Despite the fact that we live in an age of tremendous opportunities for communication and obtaining any kind of information, still, in our society there are many prejudices. In this case, we are talking about such an ethical issue as tolerance for representatives of another religion - in particular, Muslims.
In our country there are a lot of followers of Islam, but despite this, some of us are with a certain prejudice towards these people. In the formation of a negative attitude in society towards representatives of this religion, an important role is played by the media and television, which often deliberately escalate the already difficult situation around this issue.
We present you the 10 most common myths about Islam, which make many of us negatively regard Muslims.
10. The sword
The idea of the first Muslims as a bunch of fanatical armed people who tried by any means to convert everyone and everything into their faith is nothing more than an invention of incompetent unfortunate historians. In fact, there are no reliable historical sources proving that Islam was forcibly imposed. Firstly, it should be understood that the first preachers of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad were few in number, so it is difficult to imagine that such a small number of people could force others to accept their religion against their will. In support of this, the fact is that when the Mongols seized the lands of the Islamic empire, instead of destroying the enemy’s religion, they accepted it.
9. Religious intolerance
In the minds of many Westerners, a stereotype has been rooted that all Muslims show a sharp intolerance towards representatives of other religions. However, such a statement is erroneous. In the Qur'an, a holy book for all Muslims, there are lines that call for respect for people professing a different faith. This is confirmed by a large number of historical examples of Islamic tolerance towards representatives of other religions. The most striking of them was the decision of Khalifa Umar, who ruled Jerusalem in the 7th century AD, on the granting of freedom to all religious communities of the city. In addition, when visiting the holy places, the Caliph, at his own request, was accompanied by the Christian patriarch Sofronius.
8. Muslims - Arabs
But did you know that Arabs make up no more than 15% of the total number of Muslims living in the world. Much more adherents of Islam among the indigenous people of East Asia and the African continent.
7. The bride is a child
Many opponents of Islam tend to think that in the culture of Muslim countries it is customary for young girls to marry adult men. An argument in favor of this theory is an excerpt from the Qur'an, which states that Muhammad himself married a nine-year-old girl.
If you look at this issue a little more broadly, it becomes clear that pedophilia has nothing to do with it. Of course, in the understanding of modern man, a nine-year-old child cannot be a bride, and in most countries this is prohibited by law. However, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, such marriages were considered the norm. It should also be understood that then the girl could be married only three years after the onset of puberty. This means the bride of the prophet, despite her young age, met this requirement, so it is difficult to fully call her a child.
6. Children's rights
Another delusion of people who do not know the basic principles of building family relationships in Islam. According to the Qur'an, children should not be perceived by parents and society as being absolutely disenfranchised. For Muslims who adhere to the canonical interpretations of their holy book, any childhood life is a value. In addition, the child, regardless of origin, has the right to decent education and training.
Parents should strictly avoid any expression of inequality among children, including by gender. Any encouragement from elders should be shared equally between all children.
5. Islamic jihad
Translated from Arabic, “jihad” means struggle or confrontation. However, this term should not be taken literally, thinking that there is a direct call for violence in the Qur'an. In fact, in Islam, jihad is a struggle that brings man closer to God. That is, this is primarily a struggle with their sins and vices. If we draw an analogy with Christianity, then this can be compared with the definition of "warrior of Christ." Here, after all, we are not talking about a physical war with the actual destruction of opponents, but it means that a person is called upon to fight evil throughout his life, above all, with that which is inside himself.
4. Islamic terrorism
This is probably the biggest misconception regarding Muslims. Unfortunately, a fairly large number of politicians, military and simply the leaders of extremist organizations use Islam as a means to attract followers. However, their sermons, which contain direct calls for violence and incitement to hatred of people of a different faith, have nothing to do with the laws of true Islam.
3. Muslims and Jesus
Many experts argue that Christianity and Islam have many similarities. According to the religion of Muslims, Christ is one of the prophets of God. The mention of Jesus is found in the verses of the Qur'an - there he is called Isa ibn Maryam, and his personality is defined as an example of purity and infinite good. However, the stumbling block between these two religions is that Muslims do not consider Jesus Christ to be God sent to Earth to save humanity, unlike Christians.
2. Muslims are savages
There is an opinion that throughout history, Muslims, capturing new lands, behaved there like wild barbarians: they destroyed shrines, mocked the local population, used cruel torture to prisoners, etc. However, few people know that in Islam there are 10 strict instructions binding upon every Muslim during the war. These include instructions not to commit treason against a comrade, not to deviate from the intended path, not to desecrate the dead bodies of fallen enemies, not to kill children, women and the elderly, not to harm nature on occupied lands, not to destroy buildings, not to destroy enemy pets ( except for food), and also do not oppress people of a different faith.
1. Women's rights
For many, the idea of the Muslim world is limited to stories heard from someone or seen on television about the unenviable fate of women in Islam. To a Western layman, a Muslim woman appears to be a disenfranchised illiterate being hidden under a burqa, forced to endure all kinds of bullying by her husband. It would be wrong to argue that even in our progressive age, there are countries where women have very limited rights compared to the stronger sex. However, this should not be taken as a result of the spread of Islam. Many of these states have cultural and social traditions that are in many ways contrary to the laws of the Koran. The prophet Muhammad himself said that a woman is the second half of a man, and urged his followers to take care of his wives.