DESPITE
ISLAMOPHOBIA, ISLAM IS THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION IN THE WEST
by
Syarif Hidayat
In the Name of Allah, the
Beneficent, the Merciful. The Almighty God Allah SWT says in Al Qur’an: "O you who believe! Enter
perfectly in Islâm (by obeying all the rules and regulations of the Islâmic
religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitân (Satan). Verily! He is to you
a plain enemy. Then if you slide back after the clear signs (Prophet Muhammad
SAW and this Qur'ân, and Islâm) have come to you, then know that Allâh is
All-Mighty, All-Wise.” - (Al
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara, Verses 208- 209)
“O people of the Scripture (Jews and
Christians)! Now has come to you Our Messenger (Prophet Muhammad PBUH)
explaining to you much of that which you used to hide from the Scripture and
pass over (i.e. leaving out without explaining) much. Indeed, there has come to
you from Allâh a light (Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and a plain Book (this Qur’ân).
Wherewith Allâh guides all those who seek His Good Pleasure to ways of peace,
and He brings them out of darkness by His Will unto light and guides them to
the Straight Way (Islâmic Monotheism).” - Al Qur’an Surah Al
Maidah, Verse 15-16.
Stereotypes
and misconceptions
Nevertheless, the West has many
stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam that are due to: the media,
Prejudice, and Ignorance. Islam is often looked upon as a “extremist”,
“terrorist”, or “fundamental” religion. Many people hate Islam and do not want
to acknowledge its true teachings.
In many
cases, the western media’s
reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance. This is one of the reasons
why the West often hates Islam. In
contrast to what many Westerners think of Islam, Islam is a peaceful religion,
which does not promote any injustice or crime. Stereotypes about Islam are not
new to Western tern
culture. Problems can be traced back 1400 years. At that time, Islam and
Christianity were involved in the Crusades in the 1100’s and in the Ottoman and
Moorish control in Europe. Islam spread quickly to the West, and started to
threaten the position of the Christian Church and the ruling class.
The Western
elites, mainly the governments and the churches, then became highly involved in
seeing that negative images were presented about Islam. As a result, not only
were battles fought against Islam, but also a war of words was initiated to
make sure that Islam would not have any converts or sympathizers in the West.
These kinds of actions and feelings that the West had long ago still seem to be
the case in the West today.
Today, the
West, with little or no understanding of Islamic history, has identified a new
enemy, “a new demon that has replaced the Red menace of the Cold war, i.e.,
radical Islam”. This “radical Islam”, a stereotype common to Western thought,
portrays Muslims as fundamentalists or potential terrorists. Some of these
ideas that the Western people have about Islam are due to the mass media of the
West. Reporters who cover the Muslim world often know very little details about
it. The media then develops a distorted image of Islam that Western culture
adopts.
A major factor which contributes to Islamic
stereotyping in the West is due to the media’s ignorance of selecting their
words that describe Muslims. Some common names heard or seen in the news about
Muslims are “extremist” or “terrorist”. These words are misleading and are
mainly anti-Islamic. The media rarely uses more neutral terms such as
“revivalist” or “progressives”. The Western media also creates the idea that
Muslims are “returning” to Islam. This is not true in most cases, because many
Muslims have never left Islam in the first place. Islam has always been a big
part of their lives.
“Islamic
Fundamentalism” Misinterpreted
A
fundamentalist, in fact, only represents a normal Muslim who follows his or her
religion. Fundamentalism means an attitude, an effort, or a movement that an
ideology, group, or religion tries to promote in its fundamental beliefs. The
“fundamental” beliefs of a Muslim is to believe in only one God (Allah) and the
Prophet Mohammed is His messenger(PBUH), to pray five times a day, give alms to
the poor, fast the month of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
This means
that all Muslims are fundamentalists if they believe in their own religion’s
fundamentals. Although the media is uncomfortable with religious groups, it
focuses heavily on “Islamic fundamentalism”. A majority of the media’s reports
that talk about Islamic fundamentalism usually describes most Muslims as
extremists. This shows how the media is ignorant, because Islam specifically
prohibits any forms of extremism.
