I was five years old on 9/11. I only knew there was God, Jesus and Buddha. I didn’t know about Muslims or Buddhists or Atheists. When my parents told me that the people who took down the two towers called themselves Al-Qaeda I internally giggled at such a strange name but tried to front a serious look. I came to know Muslims as terrorists, they wore their burkas, hijabs and turbans. I was nervous when I saw Muslims in public and I would hold tightly to my mom.
This is not the Islam religion. Islam isn’t a violent sect of the major religions. We as a western society need to realize that not every one of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are out to get the white, Christian societies of the world. The Qur’an is taken out of context more than any other holy book in the world. The proclamation against the religion is that the book has at least 109 verses about killing nonbelievers. This is true, and we should realize that this is out of context. To break this down the Qur’an is written outside of chronological order but rather length of chapters. I can’t tell you why, that’s just how it is. There was a battle in Badr, Saudi Arabia in 624 which the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, led to victory. The chapters written after this battle are known as the Medina Qur’an because it was written by another scribe while being told by the prophet, who was illiterate. The book can be broken down into the Mecca Qur’an and the Medina Qur’an, the Mecca Qur’an being more ignored than the other.
The Mecca Qur’an is what needs to be recognized when we talk about the true nature of Islamic faith. This is the before the Battle of Badr. This portion alludes to peace and acceptance of other religions. The old Qur’an illicitly states that violence towards other religions and women, the elderly, babies and children is un-Islamic. A Muslim friend of mine, named Aya, informed me of the following quote by who Anas Bin Malik quoted the prophet saying the following:
“Go forth in the name of God and with God and with God’s prophet’s denomination, and do not kill a perishable senile nor a baby nor a child nor a woman, and do not loot, and annex your goods and be good ((and do well for God loves the good [verse 195 from Al Baqara])))”
“He who is at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader…” Muhammad’s mission when presenting Islam as inspired by Allah was to eradicate war between tribes of Saudi Arabia. The very word Islam translates to become peaceful. A commonly used verse by Islamic extremist and people ignorant to the nature of Islam is,
“ They wish you to become unbelievers as they themselves are. Do not establish friendship with them until they have abandoned their homes for the cause of God. If they betray you, seize them and slay them wherever you find them. Do not establish friendship with them or seek their help…” (Muhammad Sarwar 4:89)
But in context this is clarified, like many of the verses pertaining to violence in the Qur’an. The next verse explains that this is circumstantial and depends on factors in play.
(continued from verse 4:89) ” except with those who attach themselves to your allies or come to you with no desire to fight you or their own people. God could have given them power to fight you. Thus, if they retreat, stop fighting and come forward expressing faith in Islam God will not allow you to fight them.” (Muhammad Sarwar 4:90)
I want to be clear in my standing on this, I am a Christian and hold beliefs to the doctrine of Christ as my savior, I do not necessarily believe in Islam’s doctrine but we need to not demonize a peaceful religion based off of media’s interpretation of it. President George W. Bush explains Islam and terrorism very well, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that’s made brothers and sisters out of every race — out of every race.”
Thanks for reading this is going to be a series so stay tuned, have a good day and Fi Amanullah.
WORKS CITED:
http://thriceholy.net/Texts/Rodwell_Koran.html
https://beyondthecusp.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/which-quran-mecca-or-medina/
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,175987,00.html
http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=4&verse=89
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html
kalebgm 