Breaking the Stigma: Islam Edition

Hello! Asalaamu alaikum!

Islam is arguably the most misunderstood religion, as there is a lot of miseducation and misrepresentation, particularly in media. I would like to come in and do some debunking on the myths that surround the religion, to help aid a better understanding of what it really means to be Muslim.

Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to force religion upon someone else or push a belief system onto the readers. This work has been written not to preach Islam, but to share the religion for the means of removing stereotypes. This work has been written for educational purposes/with educational intent only.

① Muslims believe in Jesus

Islam is an Abrahamic religion, so Muslims acknowledge, respect, and love Jesus (peace be upon him), too! Islam actually recognizes all the prophets of the Bible, with the addition of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and mercy of Allah be upon him).

The main difference between Christianity's relationship with Jesus and Islam's is that Muslims do not believe in the trinity, and recognize Jesus as a prophet and messenger of God, rather than the son of God.

Muslims believe that their religion is kind of like the final testament to the Abrahamic religions. For Jews, the revelation was the Torah; for Christians, the Bible; for Muslims, the Quran. Islam states that the Quran is the final word of God, but recognizes that Christians and Jews are "People of the Book" and are to be respected.

② The name "Allah" means God in Arabic

I have noticed that the use of Arabic in Islam seems to separate the religion from the other Abrahamic religions since the commonly used terminology is often different, unless you speak Arabic. The use of the word "Allah" seems to alienate Islam, but in reality, it just translates to "God." It is the same God that Christians and Jews worship. In fact, Arabic-speaking Christians also use the word "Allah" to refer to God.

I cover a little bit more about the common Arabic words and phrases used in Islam in my work "Allahu Akbar and other Islamic phrases."

③ Muslims are not terrorists! (the big one)

Now, this could be a whole publication in itself, because there is SO MUCH stereotyping around this. I actually have another publication called "Is Islam Violent?" that goes over some Quran verses that are often misunderstood or misconstrued.

Islam is a religion of peace, where Muslims are told not to fight someone except in self defense:

2:190: "Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress.

However, even if fighting in self defense, if the opponent stops fighting, the Muslim is to stop as well.

8:61: "And if they incline to peace, then incline to it also and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing."

④ Islam does not oppress women (misconceptions about hijab)

There is a large misconception that Muslim women are oppressed, or subject to a worse patriarchy than the West. The main reason for this belief is the hijab (headscarf).

Now, I could write a whole publication on this, too, as hijab is a really big concept and there is LOTS to talk about with it, but I'll go through some main things here.

Hijab is for men and women, not just women.

In the Quran, it is prescribed that both men and women have to cover themselves. The area that they need to cover is called their awrah. For women, this area is everything but their face, hands, and feet (although there are some differences of opinion on this). For men, it is the area between their navel (belly button) and their knee (including the knee).

The reason why there is more to cover for women than men is not because men want to control women, as many people believe. The reasoning is that women have more adornments than men, and the male gaze is typically stronger than that of the female gaze (though both are avised to lower their gaze in front of the opposite gender). This keeps women protected, as women are more susceptible to unwanted sexual attention/harassment/assault. Hijab is a means of protecting women, rather than oppressing them.

HAVING SAID THAT, this does NOT excuse a man's behaviour. This does not mean that he is allowed to harass her if her awrah is not properly covered. A man is not allowed to hurt a woman, no matter the case. Actually, the importance of keeping women safe in Islam is so emphasized, some of the Prophet Muhammad's (peace and mercy of Allah be upon him) last words repetitively mentioned taking care of women.

⑤ Islam does not oppress women (misconceptions about gender roles)

Islam believes in traditional gender roles, where women are typically involved in the making of the household, and men are typically involved in being the breadwinner. However, women are encouraged to pursue an education and work. The main reason that these traditional roles exist is due to the role of women as mothers, in that they have to be at home for a period of time during maternity leave, and at some point, the man would have to provide for the woman. It prepares them for what will happen at some point, given they have children.

Cultures will have different ideas about this, and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate Islam from culture, but it is the same that other cultures, even if the family believes in Christianity, will have differing views on traditional gender roles.

Actually, the first wife of the Prophet (peace and mercy of Allah be upon him) was a businesswoman and actually, I believe, employed the Prophet before they got married.

Concluding

This has been a small debrief about some of the misconceived elements of Islam, and although it really deserves much more time and energy for a real deep dive into the differences between the perception and truth of the religion, I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Thank you to everyone who read to the end! I welcome comments, questions, or even a constructive (respectful) debate!

God willing, I will write more works like these in the future, and insert the links to those works below. :)