The Prophet
Muhammad PBUH said, “Those persons who go to extremes (in practicing their
religion) were cursed (by God)”. The media most often portrays Muslim
“fundamentalists” prostrating themselves before God in prayer. For example, in
the October 4 issue of Time, Muslim soldiers were shown performing prayers with
guns. The caption on the bottom of the picture said, “Guns and prayer go
together in the fundamentalist battle”. The part that the reporters omitted or
failed to state was that the Muslim soldiers were praying on a battlefield in
Afghanistan.
Common sense
of the situation meant that the soldiers had to remain armed at all times in
case of an ambush at any time. This is a clear example of the media’s biased
and inaccurate reporting.
Another
Great Misconception
With regard
to the soldiers, another great misconception that exists is the truth about
Jihad or “holy war” in Islam. The ideas of war and violence have become related
to the Islamic religion from the media. Jihad is so often apparent in the news
because the media thinks it is Islam’s justification for war and violence.
Al Quran
(Muslim Holy Book) says “Fight for the sake of Allah those that
fight against you, but do not attack them first. Allah (God) does not love
aggression”.
Jihad literally means “The
struggle in the path of God”, or “holy war”. However, the Western media often
abuses the meaning of jihad by referring to it as a holy war where Muslims
unreasonably kill non-believers. But the fact is, is that jihad can mean a
numbers of things that a Muslim does for the sake of God.
Rarely has the
Western media used this kind of a definition in their reports. The way the
media represents jihad is wrong. The media often takes the word “jihad” out of
context to propagate negative views on Islam. The association of Islam and
violence is a common misconception that the general Western public has
developed about Islam.
An example of this kind of
misconception is that the Western media and some historians often say that
Islam was a religion spread by the sword, meaning that Muslims went from one
end of the world to the other forcing people to either convert or die. Islam
spread by people learning about it and some by holy wars, but they did not
force people to convert or die. Since majorities of the American public only
get their information about Islam through the media, they believe this wrong
idea.
The media’s reports about Arab
or “Islamic” events, such as the Gulf War, are often misunderstood. The media
usually fails to give background information about these Islamic events that it
reports on. The media infrequently distinguishes between the religion Islam and
the political affairs that occur in most Islamic countries. For instance, what
Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, did in the Gulf War was not
Islamic and totally wrong (to attack other people for no reason).
But the media
still makes reports about Islam and how Islam is made of war-crazed people. For
example, to help put things into perspective, Hitler was a person of the
Christian faith. This does not mean that all of his actions were consistent
with the Christian beliefs.
Likewise,
Saddam Hussein is of the Islamic faith, but all of his actions do not
necessarily represent Islam. So you can see that the media’s reports about
“war-crazed Muslims” are incorrect. The notion of associating of Islam and
Muslims with the terms Arabs and Middle East are in fact misleading. Arabs only
account for 18% of the Muslim population across the world.
Conversion To Islam
One Result Of Post-9/11 Curiosity
The
Almighty God Allah SWT says in Al Qur’an: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The
Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp
enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed
Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh
luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide
whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah
doth know all things.”
- (Al Qur'an, Surah Al-Nour, Verse:35)
Omar Sacirbey in
his article titled: “Conversion
To Islam One Result Of Post-9/11 Curiosity,” published in www.huffingtonpost.com writes Like a
lot of other people in the haze and confusion of the 9/11 attacks, Johannah
Segarich asked herself: "What kind of religion is this that could inspire
people to do this?"
She had
studied other religions, but never Islam. So she bought a copy of the Quran,
wondering if her notions of Islam as a patriarchal and now seemingly violent
religion, would be confirmed. Then she got to the first chapter, with its
seven-line message about seeking guidance from a merciful creator. She finished
the Quran a few weeks later, then started reading it again. About half way
through, barely 10 weeks after 9/11, "I came to the realization," she
said, "that I had a decision to make."
