by A.J. Rusli

Created on: March 26, 2010

Based on the title, I find the comparison to be somewhat mystifying; Islam is a religious faith (a belief system) while terrorism is ‘the systematic use of terror as a means of coercion’ (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary 2010). 

I am trying to understand the rationale of those who link the two words together; those who somehow assume that there is a connection between these two words will probably further assume that Islam as a religious faith propagates the systematic use of terror to coerce both its followers and non-followers.  To those who believe that there is a link between the two words, I would ask the following questions:

First question:

Do you have any friends who are Muslim (followers of the Islamic faith)?

Second question:

Have you visited a country where a majority of its population is Muslim? 

Third question:

Have you ever picked up the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam) for general reading?

Fourth question:

Where do you think in the world resides the largest concentration of Muslim people?

If the person answers ‘NO’ to more than one question based on the first three questions, then it’s crystal clear that their assumptions are not based on experience and knowledge; it’s based on blind prejudice and bigotry.

The fourth question will also provide an insight to how much do people know about other Muslim people who are not Arabs.  It is quite surprising that a lot of people still think that all Arabs are Muslim (even though you have Christian Arabs) and they may assume further that most Muslim people will reside in the Middle East.

The truth of the matter is that the largest Muslim population is in Indonesia, located in South East Asia (which is of course non-Arab).  China and India also have large Muslim minority populations, where their numbers far surpass even the total number of Muslim people in the Middle East.

I myself come from a Muslim majority country in South East Asia, and life here is peaceful with no untoward incidents and chaos which some people will mistakenly assume to be commonplace, based on the same outrageous line of thinking that I explained above.

Why I am highlighting this fact is due to the assumption that just because some terrorists happen to be Arabs, they then wrongly generalize that all Arabs must be terrorists too, and since all Arabs are assumed to be Muslim, then Islam as a whole must somehow propagate violence as a means to an end.  I am sure you would agree with me that nothing could be further than the truth, other than the obvious logical fallacy of such inference.

A terrorist is a terrorist no matter what the belief system is; those who try to implicate Islam with terrorism are just trying to introduce polemics between Islam and other religions/belief systems for their own personal gain.

Last but not least, I would also advise those who know so little of Islam and their culture to explore and obtain more information in order to be more informed and educated of what is the truth, and what is propaganda.  In the end, it must be noted that all religions teach human beings to be good, decent, caring, and responsible people.  That is what really matters.

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