The high school I went to was very diverse. We had people of black, white, Hispanic and Asian ethnicities, and we all coexisted harmoniously.
Even though my school was a cultural melting pot, there was one nearly absent group: Muslims. Out of the 800 people I graduated with, one was a Muslim. She had gone through middle school with us, and she fit in well until she started wearing a headscarf. Then she was shunned by everyone and called derogatory terms so brutal that the only one I will repeat is “terrorist.”
Eventually, we grew up and laid off. My senior year, I apologized to her for being so ignorant about her religion and the culture that comes with it. As my cloud of judgment faded, I started to observe that she was just like anybody else at Sprayberry: eager to graduate and move onto the next chapter in her life.
Coming in contact with someone of the Muslim faith piqued my interest, and ever since, I have been intrigued by the mysterious, ancient religion that harbors more than 1.5 billion followers worldwide.
Recently an extra credit assignment took me to the local mosque, an Islamic place of worship. I was nervous at first, but after being there for 10 minutes, it was clear that, although the culture of Islam is different from the typical American lifestyle, the followers of this religion are very patient, tolerant and kind.
One of the most important pieces of information I took from this visit was that women are not forced by men to cover themselves when they’re in public, as many people assume. They do it because that is what the Quran, the Muslim equivalent to the Bible, instructs them to do, just like most Christians don’t walk around stealing stuff because the Bible tells us it’s wrong. They do it to preserve modesty and protect themselves from “molestation,” as our female instructor told us.
Watching the members of the congregation perform their fourth of five daily prayers was entrancing. The unity and peacefulness they radiated was somewhat hypnotic. They then presented us with background information about the religion, which was very enlightening and clarified a lot of preconceived notions I had going into the experience.
When some people think of the Islamic religion, they automatically associate its followers with terrorism. Among the many misconceptions of the religion and the Quran, is that it preaches violence. This falsehood is often backed up by the media and others who believe all Muslims fall into the category of terrorists.
The truth is that the Quran, like the Bible, says not to harm any of God’s children whether they are of Islam or not. In fact, the word Islam literally translates to “peace.” Furthermore, nowhere in the Quran does it instruct followers to strap themselves with bombs and blow themselves up in public places in an effort to kill as many people as possible.
Surprisingly, there are many similarities between Islam and Christianity. Both religions recognize one God and one God alone. Similar to some branches of Christianity, people of the Islamic faith abstain from drinking and premarital sex. While Islam does recognize Jesus as a prophet, he is not as highly ranked as he is in the Christian Bible, but then neither is any other prophet.
Another difference between the Bible and the Quran is that the Quran has never been altered by man after its original inscription as the Bible has. Thus, Muslims follow very ancient, pure instructions for how to live their lives. They completely submit themselves to Allah, which is the Arabic word for the same deity found in the Christian Bible.
These are just a few important things to keep in mind when you hear about the “Islamic extremists” and “Muslim fanatics” creating chaos around the world. The people who are busy waging jihad (holy war) against Western civilization seem to have misinterpreted passages in the Quran.
Whether they truly believe that what they are doing is righteous or they purposely manipulate the Quran to recruit young Muslims and convince them to kill themselves in the name of God is anyone’s guess.
However, just because some Muslims participate in violence does not mean the religion is bad or that all of its followers are suicidal crusaders. Our society has come so far from the segregation, hatred and racism that existed in our grandparents’ era, and this is because we learned to be tolerant of one another and saw that we are all the same in the end.
Prejudice stems from ignorance, and sometimes even fear. It’s a knee-jerk reaction for most Americans to associate headscarves and olive skin with terrorism. However, just as not all whites were pro-segregation in the 1950s, not all Muslims agree with the actions of jihadists. If we educate ourselves on the cultures and beliefs of these people, we will soon reach an understanding that we cannot judge 25 percent of the world’s population based on how some of them choose to behave.
Nora Donnelly is a sophomore majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: Due to a high volume of comments which violate The Reflector’s terms of use, commenting on this article has been disabled. (March 8, 2010, 5 p.m.)