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Shattering Ten common Misconceptions about IslamWritten by: by MSA :: (View All Articles by: MSA) |
Written by The Muslim Students
Association (MSA) at USC
Article Outline (Links to within this document): -
1) Islam is `the
religion of peace'
2) In Islam, denial
of human rights is OK
3) In Islam, women
are inferior to men
4) Islam is
well-suited only to the Arabs
5) Islam rejects
Jesus
6) Islam orders the
worship of Muhammad (pbuh)
7) Islam tolerates
the killing of innocents
8) Islam is
intolerant of other religions
9) Islam is a
racist, afro-centric cult (Nation of Islam)
10) Islam produces
a lazy, uneducated society
In this article, we will try to clear up
many of the misconceptions that are prevalent about Islam. Before jumping into
the list of misconceptions directly, it is important to give a little
interesting background about the source of Islam.
Islam is the name of a way of life which the Creator wants us to follow. We
avoid the word religion because in many non-Islamic societies, there is a
separation of "religion and state." This separation is not recognized at all in
Islam: the Creator is very much concerned with all that we do, including the
political, social, economic, and other aspects of our society. Hence, Islam is a
complete way of life.
The source of Islam is Allah, the Creator of everything known and unknown to us.
He is One, and He is Unique. Allah has taught us about Islam via two mediums:
the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Both the Qur'an and Sunnah were transmitted to us,
humanity, via the Messenger of Allah: Muhammad bin Abdullah, may the peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him (saas). The Messenger of Allah was nothing more
and nothing less than a mortal messenger of the immortal Creator.
The Qur'an is a book containing the literal Word of Allah. It was transmitted
from Allah to an angel of His (Gabriel), and from the angel to the Messenger of
Allah who delivered it to us. The Qur'an covers a wide variety of topics,
including evidence to support its claim of being the Word of the Creator,
stories of earlier generations, rules which humanity is asked to obey, and
information about the Hereafter. The Qur'an claims that it is protected from
change by other than Allah, and this is confirmed by its 1400 year history. The
earliest copies and the latest copies are the same.
The Sunnah is the term used to describe how the Messenger of Allah (saws) lived
his life. The Messenger's life is an example for all Muslims, or those who
accept Islam, to follow. Whatever the Messenger (saws) did, said, or approved of
is a source of Islam just as much as the Qur'an. The Messenger's role is not
overemphasized: his life was dictated by what the Creator desired, and the
Messenger did not add or subtract to Islam according to his own personal whim.
His life was such that his wife called him "a walking Qur'an."
The Qur'an and Sunnah are the only two mediums by which Allah has directly
taught us about Islam. This leads us to the following simple but critical
principle:
If any man or woman engages in a belief or action which clearly contradicts the
Qur'an or Sunnah, then that belief or action cannot be thought of as "Islamic".
This rule applies whether the man or woman is Muslim or non-Muslim. Hence, we
cannot equate Islam and the Muslims. Islam is the way of life; Muslims are
people who claim to follow that way of life. A Muslim may claim to follow Islam,
but be wrong. In the context of misconceptions, we can restate the above
principle in a slightly different way:
Some misconceptions about Islam are due to the wrong beliefs and actions of
Muslims, and others are due to a significant lack of understanding and false
stereotyping by non-Muslims. Several misconceptions are listed below. Instead of
simply stating the misconception by itself, we have also included some reasons
why people might adopt that misconception. Therefore, each entry in the list is
given in the following form:
<Statement of misconception> because:
<reason 1>
<reason 2>
etc.
After each misconception and its possible reasons, we show briefly why the
misconception is false by showing one or more of three possibilities:
a reason is false
the reason does not logically lead to the misconception
a key piece of information is being ignored
Our answers to the misconceptions are drawn from the Qur'an and Sunnah. All
other approaches are insufficient: Islam is a way of life which is very firmly
based on a scholarly approach, an approach which is based on knowledge.
Misconception 1
Islam is "the religion of peace" because:
the Arabic word Islam is derived from the Arabic word "Al-Salaam" which means
peace.
It might seem strange to think of this as a misconception, but in fact it is.
The root word of Islam is "al-silm" which means "submission" or "surrender." It
is understood to mean "submission to Allah." In spite of whatever noble
intention has caused many a Muslim to claim that Islam is derived primarily from
peace, this is not true. Allah says in the Qur'an (translated):
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A secondary root of Islam may be "Al-Salaam" (peace), however the text of the
Qur'an makes it clear that Allah has clearly intended the focus of this way of
life to be submission to Him. This entails submission to Him at all times, in
times of peace, war, ease, or difficulty.
