Common Misconceptions of Islam

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Did you know that there are currently 1.5 billion Muslims living

throughout the world? One in every five people in this

world is a Muslim. It is proven that Islam is the fastest growing

faith in the world and also happens to be the most widely and openly

misunderstood faith as well. Americans have misconceptions about Muslims concerning the rights of Muslim women and whether Muslims believe in the existence of Jesus. "When a gunman attacks a mosque in the name of Judaism, a

Catholic IRA guerrilla sets off a bomb in an urban area, or Serbian

Orthodox militiaman rapes and kills innocent Muslim civilians, these

acts are not used to stereotype an entire faith." How many times is it

heard that a Christian, Jew, or any other majority robbed a bank or

was involved in a mass murder? Very few, which is ironic because once

a Muslim does such perils, it is blamed on the faith on whole and not

the individual that makes that decision.

Islam can literally be translated to mean submission to God and is

derived from the root word meaning peace. One should always remember

to go to the true source of Islam and separate what the true religion

of Islam says from what is portrayed in the media. Many consider Islam

an exotic religion or even too extreme for the modern world. But this

is because religion does not dominate everyday life in the West, where

as, Islam is consider a way of life for many Muslims; who from the

teachings of the Quran have learned to balance their material and

spiritual life. Like Christianity, Islam only permits fighting in

self-defense, in defense of religion (but not the excuse for your own

personal or political purposes), or on...

... middle of paper ...

...mething it all gets blamed on

the faith? The American government has been at war for almost two

years to give rights to the people of Iraq, but how much of a

difference can they actually make when their own people don't get

proper rights? They say the people have freedom of speech, religion,

and etc…but in reality they have nothing. If the government wanted

unity between the people than they would create a better understand on

a situation rather than turning citizens against each other. A recent

example of how much the American government 'cares' for the rights of

the people is shown through the pictures they found of the prisons are

being taken care of in Iraq. Many misconceptions of religion, culture,

and just people on a whole would be cleared if the government and

media did not exploit them for their own advantage.

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