Muslim+Misconceptions

Muslim Misconceptions Adam, Britta, Anne


 * Misconception:**


 * The Islamic society oppresses Muslim women


 * Truth:**
 * Women often see the hijab as empowering because they are not viewed as sexual objects but judged by their character.
 * Four out of the five countries with the largest Muslim populations (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Turkey) have had female heads of state, something the United States cannot claim.




 * Misconception:**


 * Islam promotes violence and terrorism


 * Truth:**
 * The word Islam literally means "one who submits to God"
 * Islamic terrorists want to impose Islamic caliphates and Islamic superstates on the entire world.
 * Caliphate refers to the first system of goverance of Islam, and the unity of the Muslim nation
 * Jihad is a term that is often misunderstood and associated with violent radical militants. However, according to Muslim advocates, the word jihad means to "strive, struggle and exert effort." It is a central and broad Islamic concept that includes struggle against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality of life in society, struggle by military forces in the battlefield for self-defense or fighting against tyranny or oppression (source: the Council on American-Islamic Relations).
 * There are two types of Jihad, the greater Jihad includes the struggle with onself and the lesser Jihad is the struggle to improve the quality of life within society.


 * Misconception:**


 * Muslims don't support the use of technology


 * Truth:**


 * This misconception originated from the Taliban belief that modern technology distracts man from Allah.
 * However, according to the Prophet, 'seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim man and woman'.
 * The synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas and of new thought with old, brought about great advances in medicine, mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, architecture, art, literature, and history.
 * Many crucial systems such as algebra, the Arabic numerals, and also the concept of the zero (vital to the advancement of mathematics), were transmitted to medieval Europe from Islam.
 * Sophisticated instruments which were to make possible the European voyages of discovery were developed, including the astrolabe, the quadrant and good navigational maps.


 * Misconception:**


 * All Muslims are Arabs


 * Truth:**
 * The Muslim population of the world is around 1,2 billion
 * 1 out of 5 people in the world is a Muslim.
 * They are a vast range of races, nationalities, and cultures from around the globe--from the Phillipines to Nigeria--they are united by their common Islamic faith.
 * **Only about 18% live in the Arab world and the largest Muslim community is in Indonesia.**
 * Most Muslims live east of Pakistan. Thirty percent of Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent,
 * 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa
 * 17% in Southeast Asia
 * 10% in the Soviet Union and China. Turkey, Iran
 * Afghanistan make up 10% of the non-Arab Middle East.
 * Although there are Muslim minorities in almost every area, including Latin America and Australia, they are most numerous in Russia and its newly independent states, India and central Africa
 * There are about 6 million Muslims in the United States.


 * Misconception:**


 * All Muslim men marry multiple wives


 * Truth:**
 * The religion of Islam accommodates differing social requirements. Circumstances may allow men to having another wife only on condition that the husband is fair.
 * Women cannot be forced into this kind of marriage if they do not wish.
 * //Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but merely permitted.// A man is only allowed at most __four__ wives only if he can fulfill the stringent conditions of treating each fairly and providing each with separate housing etc. Polygamy is associated with compassion toward widows and orphans.
 * The Koran limits and puts conditions on the practice of polygamy among the Arabs, who had as many as ten or more wives and considered them "property".
 * Islam regulated the practice, limited it, made it more humane, and instituted __equal rights__ and status for all wives. It is also evident that the general rule in Islam is monogamy and not polygamy.
 * **It is a very tiny percentage of Muslims that practice it over the world.**
 * Permission to practice limited polygamy is only consistent with Islam's realistic view of the nature of man and woman and of various social needs, problems and cultural variations.


 * Misconception:**


 * Muslims worship a different god


 * Truth:**
 * The Islamic God is known as Allah in arabic.
 * Allah is the only real supreme being
 * Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular


 * Misconception:**
 * Muslims don't believe in Jesus


 * Truth:**
 * Muslims respect and revere Jesus, upon him be peace, and await his Second Coming.
 * They consider him one of the greatest of God's messengers to mankind.
 * The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled 'Mary'), and Mary is considered the purest woman in all creation.
 * The Qur'an tells us that Jesus said: " //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breath into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">." (Qur'an 3:49)


 * Misconception:**


 * Muslims are intolerant of other faiths


 * Truth:**
 * ======Muslims call Jews and Christians "People of the Book," meaning people who have received previous revelations from the One Almighty God that we all worship.======
 * ======The Prophet Muhammad said: "Whoever believes there is no god but God, alone without partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus is the servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven======
 * ======The Qur'an also commands Muslims to protect from harm not only mosques, but also monasteries, synagogues, and churches -- because "God is worshipped therein.======

http://islam.about.com/od/commonmisconceptions/tp/myths.htm

http://bimcrot.tripod.com/sv/misc.html

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4339516