Islam, Muslims and Violence
Recent polls taken in the United States show that almost 50% of the American population believe Islam and/or Muslims to be more violent than any other group or religion.
"Unfamiliarity seems to direct negative views: Americans who feel they're familiar with the basic tenets of Islam are much more likely than others to call it peaceful, to say it teaches respect for non-Muslims and to view it favorably overall." and from the Washington Post-ABC News poll, "The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence."
Several issues need to be looked at to explain the violence in the Muslim world. First it is important to note that political climate and people are not the same as religion. By no means am I a political expert and I don't intend to mention every single country and it's revolutions and wars in the past century, but I would like to name a few well known ones. If I were to name each situation and it's details I would write a book certain to convince you that Islam is not a violent religion. In fact you would be surprised to know how tolerant many Muslims have been despite over a century of oppression, invasion, colonization and occupation.
Outline of Violence in the Muslim World (Incomplete)
In 1918 the Ottoman empire came to an end, throwing all the country's that were under it's rule into colonialism. India with it's partition, went through trials early in the last century as well as in the century before, ultimately leading to the establishment of Pakistan. Iran had it's revolutions within and wars with Iraq. In Northern Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria and Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya went through revolutions and problems decolonizing. Israel was established throwing Palestine and it's people into a perpetual state of civil unrest and homelessness, not to mention the fact that many have no nationality even today. Jordan and Egypt saw a few wars both with Israel and from within. Lebanon had a civil war, continues to be attacked in the South by Israel, and had the atrocity of Sabra wa Shatila. The Kurds have had problems with Turkey and Iraq in a struggle to gain independence, and visa versa. Then there is Kosovo/Yugoslavia, Chechnya, and with the fall of the Soviet Union Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan fell into internal struggles redesigning their independence. This effected Afghanistan also who had been at war with the Soviet Union.
In the past few decades, depending on where you live in the world, you may have been living in perpetual war. Iraq has over 25 years of ongoing war, and Afghanistan has over 20. Have I missed one? I have in fact because, the list goes on and on! Sadly, the more I sit here writing, the more countries and conflicts come to my mind.
Looking into almost each and every one of these cases, you will find that Islam as a religion was not the cause of any one of these conflicts with the exception of the initial Indian/Pakistani conflict which also had it's decolonization issues mixed in there. And the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, which has some religious elements, but not all. Mainly having to do with religious sites like Al-Aqsa. Otherwise it is a struggle with occupation and settlement, displacement, banishment and exile.
Causes
Many internal and external factors prompted these wars and clashes. In fact I will name a few of the most obvious reasons; Colonialism, Independence from colonialism, collapsed empires -changes of power both internal and external, invasion, occupation, civil unrest due to corruption, political groups fighting for power, ethnic cleansing and ethnic clashes. Oil.
It is very important to note, that none of these reasons I mentioned, (except parts of the two later mentioned), have any direct correlation with religion, other than perhaps the fact that so many of the people involved and indeed affected, are Muslim.
The Correct View
Now, looking at these facts, I find it shocking and ignorant for anyone to simply state that Muslims or Islam is a violent religion. Anyone who says that, in my opinion is not reading and informing himself at all. The more correct statement would be; 'That the Muslim world and Muslims have been subjected to war, violence, turbulent political changes and struggles, invasion and occupation for more than 100 consecutive years.'
Chances are, if you are a Muslim, you have either been in a war, have sought asylum because of a war or conflict, have parents who have been in a war - or two, or you are married to a person who has been in a war. That is amazingly sad to think about.
Lets be sincere for a moment, I am well past the age of feeling the need to be politically correct. I prefer to be correct. Nobody wants to go to war. Nobody likes to live their life dodging bullets and bombs. Nobody likes to send their children off to school not knowing if they will come back in the afternoon or if their school will be bombed, or perhaps you won't be there because your home was bombed, or bulldozed, or a fence/military block was put up so that you can't go home. Or you were killed at the market, or attempting to visit a doctor. Or because you needed some air and went for a walk!
God forbid you may want to take a walk.
If it seems that the Muslim people are indeed more violent, we can quickly analyze from my simplistic undetailed summary, that we have been taught little more than violence. We have been spoon fed it from birth. We have bathed in the blood of our brothers for more than a century and continue to bathe in their blood today.
The Value of Life and Beliefs
Lets also look at the 'value of life.' The problem is not that Muslims do not value life. If we didn't value life, we wouldn't bother to pray 5 times a day. Praying is a preparation for death. Religion is a preparation for both life and death. If Muslims were really not concerned about life, we wouldn't be concerned about death. To a Muslim, death leads one to resurrection and then to the judgement day. Afterward, we believe in a heaven and a hell. Another life! We hope inshallah to never see hell and to enter paradise. We believe we must lead righteous and good lives, and that Allah is the ultimate judge of all humans.
