Debunking Myths About Islam
By: Alex Tiffin
Tags: Politics, Muslim, Faith, World, Islam

Photo by David Monje on Unsplash

Debunking Myths About Islam

Since the beginning of the War on Terror, politicians and the media have often used Islam and its practices as a way to justify their actions. However, many of these claims are simply a myth or are intentionally misleading. Here I’ll set out a few of those examples and put the records straight.

Jihad — The So-called Holy War

The literal meaning of Jihad is “to strive” or “inner struggle”, and it means so much more than holy war.

Muslims use the word Jihad to describe three different kinds of struggle:

A believer’s internal struggle to live out the Muslim faith as well as possible

The struggle to build a good Muslim society

Holy war: the struggle to defend Islam, with force if necessary

While there are many references to Jihad in Islamic writings that describe it as as a military struggle,most modern Islamic scholars will say that the main meaning of Jihad is the internal spiritual struggle.

The phrase internal Jihad or greater Jihad refers to the efforts of a believer to live their Muslim faith as well as possible.

All religious people want to live their lives in the way that will please their chosen God.

So Muslims make a great effort to live as Allah — God — has instructed them; following the rules of the faith, being devoted to Allah, doing everything they can to help other people.

For most people, living God’s way is quite a struggle. God sets high standards, and believers have to fight with their own selfish desires to live up to them, no matter how much they love God.

The five Pillars of Islam form an exercise of Jihad in this sense, since a Muslim gets closer to Allah by performing them.

Other ways in which a Muslim engages in the Jihad could include:

Learning the Qur’an by heart, or engage in other religious study.

Overcoming things such as anger, greed, hatred, pride, or malice.

Giving up smoking.

Cleaning the floor of the mosque.

Taking part in Muslim community activities.

Working for social justice.

Forgiving someone who has hurt them.

Military Jihad

This is usually if not the only type of Jihad that you will hear about. It’s used to claim that all Muslims want to kill the non-Muslims. This simply just isn’t true.

When Muslims, their faith or their territory are under attack, Islam permits its followers to wage military war to protect them.

However, Islamic (Sharia) law sets very strict rules for the conduct of such a war.

It’s worth mentioning that in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, there were no governments or thier armies to protect people.

Each tribe would have to defend itself. As such, the test for which military Jihad could be waged, couldn’t be passed in the 21st Century.

This is because we have organisations such as the United Nations and NATO to name a few but, also because it’s extremely unlikely that any Islamic Nation would try to call for a Jihad. It would be irresponsible.

What can justify Jihad?

There are a number of reasons, but the Qur’an is clear that self-defence MUST ALWAYS be underlying cause.

Some of the permissible reasons for military Jihad include:

Self-defence

Protecting the freedom of Muslims to practise their faith

Protecting Muslims against oppression

Punishing an enemy who breaks an oath

Putting right a wrong

In regard to those who “break an oath” or the reference to “putting right a wrong,” this doesn’t give any Muslim the power to just go out and wage war. It is the leader of the country that is in charge of these decisions.

What’s more the Qur’an also says that is preferable to make peace and this would be an example of ‘inner Jihad’ of which I spoke earlier.

What Jihad is Not

A war is not a Jihad if the intention is to:

Force people to convert to Islam — The Qur’an specifically prohibits forced religion

forced religion Conquer other nations to colonise them

Take territory for economic gain

Settle disputes

Demonstrate a leader’s power

Many of the references of military Jihad date back to when tribes would attack each other. As stated before, although not impossible, the test to wage military jihad simply can’t be met in the time we live in.

Do Muslims Want To Implement Sharia Law

In recent years, certain groups have pushed the myth that Sharia Law is taking over and, that Muslims want to replace National Laws with Sharia.

The first point that seems to never be mentioned that Sharia is not a penal code. There is no ‘big book of Sharia’ with standardised laws.

Sharia law refers to the moral framework that informs Muslims how they should behave and relate to the world. It literally means “the path to be followed” or “the path of water.”

It is supposed to influence Muslims’ actions in business, politics and relationships.

Yes, it does influence legal codes in Muslim-majority countries, but it is more of a philosophical and religious precept, not a universally applicable set of laws.

If Sharia was a bonafide legal system, this would mean that Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, would have identical legal systems. They don’t. This is because laws are made by governments.

However, who may some Muslim-majority countries, such as Iran, have combined state and religious power to create a theocracy.

Anti-Muslim groups often highlight extreme forms of misogyny and punishment in conservative Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia to make their case.

What is more important to note is this, Muslims MUST follow the laws of the country they live in unless they interrupt their ability to practice or follow their faith. In the West, there are no laws that even come close to this.

Sharia is a way of life, it’s how you treat you parents or how you help those worse off. The laws of the land come first. No UK, US or western court has ever implemented a decision based on Sharia.

Women and Islam

Photo by kilarov zaneit on Unsplash

A common perception is that Muslim women are oppressed, discriminated against and hold a subservient position in society.

