend anyone. Just a simple compare and contrast. But as I was saying, Muslims are a very nice humble group of people, and I promise you that we are not as scary as we may look. I would like to share a few facts about Islam. I know this is been done many times before, but there may be people out there who do not know yet. So hello to all of you. :)

1). Muhammad(pbuh) is a prophet. He is the founder of Islam, but rather as one in a long line of prophets from Adam to Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and Jesus(may god be pleased with them). Islam therefore did not begin with Muhammad(pbuh), whose role was that of a "messenger" who received and passed on a revelation from God. He made it clear that Muslims should "call me the servant of God and His messenger." He is regarded as a human being and in no way divine. He is seen as the final prophet who completed the revelation began by the earlier prophets

2).Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God. The Qur'an has many stories about Biblical characters which are very similar to those in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus is very highly honored as a prophet, although Muslims believe that Christians erred in regarding him as divine. Muslims greatly respect Mary as the mother of Jesus. They believe in the virginal birth of Jesus through the power of the Spirit of God. However, they believe that errors have crept into the Jewish and Christian traditions and into the text of the Bible. The mission of Muhammad (pbuh) was to correct those errors.

3). Muhammad (pbuh) was not a rapist, nor a pedophile. Yes he did marry A'ishah at the age of nine, but the marriage was not comsummated (sex) until she was the age of 18. This is also when she went to live with him. Marriages like this have been going on for ages. It did not start with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and it did not end with him either. (think back in victorian england era etc.) history is a beautiful thing. And this still goes on today, everywhere.

4).Jihad is not a holy war. Jihad is a struggle in ourselves as Muslims to become closer to God. It is an inner struggle between our religion and our desires. We fight within ourselves to become better Muslims

5). Praying is done five times a day to keep our mind always on God. He is the only one that matters to us in this world and the next

6). Women are not oppressed, because we cover our bodies and our hair. We are symbols of purity and only our husbands are allowed to see our beauty. We are not judged because of the way we look by our men. Beauty is not important to us, religion is. We dress the same as Nuns do and as Mary, Jesus (may god be pleased with them) mother did, but yet they are not seen as oppressed and terroristic.

7). Men are not seen as higher then a woman in Islam. We are equal in everything we do and receive. Yes men are the providers, and women are the nurturers. Yes, we take care of the household and the man works. Women in Islam make the decision if she wants to work or not. If a woman works, she does not have to give her money to her husband, her money is for whatever she wishes to do with it. The man must provide with his money for the wife, kids and whatever needs to be in the home. A man that oppresses his wife and bad with her is not following true Islam.

8). Allah means God in Arabic. Arabic is the language in Islam and Middle Eastern countries. Not all Middle Easterns are Muslim, so yes that means even the Christian Arabs say Allah as well.

9).Islam is more then just a religion. It is the way we live our life. This includes Morals, spiritual, social, political, etc.

10). The highest number of Muslims reside in Indonesia not the Middle East.

11). Islam is not the same as The Nation of Islam. Islam accepts people of all races and backgrounds. Islam believes in One God, our creator that does not have a human form. The Nation of Islam is a group that has hatred towards Whites and believe that Eijah Muhammad was a Prophet and that Fard Muhammad was God.

I hope that all of you received some answers to your questions if not all. And I recommend if you are curious to know more just ask a Muslim. No harm done and it will be a rewarding experience to actually see things in your own eyes instead of listening to the media. Have a wonderful day.