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Religion and violence
Quran analysis
Short essay on religion based violence
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What is your reaction to this open letter directed towards the leader of ISIS from a collection of Sunni Muslim scholars from around the world? What is it attempting to argue generally? Why do you think they’ve written it? What are they hoping to accomplish? Do you find their interpretations of the Quran/Sharia convincing, or do you believe that the ISIS implementation of the Quran/Sharia are more accurate?
I was surprised by reading this letter to learn of all the violent acts that ISIS has participated in. I only knew of some of the things they do that end up on the news, but in reality they do so much more. From the way the media portrays ISIS, I assumed all Muslims were this violent. From reading this article, I was relieved to learn that out of the more than one billion Muslims on the planet only a couple thousand Muslims that are involved in extremist groups. ISIS and other extremist groups do not truthfully represent the Islamic religion. I found it interesting how ISIS have misinterpreted the Quran and the Hadith to justify their actions. That their actions and practices actually contradict what is taught in the Quran and the Hadith.
This letter was written to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and it lists specific examples of what ISIS has done and speeches from ISIS’ leaders and shown how it directly violates the Quran and the Hadith. It explains why their actions and behaviors go against Islamic beliefs and backs it up with textual evidence from the Quran. This article argues that ISIS completely violates what is taught in the Quran and that ISIS has misinterpreted Islam into a harsh and brutal religion. The letter from the Sunni Muslim scholars is attempting to convince the leader of ISIS to “reconsider all ...
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...I am glad now that I know more about the religion to understand that there are good Muslims out there.
It is the actions of a few Muslims that can spoil the majority 's perception of the Islamic religion. And unfortunately, that is what the current media portrays. After reading the open letter to the ISIS leader, I saw how vastly different the extremist views are from the mainstream Islamic views.
Having grown up Christian and in a Christian school, we always believed that our faith is the true faith and that Islam had many differing views than what I believed. From what little I did know about the Islamic religion, I assumed all Muslims would kill innocent people. I never understood how anyone would want to be a Muslim. Now I know the followers of this religion actually believe in peace and mercy, it is only the extremist groups that give Islam a bad reputation.
The media has been known to portray or show many “Muslims” as terrorists, and several times they fail to show the peaceful Muslims. Furthermore, the media affects the perception of many Americans, and when they portray Muslims as scary and dangerous people, this causes many stereotypes to form. This in turn, makes it common for people to accept and believe in the various stereotypes of Muslims. Also, countless Muslims are ethnically profiled based on their religious appearance. To be more specific, numerous Muslims are stereotyped due to their long beards and cultural robes. Stereotypes, such as these, are affected by the descriptions of other notorious terrorists, such as Osama Bin Laden, who was well known for his long beard. Additionally, a number of people have become irrational and unreasonable when it comes to preventing Muslims to affect America, such as many protests “to ban Sharia law in any American court” (Azlan). Sharia is basically the law of an Islamic government, and the protest is illogical, since Sharia law has never been practiced in any American court and there is no indication, that there will be (Azlan). Many of these labels are unfair, and the media unjustly portrays and connects innocent American Muslims to terrorists which is
Followers of Islam claim with certainty that it is a religion of love, but the Islamic State’s interpretation is a religion of blood-lust. The comparison here is that though the religion itself is not to blame in either case, by perverting the message extremists have taken it upon themselves to be the god-ordained arbiters of who deserves to live or die. We can see the same mentality in Puritanism, where God “will repay fury to his adversaries” (Edwards 437). In the case of the Islamic State, they are being manipulated by the secular Baath party servicemen of Saddam's regime who don't even care about the religion in the first place (Cassis).
... and Jihad According to Islam." HWeb. HWeb, 13 June 2006. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
Menkhaus, K. (2011, November 5). A thousand fatwas for Somalia's al-Shabaab - The Globe and
Thomas W. Lippman gives an introduction to the Muslim world in the book Understanding Islam. He has traveled throughout the Islamic world as Washington Post bureau chief for the Middle East, and as a correspondent in Indochina. This gave him, in his own words, "sharp insight into the complexities of that turbulent region." However, the purpose of the book is not to produce a critical or controversial interpretation of Islamic scripture. It is instead to give the American layman an broad understanding of a religion that is highly misunderstood by many Americans. In this way he dispels many myths about "Muslim militants," and the otherwise untrue perception of Islamic violence. In this way the American reader will become more knowledgeable about an otherwise unfamiliar topic. However, the most significant element of Lippman’s book is that it presents Islam in a simple way that makes the reader feels his awareness rise after each chapter. This encourages him to continue learning about the world’s youngest major religion. Understanding Islam dispels many misconceptions about the Muslim world, and presents the subject in a way that urges his reader to further his understanding of Islam through continued study.