The role and status of Muslim women in society cannot be separated from the role of women in the larger society because women around the world of all races, religions and nationalities face inequality on many levels. Muslim women are not alone in this.

The Qur’an explicitly states that men and women are equal in the eyes of God and forbids female infanticide, instructs Muslims to educate daughters as well as sons, insists that women have the right to refuse a prospective husband, gives women the right to divorce

Culture vs Religion

However, interpretation of gender roles specified in the Quran varies with different countries and cultures and in the Islamic world. It is these cultural interpretations, principles and practices that subjugate and oppress women e.g. forced marriages, abductions, deprivation of education, restricted mobility.

Many contemporary women and men reject limitations put on women and reinterpret the Qur’an from this perspective. It is also important to understand that, similar to other religions, people in positions of power will sometimes use religion as an excuse to justify oppression of women.

The head scarf is often cited as an example of oppression. The Qur’an directs both men and women to dress with modesty but how this is interpreted and carried out varies a great deal.

Many people think that Muslim women are forced to wear a hijab (head scarf), niqab or burqa. While it is true that in some countries with significant Muslim populations, women are forced to wear the hijab, this is not the reason Muslim women wear the hijab in most cases.

In fact, many women choose to wear a hijab, niqab or burqa on their own and do so for a variety of reasons including a sense of pride in being Muslim, a collective sense of identity or to convey a sense of self-control in public life.

Another measure of women’s roles in Muslim society is leadership. Since 1988, eight countries have had Muslim women as their heads of state, including Turkey, Indonesia, Senegal, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh (twice), Pakistan and Mauritius.

Many Muslim countries — including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and, shock horror Saudi Arabia — have a higher percentage of women in national elected office than does the United States.

Women in Islam have had the ability to vote, inherit and work for over 1400 years. It was only in the late 1800s that women in the UK were no longer classed as their husbands property and not until the 1920s onwards that women even began to get the right to vote.

Cultures all evolve at different paces. This does not mean however, that we should stop pushing for better equality for women everywhere.

Female Genital Mutilation — FGM

This horrendous act is the removal of the female genitalia in order to control female sexuality.

This act is rooted in patriarchal cultures of controlling the female population. There isn’t anything either in the Qur’an or the Hadiths that speaks of, or condones FGM . Such acts were eliminated under Muhammad and his early followers.

Yet, media outlets always perpetuate this action as part of Islam. In reality, according to UNICEF, 29 countries practice FGM. Out of these 29 nations, 27 are in Africa and some of those nations are Christian majority.

The other two are in the Middle East, Iraq and Yemen.

In Iraq, the Kurds practice FGM not due to Islam but, due to their culture, which preceded Islam. In Yemen, similar reasons are attributed to its practice.

FGM was practised not too long ago in the West including Britain and the US around the early part of the 20th century.

Suicide Attacks and Terrorism

Nothing is more synonymous as an act of Islamic terrorism than suicide bombing. Suicide bombing came to us in recent history during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The actions of the bombers were more so for national aspirations not religious purposes. Yet it has always been claimed that Islam condones these acts of terrorism and the Palestinians exhibited it.

The media and commentator do a great job of portraying it as a weapon of choice amongst Muslims. It did not help when the Taliban implemented it in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Al Qaeda carrying it out in Iraq.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Fatwas (religious decrees) have been given by many scholars decreeing it illegal and un-Islamic.

One of the more popular fatwas was published in English directly refuting the Al Qaeda and Taliban ideology. It was endorsed by Al Azhar, the oldest Islamic University in the world and widely respected Sunni institution of Islamic Jurisprudence.

Islam similar to Christianity and Judaism prohibits suicide. The killing of innocent people is highly condemned by the Qur’an and Islamic traditions. Thus the combination of the two in the form of suicide bombing is in no way justified by Islam or any Islamic traditions.

Again it is the agenda of these extremist organisations to justify their yearning for power by using the umbrella of religion.

In 1983, a Jewish zealot strapped himself with bombs and walking into the US Capitol with the intent of blowing himself up. But we do not go around saying either of those two religions endorses suicide terrorism because such rhetoric is nonsense. Yet today we have somehow convoluted Islam and suicide bombings as one of the same. It is true, most suicide attacks are perpetuated today by those claiming to be Muslim but, a larger look at history shows us otherwise.

The point being here is that just because a fringe segments of the population carryout such attacks; it is not a belief of a majority of adherents to Islam as the media makes it out to be.

Education is Key

The above are just a few examples of why education about Islam is essential. Like with anything, unless the full facts are known, it can lead to people believing something that simply isn’t true.

That is what has happened with Islam. It has been too easy for things to be taken out of context. That needs to change. Some of these myths are what is leading to the rise in Islamophobia.

If our political leaders are serious about tackling anti-Muslim sentiment, they need to take they lead. It is after all some of them who help share these myths.