by Neesha Hosein

Created on: January 02, 2007   Last Updated: July 03, 2010

The Importance of Understanding Islam

Many reasons exist for supporting why people should take the time to understand Islam. It is the second largest religion in the world and the fastest growing religion in America. Why are so many people converting? There must be some good to it, despite what is portray by the media. We must keep in mind that the media goes after the most appealing, attention-getting aspects of a story. Sometimes the basic facts are just too boring.

Considering all the chaos going on in the midst of a war, Islam has come under some serious scrutiny. Be curious enough to let it lead you towards obtaining the truth about Islam before making harsh judgments. Billions of humans share this same world, and we should make even the smallest attempts to know each other.

Did you know that Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Senegal, Somalia, Turkey, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zanzibar, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Morocco, Malaysia, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Indonesia, Egypt, Cote D'Ivoire, Chad, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, and Albania are all Muslim countries?

All those millions of people cannot be terrorists. Terrorists represent Muslims as much as the KKK represents all Christians. Their motives are more political, than religious, and they are using the religion as a shield to their misdeeds, as a hopeful justification, and in turn, are mutilating Islam to the eyes of the world.

Muslims are simply normal people, who chose a religion to follow, just like a member of any other religion, because they found something captivating about it.

The Muslim religion has one major difference from Christianity, in that, Muslims do not see Christ as the son of God, but as a important prophet whose mission was to spread God's word. Other differences exist, but that is the major dividing factor.
If you pay close attention to images of Mary and other women of Jesus' time, they all covered their bodies as Muslim women do. Nuns wear a head covering for the same reason as Muslim womento be chaste. Islam is not a religion that was meant to evolve into a modern day convenience, but to be carried on through the changing times and preserved as a valuable tool for living the most righteous life.

The basis of Islam is to live peacefully, and to fulfill the 5 pillars: to accept the faith, pray five times per day at the designated times, give charity, fast during Ramadan, and to complete the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. If those five pillars, in combination with the teachings of the prophet and the Holy Quran, are followed, then people would have a chance to live in peace.

The point being, even if those who are not Muslim come to understand these simple concepts, we all have a better chance to do our part in bringing our beautiful world closer to peace. Google searches and CNN are not productive ways of forming judgments and becoming educated. Be fair and just, no matter what your religion. Ask a Muslim questions if you are unsure, check out a book about Islam at the local library, take class, visit a mosque, but please do not jump on a bandwagon of hate and disgust without first giving Islam a chance to be understood. 

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