Segarich
began studying Islam more intensely, and within a few months, the Utah-born
music instructor made her Islamic declaration of faith, or shehadah, at the
Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge. "It seemed kind of crazy to do. I
was a middle-aged professional woman, very independent, very contemporary, and
here I was turning to this religion, which at that point was so reviled,"
Segarich recalled.
Indeed, it
seems counterintuitive that Americans would consider joining a religion that
many associate with terrorism and violence -- especially after 9/11. But there
are more than a few people like Segarich who, compelled by curiosity, became
converts. The majority of post-9/11 converts are women, according to experts.
Hispanics and African-Americans, who were already converting well before 9/11,
are the most common ethnic groups to convert.
Though exact
numbers are difficult to tally, observers estimate that as many as 20,000
Americans convert to Islam annually. Some conversions make headlines, such as
Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who converted in 2003 after being held
captive by Taliban; Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair; or the rapper known as Loon, who converted last year.
Angela
Collins Telles grew up in southern California but had a travel bug that took
her to Egypt and Syria, where she made friends and found most people generous
and compassionate. When anti-Muslim rhetoric flared after 9/11, Collins Telles
felt a need to push back. "I saw my country demonizing these people as
terrorists and oppressors of women, and I couldn't think of anything further
from the truth," she said, "and I felt a need to stand-up and defend
them. But then I realized that I couldn't argue without knowledge."
Like other
converts, Collins Telles said some Christian beliefs, such as the Trinity and
priests as intermediaries to God -- had never quite seemed right her. "The
concept of God was the most beautiful thing, and that concept fit with what I
believe," said Collins Telles, who converted a few months after 9/11. Chicagoan
Kelly Kaufmann had a similar experience. When relatives chastised her for
volunteering for President Obama's presidential campaign because they believed,
erroneously, he is Muslim, she felt a need to study religion. When she came to
Islam, her beliefs finally seemed in sync.
"Once I
realized that's where my beliefs aligned, I had that big uh-oh moment that a
lot of people have when they realize, 'Uh-oh, the (religion) I align with is the
big fat scary one, as treated by the media, and understood as such by the
public," she said. But after nearly a year of study, Kaufmann could find
nothing wrong with Islam. She decided to convert after confronting a man at a
public lecture who said Muslims hated peace.
"That's
when I realized, if I'm taking this personally, I think I must be ready,"
she said. Because of a slow but steady number of converts, many mosques have
launched programs to help them with learning the essentials: prayer, basic
beliefs, and proper behavior. Vaqar Sharief, who was tapped to create a program
for converts at the Islamic Center of Wilmington, Del., estimates his mosque
gets four or five converts every month.
Despite
their enthusiasm, some converts worry about how friends and colleagues will
react, or whether they are exposing themselves to harassment or attack. "I
guess it will always be a concern until the rhetoric changes a little
bit," said Kaufmann, whose family has been supportive -- except for an
uncle who now forbids his daughter from seeing Kaufmann. "What are they
afraid of, conversion by proximity?"
Trisha
Squires hasn't been a Muslim for even a month, following her July 31
declaration of faith, and has told only a few people, with mixed results. Among
the disappointing reactions was a close friend who said, "The godmother of
my children is going to be a Muslim?" Squires hesitates to wear a
headscarf to work, unsure what her employer might think.
Others, however,
don't worry at all.
"I never cared about being
accepted," said Collins Telles, who now lives in Brazil with her husband,
who also converted after meeting her. "I knew that I had found God, and
that's all I ever wanted."
Study
shows Islam growing in the UK
Meanwhile
almost one in 10 under 25s in Britain is now a Muslim. The proportion of young people who describe
themselves as even nominal Christians has dropped below half for the first time. Initial results from the 2011 census published
last year showed that the total number of people in England and Wales who
described themselves as Christian fell by 4.1 million – a decline of 10 per
cent.
