Mail from a new Muslim reader:
Greetings!
My name is Khadija and I’m an American Muslim, born and raised in Upstate New York and currently residing in the DC area. I landed onto your website while surfing the internet.
In reading your “About Me” section, I saw the following response to the “Do you hate Islam” question.
“I do not know enough about Islam to hate it. What I do hate, however, is the version of Islam, which is being propogated by the Islamic terrorists. Whether or not this is the “authentic” version is something I need to investigate further.”
As an observant and proud Muslim and global citizen, I’d like to offer my help in clearing up any misconceptions and help to create understanding.
I’ll start by giving a verse from the Quran:
“VERILY, those who have attained to faith [in this divine writ (ie. Muslims)], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Christians, and the Sabians (this is an ancient monotheistic faith, of which only a small community exists today somewhere in Iraq)-all who believe in God and the Last Day and do righteous deeds-shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve.”
~ Surah Al-Baqarah (Chapter 2, Verse 62)I have also included the following which illustrates Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) respect for the Jews that lived amongst the Muslims in his time.
“Narrated ‘Abdur Rahman bin Abi Laila
Sahl bin Hunaif and Qais bin Sad were sitting in the city of Al-Qadisiya. A funeral procession passed in front of them and they stood up. They were told that funeral procession was of one of the inhabitants of the land i.e. of a non-believer, under the protection of Muslims. They said, “A funeral procession passed in front of the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the coffin of a Jew, he said, “Is it not a living being (soul)?” ”
~ This is a Hadith, which basically means it’s a report on a saying or action by Muhammad (peace be upon him), which Muslims take to be the second-most in authority, second to the Quran. Our religion is derived from these two sources.
NOTE: Another version says that when the unnamed Muslim said that the procession was for a Jew, Muhammad (peace be upon him) simply said, “Rise (in commandment).”I too, am disgusted and angered by the extremists in the world that claim to follow Islam yet resort to violence against innocents to achieve their goals. I am also saddened every time I see the term “Islamic terrorist.” “Islamic” is an adjective, referring to the person its describing as “Islamic,” ie. observant, a good Muslim, etc. By the teachings of our faith, they are exactly the opposite- “unIslamic terrorists.” They are going against everything that Islam stands for and absolutely NO Muslim I know sympathizes with these people.
The very idea of extremism is, in Islam very much discouraged. Whether it is extremism on the side of being lax with our religious edicts and not following them, or being more strict than the religious edicts require, it is forbidden. For example, in the Holy Month of Ramadan, we are instructed to fast from sunrise to sunset. It is forbidden to fast longer than that as a show of religiosity. We are to follow what our faith requires and nothing more or less. It makes us no more religious to place more restrictions on ourselves or do more than is required of us.
I love my faith and have been raised to respect and treat kindly all people, regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic status.
There are over a billion Muslims in the world and the vast majority of us are peaceful people, just trying to get by and coexisting with other people and don’t want any trouble with them. Unfortunately, the very small minority of extremists are the ones that that receive the most media attention (due to their actions).
As for me personally, I disagree with you politically on the issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, however I understand how important Israel must be emotionally to Jews worldwide as there is no other Jewish state. I honestly wish for nothing more for the Jews than to be able to have a home state in peace and prosperity. However, the Israeli government currently has the Palestinian lands of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under illegal occupation and its crimes against the Palestinian people are many. There are numerous UN resolutions against actions by Israel.
I invite your response.
Best,
Ms. Khadija
