Religion Of Islam example essay topic

Islam, Terrorism, Jihad and Media bomb goes off in a marketplace in Tel Aviv. A suicide bomber launches himself in a bus full of people in the street of Baghdad. Foreign tourists get massacred at a holiday resort in Nairobi, Kenya. This can go on and on. We all have heard this kind of pathetic news in the media.

These kinds of incidents are widely known as Islamic terrorism according to the western media. All such incidents have come to be identified with the religion of Islam. Such incidents from past and present have undoubtedly affected Muslims worldwide and more so in the West. Any Muslim, who wants to practice his / her religion and expresses the pious desire to live under the umbrella of Islam, is labeled a fundamentalist or extremist. However, are such beliefs and opinions about Islam really justified?

A couple of things we all have to remember: Islam is not an Arab religion, it's a religion of 1.2 billions of people worldwide. Not all of them are involved with terrorism. One of the many shortcomings that have arisen in the West is judging Islam by the conduct of a minority of its people. By doing this, segments of western society have deliberately portrays the desperate actions of many Muslims, and have given it the name of Islam.

Such behavior is clearly not objective and seeks to distort the reality of Islam. For if such a thing was done - judge a religion by the conduct of its people - then Muslim too could say that all Christianity is about child molesting and homosexuality whilst Hinduism was all about looting and breaking up mosques. Generalizing in such a manner is not seen as being objective, yet we find that the Western world is foremost in propagating this outlook on Islam. So what is real Islam? How does one dispel the myths, which have been created and spread so viciously?

The only way one can examine Islam is to simply examine its belief system, the Qur " an and Sunnah, not on Osama Bin Laden's activities. This is the way to find the truth about what Islam says about terror, terrorism and terrorists. Anybody who is sincerely searching for the truth will do it no other way. The very name Islam comes from the Arabic root word 'salam a' that means peace.

Islam is a religion that is based upon achieving peace through the submission to the will of Allah (God). Thus, by this very simple linguistic definition, one can ascertain as to what the nature of this religion is. If such a religion is based on the notion of peace, then how is it that so many acts done by its adherents are contrary to peace? The answer is simple. Such actions, if not sanctioned by the religion, have no place in Islam. They are not Islamic and should not be thought of as Islamic.

The word jihad sends shivers down the spines of many Westerners. It readily comes to their mind that this term is associated with violence and oppression. However, it must be said that the meaning of jihad, as a 'holy war', is something which is totally foreign and not from Islam. By simply looking into the sources of Islam, one will be able to know that the true meaning of jihad is to strive / make effort in the way of Allah. Thus striving in the way of Allah can be both peaceful and physical. The Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: 'The best jihad is (by) the one who strives against his own self for Allah, The Mighty and Majestic " In the Qur " an, Allah also says: 'So obey not the disbelievers, but make a great jihad (effort) against them (by preaching) with it (the Qur " an) ' (Surah Al-Furan 25: 52) By controlling and fighting against ones desires, the Muslims can then also physically exert themselves in the path of Allah.

It is this physical or combative jihad, which receives so much criticism. Because of the sheer ignorance of this type of jihad, Islam is regarded as terror, and Muslims are regarded as terrorists. However, the very purpose of this physical jihad is to raise the word of Allah uppermost. Anyone who knows the early history of Islam will know that all those nations and empires, which came under the fold of Islam, were indeed previously oppressed.

When the companions of the Prophet Mohammed (saws) went out for the offensive jihad against the Egyptians, the Persians and the Romans, we find that the people did not resist against them at all. Rather, they accepted Islam on such a scale, that it is inconceivable that the jihad of Islam could be anything other then a liberation for these people; a liberation from centuries of tyranny. In fact, with the Byzantine Egyptians and the people of Spain, the Muslims were even beckoned to come and liberate these lands from the oppression of their kings. This is the glorious track record of the Muslim jihad. Compare this with the brutal track record of warfare in the Western world over the centuries. From the crusades against the Muslims to the days of colonial warfare, the Western world has killed, destroyed and plundered everything that has come on its way.