But new
analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows that that figure was
bolstered by 1.2 million foreign-born Christians, including Polish Catholics
and evangelicals from countries such as Nigeria. They disclosed that there were
in fact 5.3 million fewer British-born people describing themselves as
Christians, a decline of 15 per cent in just a decade.At the same time the
number of Muslims in England and Wales surged by 75 per cent – boosted by
almost 600,000 more foreign born followers of the Islamic faith.
While almost
half of British Muslims are under the age of 25, almost a quarter of Christians
are over 65. The average age of a British Muslim is just 25, not far off half
that of a British Christian. Younger
people also drove a shift away from religion altogether, with 6.4 million more
people describing themselves as having no faith than 10 years earlier.
Secular campaigners said the new figures
showed that Christianity had now dropped below “critical mass” making the case
for disestablishing the Church of England stronger. But the Church insisted
that while there had been a significant drop in “nominal” Christians, the core
of the Church remained firm.
Prof David
Coleman, Professor of demography at Oxford University, said: “This is a very
substantial change – it is difficult to see whether any other change in the
census could have been remotely as big. “But I wonder how far it reflects an
overarching change in society where it is more acceptable more normal to say
that you are not religious or are not Christian.”
Dr Fraser
Watts, a Cambridge theologian, said it was “entirely possible” the people
identifying themselves as Christians could become a minority within the next
decade on the basis of the figures. “It is still pretty striking and it is a
worrying trend and confirms what anyone can observe – that in many churches the
majority of the congregation are over 60,” he said.
Keith
Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said the
long-term reduction of Christianity, particularly among young people, was now
“unstoppable”. “In another 20 years there are going to be more active Muslims
than there are churchgoers,” he said.
“The time has
now come that institutional Christianity is no longer justified, the number has
dropped below critical mass for which there is no longer any justification for
the established Church, for example, or the monarch going through a religious
ceremony at coronation. “The expressions of optimism by the church are
just completely misplaced.”
But a spokesman
for the Church of England said: “These figures highlight the diversity of
Christianity in this country today, something which has been increasing for
decades and shows the relevance of Christianity to people from all
backgrounds. “These figures once again
confirm that this remains a faithful nation and that the fall in the numbers
identifying themselves as Christians is a challenge but – as you can see from
the stability of Church of England attendance figures – the committed
worshipping centre of the church remains firm.
Mosque
building booming in the US
Angel
Jennings and Teresa Watanabe
in their article titled “Mosque building booming in the US”
published in LA Times, write the opening this weekend of a new mosque in
Rowland Heights is powerful evidence of a building boom of such facilities in
Southern California and around the nation. Over the last several years, new mosques have
risen in Mission Viejo, Irvine, Anaheim, Reseda, Rancho Cucamonga, Rosemead,
Diamond Bar and Tustin. Additional mosques are slated for Temecula, Ontario,
Lomita and Corona.
Strikingly, the
new mosques have been funded entirely by local Muslims, who began settling in
the region in the 1960s. Before 2001, new mosques were often funded by
foreigners; the Saudis financed the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City, and
Libyans helped build Masjid Omar near USC.
Stricter government scrutiny of foreign
investments from Islamic countries after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, along
with reluctance by local Muslims about accepting foreign money, helped change
the practices, according to Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic
Shura Council of Southern California.
Post
9/11, the dynamic completely changed
“Post 9/11, the dynamic completely changed,”
Syed said. “The Muslim community at large in North America realized it is
better if we develop our own funding, however long it takes.” Syed said
many Muslims have built successful businesses over the last few decades and are
now positioned to give back. Some did relatively well during the recession, as
they were able to buy undervalued properties while not taking on risky
investments or interest-incurring debt, which is barred in Islam, he said.
The majority of mosques in the United States
are still existing buildings converted to an Islamic prayer space. But the
number of newly built structures — such as the new Islamic Center of San
Gabriel Valley — has doubled in the last decade, to 632 in 2011 from 314 in
2000, according to the American Mosque 2011 study. Among metropolitan areas,
Southern California is home to 120 mosques, second only to the New York area, the study found. (Estimates of
the Muslim American population vary, but a 2011 Pew Research Center study
placed it at about 2.7 million nationwide and growing.)
