Islam: The Misunderstood Religion

Islam: suppressor of women, enemy of Western nations, and breeder of terrorists. The West has many stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam that are due to the media, prejudice, and ignorance. Islam is often seen as an "extremist" or "terrorist" religion. Often, the media's reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance or not wanting to acknowledge its true teachings. This is one of the reasons why Westerners are often wary of Muslims. In contrast to what the media portrays, Islam is a peaceful religion, which does not promote violence or terrorism.

Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.

As of today, Christianity and Islam are the world’s two largest and rapidly growing religions. They share an estimated 3.6 billion followers, more than half of the world’s population. Initially the two religions may seem to have nothing in common, but when you go beyond the surface and examine the rituals, beliefs, and founders, as well as the spread of both religions, they share many similarities. In many ways, there is irony in tension between Christianity and Islam, given the extremely similar history and nature of their religions. It is perhaps lost on many people who subscribe to these religions that there is no more truth to one than the other. But when observed from an objective viewpoint it is undeniable that both Christianity and Islam are remarkably similar in origin and ideology. In order to see and understand their similarities, it is important to look back to the birth and rise of both religions.

The unfortunate fact that Islam is the most misunderstood religion is still exist. Everyone must vividly remembers how the tragedy of 11 September 2001 occurred. Most of the American communities now are still shocked even after the attacks of 11 September has occurred for the past 14 years. Because of limited narrative about that day and its aftermath, it triggered the ongoing rumors about Arab, Muslim and Islam that we are terrorists. The reality that most members of the communities contend with daily was the environment that was originally created from the discrimination of government policies and biased media representations by the West. Hence, the level of anti-Muslim among the American communities sentiment have always increase day by day after the 11 September tragedy until now. Consequently, those who are tragically affected by

According to Islamic texts, in the 7th century, the Prophet Muhammad was spoken to by God and instructed on how to enlighten the world with this new religion called Islam. Over 14 centuries later and Islam is the second largest religion in the world, right after Christianity. In this essay, comparisons between Christianity and Islam will be used to help better understand the religion of Islam and it is place in being branded as an Abrahamic religion.

In Zainab Ali's book, "Unveiling Islam: What Muslims Believe," she explains the basic beliefs of a Muslim. She also elaborates on the images of Muslims in the media created by important leaders such as Saddam Hussein and Louis Farrakhan and how they contradict the Islamic belief. The writer then gives her explaination of these contradictions with respect to Islamic rules. She focuses on the rules of the faith - the five pillars of Islam - by provinding explanations, definitions, and examples. After an elaboration of each pillar, the writer explains the relevance of the pillars in life and the affects that the pillars have on the character of a true Muslim. She then compares this character to the characters of the Islamic leaders in the

Bilhartz did very well in explaining the background of Islam. He was correct when he said that Islam "remains one of the world's most misunderstood religious traditions", despite it being the second largest religion in the world ( Bilhartz, p. 103). Before reading the chapter, I had no idea what Islam was all about. In the following paragraphs, I have included information about Islam that was new or interesting to me. To begin, Muslims are offended when their religion is referred to as Muhammadanism because it implies that Muhammad was the creator of the religion rather than God (Bilhartz, p. 103). Muhammad was regarded as only a mouthpiece for God to bring people back to the pure faith. The correct term is Islam, which the word is derived from the Arabic letters s-l-m, which means "surrender" and "peace" in English (Blihartz, p.103). There is also the misconception that Islam is only in the Arab world. Not all Arabs in the Middle East are Muslims and the largest Islamic population is found in South Asia (Bilhartz, p. 103).

Islam is an ill-perceived religion throughout most of the Western world. Once known as a quiet and peaceful religion, the general perception of people from other religions and most of the world upon Islam is quite distorted. Ever since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, an influx of discrimination and prejudice towards Islam and Muslims has spread throughout the world. In “Understanding Islam,” by Kenneth Jost, an article about several accounts of how Muslims are mistreated and stereotyped throughout the world, brings up a recent poll within the United States says that 45 percent of those surveyed has an unfavorable view of Islam. The article also states that a CBS poll

After watching the film ‘Close Up’, I have learned about the characteristic of Mercy playing a large role in the Islamic community, even with people who are not Islam. This paper is going to look at the movie and the way mercy is shown by some of the characters, as well as how Sabzian existential crisis played a big part in his crime, and the Judge's compassion towards that crisis.

The two largest religions in the world, Christianity and Islam, were implemented by two of religions most powerful leaders, Jesus and Muhammad. Without question, both Jesus and Muhammad have affected humanity powerfully. As religious leaders both men laid down the principles upon which Christianity and Islam are founded yet today. However, while Jesus performed miracles and arose from the dead, thus proving to his followers he was God, Muhammad performed no such feats, and made no such claims. In fact, Muhammad’s only claim was that he was the last prophet sent from God.

Islam - A Highly Controversial Sensitive Issue in Today's World: Examination of Misconceptions and Beliefs

"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."

Islam is one of the oldest religions in history dating back to about 600 AD. It began when a man named Muhammad heard a voice from the heavens instructing him to proclaim the word of god. Currently there are over 800 million followers of the Muslim religion. The main text of the religion is the Quran which is said to be the word of God, or Allah as called in Muslim. Within the Quran, The five pillars of Islam are proclaimed along with many other concepts very unique to the Muslim religion. Prayer is a very important aspect of Islam as well. Islam has a long history of invention, heritage, and world imperialism that must be understood to completely identify with the concepts of the religion and culture.

Although Islam is the second largest religion in the world with a following of 1.8 billion followers, no other religion has faced more scrutiny and hardship in the past decades. This has been caused by media and governments labeling Islam as a whole with their extremist groups like Al Queda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. I even thought that the principals held by these extremist group were more common in Islam than they are. After studying Islam and gaining more information I came to respect this religion more than any other we studied this semester because of its seriousness and unity. The Quran and Hadith provide concrete details and instructions to follow in the faith of Islam. No texts from any other religion are as upfront with their beliefs than these. Muhammad was and continues to be a powerful and understanding leader that has led it to becoming the world’s fastest growing religion. I enjoyed studying the powerfulness of Muhammad and the direct voice of God in the Quran that is sets Islam apart from Judaism and Christianity.

Islam is not a new religion but the final culmination and fulfillment of the same basic truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is not just a personal religion but a complete way of living. Over a billion people from all races, nationalities and cultures across the globe are Muslim--from the rice farms of Indonesia to the deserts in the heart of Africa; from the skyscrapers of New York to the Bedouin tents in Arabia.