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
Muslims have been facing propaganda by media of the western world since many decades. Western media spreads any negative incident in which Muslims are involved very quickly. Many people have developed such an understanding due to this stigmatization that they normally think of terrorism, violence and other extreme things when they hear about Islam and Muslims. One major incident behind such stigmatization is the 9/11 attacks on America.
Robinson, B.A. (2002, October 14). Islam: Is it a religion of violence or of peace.
A lot of people believe that Muslims, Islam, and/or the Holy Quran encourages killing, fighting, and terrorism. Events such as the 9/11 attack in the United States, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and conflicts in the Middle East causes the media to label Muslims as terrorists. When a specific group of people cause violence to another group it is categorized as ‘hate crime’, but if a Muslim does the same act, the media immediately labels it as ‘terrorism’ (Frater, 2009). As a matter of fact, regarding to the attacks of the mosques in Israel, the media did not use the acts to victimize or stereotype Judaism. Moreover, some extremist groups use Islam as a tactic to gain followers even though a lot of their practices go against the teachings of the Quran. A person would not be considered a Muslim if they spread fear or terrorize others. The Quran clearly states, “You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law.” (Quran, 6:151). Islam is against any force or violence towards another person. Often the word ‘Jihad’ is taken out of context by violent militants; it means to strive or struggle for the sake of ones’ self improvement with respect to their spirituality. Religious and political groups use Jihad to justify ...
In the essay, the writer acknowledges the misunderstandings that come from media images by explaining the contrasts between these images and the teachings of the faith to support her claim that fear is the reason for this misconception. The conception that many people have of Muslims is that they are terrorists, anti-Semites, and fanatics. This conception exsists because television news and newspapers support that stereotype. The broadcast of such stereotypes encourages fear and accusations of the Islamic relegion's teachings. The writer explains that Islam teaches peace, tolerance, and equality. She further states that Muslims shown in the media have violated these teachings ...
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
On the board on Monday morning, there were numbers one through five and they each had a religion written next to them. 1 was Hinduism, 2 was Christianity, 3 was Judaism, 4 was Buddhism, and I was lucky enough to get 5: Islam. Oh, I know so much about Islam culture and their religion, are you kidding? I don’t even know where Islam is. I’m just kidding, it’s not a country. There are many differences between Islam and the United states like our religion, clothes, and food, and becoming a Christian or a Muslim, but Islam is the second largest religion in the world, so it’s important to a lot of people. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Becoming a Muslim is not an easy process. You must do a long list of tasks. After you become a Muslim you must do everything in your power to try to have a good Muslim lifestyle.
Islam faith on the other hand, I had no knowledge of, I always thought of it as a stricter catholic faith and that was all. The history of both religions where new to me and changed some of the thoughts that I had about the past of Christianity. I did not know about some the major events that changed the religion majorly, they seemed to have left those parts out at Sunday school. The views of a Christian were about the same as the ones that I was taught along with the small amount of the culture that I had learned about as well. With the Islam faith I had learned about their values and about their culture and I did notice several similarities between the two. The ones that I have pointed out so far along with that both religions include fasting, prayer several times a day, and giving yourself to your god and putting your life in their
I think form many this religion is difficult to grasp because of the events done by some people who are/claim to be a part of this religion. Similar to Judaism and Christianity, Islam believes it is the one true religion of god. However, the prophet for this religion is not Jesus, similar to Judaism. The prophet is instead Muhammad who taught from the revelations given to him by Archangel Gabriel. Muhammad even had his own book called the Hadith that explained his life and his choices. This book is not a divine scripture but it looked at for answers if the Qur’an does not provide what a person seeks. Once Muhammad’s new successor came about the people of Islam split into two groups Sunni and Shi’a. Today, this religion is seen as a very violent religion because of terrorist attacks around the world but there are followers out there that live their lives without a single drop of blood on their hands. I think people forget that we should not judge an entire religion based on who claims to be a part of that religion. Even in Christianity people fought and they killed over land for their God. It is not fair to the sincere followers of this religion to be judged. It is unacceptable when a person of this religion comes to the United States, and is treated less than dirt. I myself am not a very religious person but even I have proper moral to respect another person’s