Those who believe in the Qur'an, and the Jews and the Sabians and the Christians, any who truly believe in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously, shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.
Surah 5:69
That does not mean we want to die either, but that we accept death as a part of life. Any religious people accept death as a part of life, whether Jewish, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu or any other religion you can name. In a recent interview done by the AARP, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Dali Lama answered a few questions about death and religion and death;
"Q: In American society death is sanitized and hidden from sight. Is this healthy?
A: No. This attitude turns death into some kind of taboo. Sooner or later, death will come. Where there is a beginning, there is an end. This is reality. Sooner or later, I will die.
Q: Have you accepted that?
A: Of course.
Q: All of Buddhism is practice for death, is that correct?
A: It's not just Buddhism. The essence of Christianity involves something similar."
It is important to also note that Muslims believe their actions will be judged on the Day of Judgement. We do not believe in Christ as the Lord and Savior. For that reason, it is very important to a Muslim to lead as clean and sin-free of a life as he possibly can. We believe that we must try our best to abstain from sin, and that is why you see Muslims studying their religion and making Islam a part of their every day life. Religion is a personal path to enlightenment and creation - of being. The belief that Muslims are violent and seek to terrorize and destroy is truly a misconception.
We want peace as much as anyone else does. But the fact is we do not live in peaceful times. We view the people of the world as our brothers, and we love our brothers. We worry and we cry. We pray and we give, we feed the hungry and cloth the poor. In fact that is the Third Pillar of Islam; "Concern for and almsgiving to the needy." Does this sound like a violent people and religion to you? Indeed a violent religion would never teach it's people to have empathy and mercy for his fellow human! Nor would it teach tolerance of others beleifs.
"The Believers are but a single Brotherhood." [Al-Hujurat 49:10] and "A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. He does not oppress him, nor does he leave him at the mercy of others."[Sahih Muslim].
The Holy Quran strictly prohibited conversion by force, saying:
"There is no compulsion in religion' (Sura 2:256)" (ibid).
The Right of Self Defense
The word, 'Islam' signifies both peace and submission to God. However, we have the innate right to defend ourselves as people and as human beings. We have the right to drink clean water, own land and raise children in a peaceful world. We have the right to say; we are human beings too, do not oppress us! Treat us with dignity! Do not attack us! Do not bomb our homes and kill our family's. Do not annihilate our villages, kick us out of our homes, our countries. We also want to live!
This is only fair!
The Quran says:
"Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not be aggressive."(2:190)
"They were the first to attack you." (9:13)
Correct Path and Deviant Groups
There also exsists a thing called deviation and deviant groups. Just as Christians would not consider themselves a part of people like Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, we also do not relate ourselves to deviants. These have left the pale of Islam and act on their own twisted interpretations. It can be difficult to disern between what Ahlus Sunnah wa Jamaa'a Sunni Muslims beleive, and what deviant groups beleive. We have put together an article which explains who we are. See A Return to The Quran and Sunna, SABEEL AL MU'MINEEN.
A Challenge
If you are reading this, you have been blessed with the ability to discern right from wrong. If you still believe that Islam is a violent religion, I challenge you two things;
1.) Research some of the causes for war and chaos that I mentioned above and write to me if you find a direct link to terror and violence within the religion of Islam. Please use reputable sources when doing research. There are many websites giving false information. I want to lead you to the straight source, the Quran with Tafseer (with the explanation we use). Myself or a member of the staff will answer you and/or I will direct specific questions to a more knowledgeable source (as long as you are serious, I do not answer hate mail). Include your source for information, I will also publish some withholding names as a continuing part of this article. I can be reached at todaysmuslimah@gmail.com
2.) Get to know a Muslim. Personal familiarity is bound to change some of your ideas and opinions. Please let me know how things go!
Ignorance is a very damaging thing. In this case a crime against 22% of humanity.
~It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.~ (Epictetus)
“And follow not (O man, i.e., say not, or do not, or witness not) that of which you have no knowledge. Verily, the hearing, and the sight, and the heart of each of those ones will be questioned (by Allâh)”[al-Israa’ 17:36]
“Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not” [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
Further reading
In the interest of the reader, I have provided intelligently writen, random links about several of the citations I outlined. No website concerning politics is of a religious nature. Some are Government sites.
See: GlobalIssues.org for an in depth explanation of what is happening in the Muslim world today and throughout the last centuries.
~Badreya~
