Sociology

Islam is one of the major religions of the world.  Originating in Saudi Arabia and revealed to the world by the Prophet Mohammed, it has spread and been practiced by people in every populated continent in the world.

However, in the recent events following September 11, 2001, the image or impression of people towards Islam had become somewhat distorted.  Even before these terrorist attacks, a lot of non-Muslim people still have the wrong impression about Muslims and even to the point of stereotyping them, sometimes derisively.  They tend to regard every Muslim, especially an Arab, as a terrorist who is bent on destruction and mayhem and not afraid to die committing these acts of terrorism and that they seemed to enjoy it.  They are derisively known as  camel jockeys  and  ragheads  by racists.  They are under the impression that only Arabs are Muslims.  Other wrong impressions about Muslims is that they are promiscuous, especially the males, owing to their practice of polygamy and life in Muslim countries is dull and dreary and have this impression that all Muslims do is just pray.  It can be inferred here that these are mostly fallacies about Muslims the world over.

Yahiya Emericks book, The Complete Idiots Guide to Understanding Islam is intended to set the record straight in making  ignorant  if not nave non-Muslims understand what Islam is all about beyond the stereotyping and the  wrong message  conveyed by the media.  Islam is more than just a religion.  It is a way of life.  When Mohammed introduced Islam to the pagan Arabs of the Arabia Peninsula, he also went about transforming their apparently pagan and hedonistic lifestyle by instilling virtues to make one righteous before Allah.  These are exemplified in the Five Pillars of Islam which starts with a personal declaration called the Shahadah where the Muslim faithful declares that there is other God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.  While Islam recognizes other famous figures from the Jewish Scriptures and even the Bible, they are regarded as minor prophets compared to Mohammed who is the Prophet which means  special messenger.   In the 19th century and even the early part of the 20th century, Muslims used to be called Mohammedans and their faith Mohammedanism.  The mistake here was this was coined by westerners who saw Muslims from the context of Christianity where they compared Mohammed to Jesus.  This underscored how  ignorant  they are in grasping the nature of Islam (Emerick, 2002).

The second pillar is called the Salat where the faithful pray five times a day facing Mecca no matter where they are in the world.  This underscores the faithfulness of the Muslims when it comes to professing their faith which is considered rather enviable.  For a Muslim faithful, prayer is not merely ritual but an opportunity to establish communication with Allah.  The giving of alms (Zakat) is an opportunity for Muslims to show charity and compassion to their fellow men who are less fortunate and to eliminate greed and avarice.  This also teaches Muslims not to be too attached to material things.  There is also the observation of the Ramadan (fasting) and making a pilgrimage to Mecca (Haj).  In addition, Islam, through Mohammed, laid down other moral laws Muslims must practice such as proscription of alcoholic beverages and the eating of pork which they regard as  unclean.   All these norms are meant to keep Muslims morally pure and to shield them from temptations (Emerick, 2002).  This is what fundamentalists in Iran and the Taliban (Afghanistan) saw among westerners which is why they resent, if not attack the latters culture for being  immoral.  

But it is here that there is an apparent  clash of civilizations  of the Muslim world and that of the west which is shaped by Judaeo-Christian traditions and  tempered  by secular liberal ideas which appear to be an anathema to the Muslim way of life.  There are things both sides find wrong about each other.  There are things Muslims, especially those of conservative persuasion, find wrong about western culture and lifestyle which clash with theirs, most especially the indulgence of vices like drinking alcoholic beverages and eating pork. Another is Muslim artists do not draw human figures, especially that of Mohammed or Allah which they considered sacrosanct.  This became apparent in the incident in a Danish newspaper where Mohammed was drawn in an editorial cartoon and unleashed a backlash of resentment in the Muslim world.

Another contentious issue where westerners and Muslims clash is the issue on women.  Westerners have the impression that Muslim women are treated as slaves in Middle Eastern countries.  Their basis for these claims is they see women fully covered from head to foot where the slightest exposure of flesh was considered immoral.  Women are not even allowed to be seen with other men other than male relatives or their husbands which makes courtship and dating impossible.  If one were to look at it from the Muslim perspective, these norms are meant to protect women and Muslims claim they hold women in high respect though among westerners, they find it limited.  It would also be wrong to come to the conclusion that the way women are treated in Iran and Taliban-era Afghanistan is true in every Muslim country.  Women is some Muslim countries are anything but  slaves  or marginalized.  Turkey and Indonesia provide the best example of Muslim women having a greater degree of freedom, by getting a college degree and even having a career as well as enjoying the same rights as men (Emerick, 2002).

Another touchy issue is the Muslim concept of jihad or  holy war.   In this day and age, non-Muslims, especially westerners tend to associate jihad with terrorism as evidenced by the attacks they have committed over the past decades and ultimately on September 11, 2001.  Among moderate Muslims, jihad has other meanings besides physically fighting  non-believers  and infidels as fundamentalists and extremists use it.  For moderates, jihad also has an  internal  or spiritual dimension as well similar to a Christian who lives in a daily struggle to overcome temptation and adversity.  This is what jihad also means to the moderate Muslim.  The extremist version of the jihad had long gone out of style since the days of Mohammed when his successors invaded neighboring lands to spread Islam and that concept would be anachronistic today.  They believe Islam is a compassionate and tolerant religion.  It preaches tolerance and respect for other peoples cultures or faith.  As a matter of fact, Mohammed made peace with Christians, Jews and Parsees (practitioners of Zoroastrianism) after converting all of Arabia into Islam.  Forced conversion back then applied only to pagans which was defined as those who were not Christians or Jews.  As Emerick pointed out in his book, it is politics that distorted the interpretation of the teachings of Mohammed.  Ultra-conservative religious tend to transpose their beliefs into the realm of politics and as a result, Islam became a rather militant religion which moderates refused to recognize and accept since their beliefs are antiquated.  These are the same people who wanted to widen the rift between Christians and Muslims especially following the Crusades as well as inflame Muslim (Arab) sentiment against the Jews and see to the destruction of Israel which they regard as  evil  along with the Americans (2002).

If there is one thing someone can learn from Emericks book (he is a Muslim), it can be very enlightening for  idiots  who have mistaken notions about Islam.  One other thing one can learn is that Muslims are not the same from all over.  Besides race or ethnicity, Islam varies in persuasion from the liberal ones in Turkey to the extremists in Afghanistan.  By looking at these different  faces  of a Muslim, one can see Islam is anything but  evil.