In Islam, denial of human rights is OK because:
Islam is against pure democracy
Islam tolerates slavery
The misconception does not follow from the reasons given, and the reasons ignore a great deal of information.
As stated earlier, Islam is a complete way of life. Given this, it is not surprising that the Creator is concerned with the method which we choose to govern ourselves. The preeminent rule which the Islamic state must observe is stated in the Qur'an (translation follows):
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From this verse, it is clear that the state's obligation of obedience to the
Creator is as important as the obedience of the individual. Hence, the Islamic
state must derive its law from the Qur'an and Sunnah. This principle excludes
certain choices from the Islamic state's options for political and economic
systems, such as a pure democracy, unrestricted capitalism, communism,
socialism, etc. For example, a pure democracy places the people above the Qur'an
and Sunnah, and this is disobedience to the Creator. However, the best
alternative to a pure democracy is a democracy that implements and enforces the
Shari'ah (Islamic Law).
The Creator also states in the Qur'an (English Translation): -
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Allah orders us in this verse to conduct our matters by taking counsel among
ourselves, or by consulting each other. This is the methodology of the Islamic
state, to consult one another, but to always keep the Qur'an and Sunnah
paramount. Any law which contradicts the Qur'an or Sunnah is unlawful. This
broad principle of consultation is certainly wide enough to encompass a form of
government where all are heard - in fact, encouraged to be heard. The early
Islamic states were of this form. The petty governments of many `Muslim
countries' today do not apply this principle and in fact commit many crimes
against the people.
As for slavery, Islam is unique among the `religions' in its close attention to
the peaceful removal of this practice. Before the advent of Islam, slavery was
widespread all over the world. The Messenger of Islam taught us that freeing
slaves was a great deed in the sight of Allah. From the Sunnah, specifically in
the study of the Sunnah called Sahih Bukhari, we find:
[3:46:693] Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Whoever frees a Muslim
slave, Allah will save all the parts of his body from the (Hell) Fire as he has
freed the body-parts of the slave." Said bin Marjana said that he narrated that
Hadith to `Ali bin Al-Husain and he freed his slave for whom `Abdullah bin
Ja'far had offered him ten thousand Dirhams or one-thousand Dinars.
Also from the Sunnah, specifically in the study of the Sunnah called Malik's
Muwatta, we find:
[38:9:15] Narrated Aisha Ummul Mu'minin: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, was asked what was the most excellent kind of slave to
free. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, answered,
"The most expensive and the most valuable to his master."
The Creator has also made it easy for slaves to gain their freedom. From the
Sunnah, specifically in the study of the Sunnah called Sahih Bukhari, we find:
[3:46:704] Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Whoever frees his portion of
a common slave should free the slave completely by paying the rest of his price
from his money if he has enough money; otherwise the price of the slave is to be
estimated and the slave is to be helped to work without hardship till he pays
the rest of his price."
The condition of slavery is very different in Islam than the harsh conditions
imposed by non-Muslims or disobedient Muslims. From the Sunnah, specifically in
the study of the Sunnah called Sunan Abu-Dawud, we find:
[41:4957] Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Prophet (saw) said: None of you must say:
"My slave" (abdi) and "My slave-woman" (amati), and a slave must not say: "My
lord" (rabbi or rabbati). The master (of a slave) should say: "My young man" (fataya)
and "My young woman" (fatati), and a slave should say "My master" (sayyidi) and
"My mistress" (sayyidati), for you are all (Allah's) slave and the Lord is
Allah, Most High.
Also from the Sunnah, specifically in the study of the Sunnah called Sahih
Bukhari, we find:
[3:46:721] Narrated Al-Ma'rur bin Suwaid: I saw Abu Dhar Al-Ghifari wearing a
cloak, and his slave, too, was wearing a cloak. We asked him about that (i.e.
how both were wearing similar cloaks). He replied, "Once I abused a man and he
complained of me to the Prophet. The Prophet asked me, `Did you abuse him by
slighting his mother?' He added, `Your slaves are your brethren upon whom Allah
has given you authority. So, if one has one's brethren under one's control, one
should feed them with the like of what one eats and clothe them with the like of
what one wears. You should not overburden them with what they cannot bear, and
if you do so, help them (in their hard job)."
As a result of the teachings of Islam, slavery was almost completely eradicated
from many areas of the Muslim world, peacefully and without bloodshed.