Even today this merciless killing in Iraq and Afghanistan goes on by American Government. By looking at the rules and regulations of this combative jihad it will be clear to any sincere person that this is indeed the religion of truth. When fighting an unjust enemy, no matter how unjust they are, it is forbidden by Islam that their retreating forces are mutilated, tortured or slaughtered. The treacherous violation of treaties and carrying out assassinations after a cease-fire, are also prohibited. Allah says in the Qur " an:' And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you. But do not transgress the limits.

Truly Allah loves not the transgressors' (Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 190) Now lets talk about suicide bombing, is this too a part of jihad in Allah's path? From what has already been stated above, it can be deduced that this is not from the real Islam. However, unfortunately many Muslims have taken suicide bombing as being a virtuous act by which one receives reward. The Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: 'Those who go to extremes are destroyed". Suicide bombing is undoubtedly an extremity that has reached the ranks of the Muslims. In the rules of warfare, we find no sanction for such an act from the behaviors and words of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) and his companions.

Unfortunately, today some misguided Muslims believe that such acts are paving the way for an Islamic revival and a return to the rule of Islam's glorious law. I suppose they are doing it out of their frustration because who ever is doing it in Iraq or in Palestine are very much aggravated by the invaders. They think their country is invaded by outsiders and either being alive or dead are synonymous for them. So, for example what is the end of a suicide bomber in Palestine? , a leg here, an arm there. Massive retaliation by the Israeli's in the West Bank and Gaza. More Muslims killed and persecuted.

How can we be delighted with such an end? What really hammers the final nail in the coffin of this act, is that it is suicide; something which is clearly forbidden in Islam. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: 'He who kills himself with anything, Allah will torment him with that in the fire of Hell's ome are under the misconception that by killing oneself for an Islamic cause, one commits an act which deserves Paradise. Once when a man killed himself, the Prophet (saws) said: 'He is a dweller of the Fire'. The taking of ones life which Allah has given as a trust to the human, is a great sin. Likewise the taking of other lives (which is so often the case with suicide bombing) is also forbidden, as human life is indeed precious: In Quran Allah said".

If anyone killed a person not in retaliation for murder or to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind. And (likewise) if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole of mankind' (Surah Al-Ma aida 5: 32) Thus, all other types of extremities such as hostage taking, hijacking and planting bombs in public places, are clearly forbidden in Islam. As I mentioned above, Islam is such a religion that has only come to benefit mankind - not to destroy it. So why is there so much hatred against this noble religion in the West? The answer is simple, the media.

It is the Jewish influenced media of the West, which has portrayed Islam to be something that it is not. During the 70's and 80's when the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) were carrying out daring high jack on the worlds airways, the media in the West portrayed it as being Islamic. When the Shi " it suicide bombers of the 80's were causing so much havoc in the Lebanon and in the Gulf region, the media in the West portrayed it as a part of Islam. However, the heads of the media knows it that the PLO was not an Islamic organization, and that according to Islam; Shi " it es are outside the fold of Islam. Yet a media that seeks to cover the truth of this religion never portrays such facts. A number of years ago, when the Oklahoma City bomb went off, the media portrayed that it was done by the Muslim Terrorist.

A headline in one of the newspapers, with a picture of a fire fighter holding a dead child in his arms, the headline read: 'In The Name of Islam' Time has of course proven that this bigoted assumption was incorrect, as Timothy McVeigh, a right wing radical faced the death penalty for the crime. Likewise the bombs that went off in the Paris metro in 1995 were also blamed on Muslim fanatics. It has now emerged that the Algerian secret service whom having routinely bribed many European journalists and MPs, were actually behind it. I believe we all are human beings, and we should not expose our hatred to certain religious group because of their religious background.

All religion teaches us good things; we should collectively fight against evil forces that ignite the hatred amongst religious groups. Source sDr. Khalifa, R ashed Phd. "English Translation of Quran". Ibrahim I.A". A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understand Islam". web.