Unapologetically Muslim

Islam and Violence?

I honestly never wanted to write a chapter on this topic in the first place...for its something I have had to explain to people far too many times, and there's only a limit to how often I am willing to repeat myself.

But alas, it is a subject that continues to be brought up again and again, especially after every terrorist attack, let alone any crime, that is committed by a so-called Muslim in the name of our religion.

But before we jump into it, let me introduce you to a fellow wattpadder, who actually has a lot to say on this topic! For privacy reasons I won't disclose her username, but for the sake of this chapter I'm going to refer to her as—Susan.

Susan is one of the many Wattpaders who have clearly studied my religion in depth and thus felt the need to contribute to the dialogue. Like anyone with an opinion, Susan decided to share her thoughts with the world. Here is what she had to say about Islam:

Her argument? Look at all these "unedited" verses from the Quran! Stripped of their historical and literary context, of course! 

But you wanna know what's funny? I tried asking her if she knew the context of any of the verses she listed here, and guess what! She didn't have a darn clue. 

But here's the best part. When someone confronted her about violent verses that are found in the Bible, this was her response.

Her comments made me laugh so hard I actually had tears in my eyes, especially at the "A lot of this is taken out of context, mistranslated, or misinterpreted."

Honestly, if someone misquotes passages from your sacred text and you have the audacity to say that that's been "tAkEn oUT of cOnTeXT" or "miStRAnslAtED," then why would you turn around and do the exact same thing with someone else's sacred text? What were you hoping to gain from being so blatantly hypocritical?

If you're so open to explaining misconceptions that people have about the Bible, then why won't you let Muslims do the same with the Quran? Why do you insist on remaining ignorant and hateful instead? What do you expect to gain from that?

Answer me, Susan.

Seriously, some people put WAY too much energy into bashing Islam before ever getting the chance to study it properly, before getting the chance to interact with actual Muslims and learn the religion from people who have studied and practiced it their whole lives.

And it amazes me how easily people can be manipulated into thinking that RELIGION is the sole cause of all the problems in the Middle East, when in reality they don't even know a fraction of what's happening there. Plus if you've ever taken an Introduction to Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy (Heck, even Biology) course, then you should know that correlation ≠ causation.

But wait! What about all those 'violent' translations that are in fact, from the Quran? How are you gonna explain that, HmMmMmMmMMMMm?

Well, if you're a Christian and someone has misconceptions about your religion, then what would you want them to do? Go to anti-Christian websites and get their answers from there? Or would you direct them to scholarly sources and encourage them to read those instead? Which option sounds more reasonable, huh?

I could go through every single controversial, misconstrued verse from the Quran and explain them here–but that would take quite some time. Not to mention I've had to do that way too many times already, and at this point I'm kind of worn out. Please understand. 

But if you're someone like Susan and have a lot of misconstrued beliefs about Islam, then I do encourage you to look to more reliable, scholarly sources to find your answers. Websites like WhyIslam and Yaqeen Institute are a great place to start–they have academic papers written by actual scholars of Islam, people who have studied the religion for decades and hence, probably know what the heck they're talking about.

YouTube videos by Nouman Ali Khan, Omar Suleiman, Mufti Menk, and Yasmine Mogahed are wonderful resources as well. 

Plus I am certain that there are many Muslim brothers and sisters right here on Wattpad who are willing to answer your questions as well. Don't be shy to reach out to any of them!

The point I'm trying to make here is, don't be a Susan. Don't write hateful, inaccurate things about a religion or group of people for the mere purpose of instilling fear in others. That's precisely the kind of thinking that puts innocent lives in danger. It's what led to the loss of 49 people today in New Zealand, as well the countless other victims of hate crimes from before (May Allah be with them). 

Education goes a long way, ya know. That's why it's so important to make sure that we're informed correctly. With that being said–Susan, if you're reading this (which I doubt you are, since I didn't tag you), how about you put the bigotry and shameless hypocrisy aside and just, talk to some actual Muslims? Learn Islam from people who actually practice it, not from typical right-wing propaganda sites. Seriously, the truth won't kill you.