In Islam, women are inferior to men because:
a man can marry up to 4 wives, a woman can marry only one man
a man's share of inheritance is bigger than a woman's
a man can marry a non-Muslim, a woman cannot
women must wear the veil
This widely held misconception does not remotely follow from the reasons given. The first and most important observation to make about the popular question "Are men and women equal?" is that it is a badly-formed, unanswerable question. The problem which many people conveniently ignore is that "equal" is not defined. This is a very critical point: the equality must be specified with respect to some measurable property. For example, women on average are superior to men if we ask who is shorter in height than the other ("Growth and Development", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1992). Women are also superior on average if we ask whom do children bond to deeper, mothers or fathers. Women are also superior on average if we ask who has a tendency to socialize more. On the other hand, men are superior on average if we ask who is taller in height than the other. And so on: every question can be turned around, and more importantly these are properties which are irrelevant.
What then, is the really important property which we are worried about in terms of gender equality? Naturally, from the point of view of the Qur'an and Sunnah, the obvious important property is who is dearer to Allah, men or women? This question is emphatically answered in the Qur'an (translation),
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The Qur'an and Sunnah repeat over and over again that Allah only favors one
person over another based on that person's awareness, consciousness, fear, love,
and hope of Allah (the Arabic word is difficult to translate: Taqwa). All other
criteria are excluded: gender, ethnic group, country, ancestry, etc.
Given that Allah does not favor one gender over the other in His attention to us
(and it helps to remember that Allah is neither male nor female), we can now
address the differences between the genders in Islam. First, men and women are
not the same as we know. The Creator states in the Qur'an (translation),
Men and women are different in their composition, and in their responsibilities under Islam. However, both are bound by obligations to one another, especially the following important one which must be understood in any discussion on men and women. From the Qur'an (translation),
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In this verse, the Creator emphasizes that marriage is to be vigorously pursued
by the Muslims: the state of being single is not to be maintained. With this in
mind, we can begin to understand the four reasons cited above for the
nonetheless erroneous conclusion.
Men and women are different in their responsibilities towards the families that
they are strongly encouraged to set up. Women are not obligated to work, whereas
men are obligated. The man must provide for the family, but the woman does not
have to spend out of her money for it, though she gets a reward for doing so.
Allah says in the Qur'an (translation),
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From the Sunnah, specifically in the study of the Sunnah called Sahih Bukhari,
we find:
[2:24:545] Narrated `Amr bin Al-Harith: Zainab, the wife of `Abdullah said, "I
was in the Mosque and saw the Prophet (p.b.u.h) saying, `O women ! Give alms
even from your ornaments.' " Zainab used to provide for `Abdullah and those
orphans who were under her protection. So she said to `Abdullah, "Will you ask
Allah's Apostle whether it will be sufficient for me to spend part of the Zakat
on you and the orphans who are under my protection?" He replied "Will you
yourself ask Allah's Apostle ?" (Zainab added): So I went to the Prophet and I
saw there an Ansari woman who was standing at the door (of the Prophet ) with a
similar problem as mine. Bilal passed by us and we asked him, `Ask the Prophet
whether it is permissible for me to spend (the Zakat) on my husband and the
orphans under my protection.' And we requested Bilal not to inform the Prophet
about us. So Bilal went inside and asked the Prophet regarding our problem. The
Prophet (p.b.u.h) asked, "Who are those two?" Bilal replied that she was Zainab.
The Prophet said, "Which Zainab?" Bilal said, "The wife of `Adullah (bin Masud)."
The Prophet said, "Yes, (it is sufficient for her) and she will receive a double
rewards (for that): One for helping relatives, and the other for giving Zakat."
Given that husbands are obligated to provide for wives, and that marriage is a
highly recommended goal of Islam, it is easy to see why women's inheritance
share is half that of men. We note also that men are obligated to provide a
suitable dowry to women on marriage. In fact, it is preferable at this point to
speak in terms of husbands and wives instead of men and women. Allah says in the
Qur'an (translation),
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Allah says in the Qur'an (translation),
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This one degree in no way affects the position of the Creator in which He has
stated that He does not hold women dearer to him than men, or vice versa. Rather
it is simply a way of partitioning responsibilities in a household of two
adults: someone must make the final decision on daily matters. As will be shown
below in a section on a different misconception, though the final decision rests
with the husband, it is through mutual consultation that decisions are best
reached at.
While men are allowed to marry up to four wives, they are also commanded to meet
the preconditions of being able to financially support them. They must also deal
with each wife justly and fairly with respect to marital and economic
obligations. Allah says in the Qur'an (translation),
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