At the new
Masjid Qubaa in Rowland Heights, several members donated $100,000, and a few
gave $500,000. The women held a fashion show, which raised $100,000. Dozens of
skilled craftsmen contributed services and construction materials, which
significantly reduced the structure’s cost.
Syed Rizvi, the center’s president, reflects
the arc of success experienced by some of the community’s more affluent
members. He arrived in the United States from Pakistan in 1975 with a single
suitcase and $7,500. But he had a medical degree and eventually opened several
kidney dialysis centers. He donated a six-figure sum to the project, said
Yasmeen Khan, a mosque leader. “We were professionals, but we were not rich,”
Rizvi said. “America gave that opportunity for us all.”
The
mosque construction attracted no local opposition — unlike projects in
Temecula, Lomita and Ontario. There, neighbors raised concerns about potential
problems with noise, traffic and parking — objections Muslims have successfully
addressed, according to Ameena Mirza Qazi of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. Some of those debates were marked by anti-Islam comments and fears
about terrorism expressed by some opponents.
New
Rowland Heights mosque a product of grass-roots effort
The sand-colored mosque rises against the San
Gabriel Mountains, its blue-tiled dome and six minarets cutting a striking
profile in an industrial area of Rowland Heights. Inside, lush tapestries from
Pakistan adorn the walls, and ornate chandeliers from Dubai hang over the
prayer rooms. At the head of the men’s prayer space, the 99 names of Allah are
engraved in Islamic calligraphy into glass around the Arabic symbol for God.
After four years
of construction and $5.5 million in fundraising, the Islamic Center of San
Gabriel Valley formally opened its soaring new mosque Saturday. For Muslim
worshipers, the transformation of their prayer space from a dilapidated church
next to a smelly chicken farm purchased three decades ago to a
45,000-square-foot structure with a school, mortuary, health clinic and three
libraries marks a coming of age for their community.
It’s also
powerful evidence of a building boom of new mosques in Southern California and
around the nation. A couple from Orange County gave the mosque
an interest-free loan from their pension. And, Syed said, the Islamic Center of
Corona gave the Rowland Heights group a bridge loan of a couple hundred
thousand dollars — a common practice among Southern California mosques to share
their resources.
The mosque
construction attracted no local opposition — unlike projects in Temecula,
Lomita and Ontario. There, neighbors raised concerns about potential problems
with noise, traffic and parking — objections Muslims have successfully
addressed, according to Ameena Mirza Qazi of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. Some of those debates were marked by anti-Islam comments and fears
about terrorism expressed by some opponents.
Qazi said some
Islamic centers have chosen to locate their new projects in industrial areas to
avoid protests by homeowners. But doing so, she said, prevents mosques from
serving as neighborhood centers, a traditional role for many religious
institutions. The San Gabriel Valley community, however, always located its
Islamic center in an industrial area because the land was cheaper.
The original
space, a church purchased in 1983, could fit only 300 people and was so cramped
that worshipers during the monthlong Ramadan observance had to break their
ritual fasts outside — even when the holiday fell during the chilly winter
months. They bought a chicken farm to expand and rented space at Santa Ana High
School, almost 25 miles away, to hold Sunday school. Preparations for burials
were held at a mosque in Garden Grove.
By the late 1990s, members decided it was time to build a comprehensive
facility. But the blueprint continued to change as the Muslim community grew.
Syed Raza, the
architect, said the first plan drawn up nearly 15 years ago called for a
4,500-square-foot mosque — about one-tenth the size of the final design. The
three-story structure includes separate entrances and prayer spaces for men and
women, who can watch the imam’s sermon through closed-circuit TV on the second
floor. Syed of the Shura Council said that most new mosques include separate
prayer spaces for the comfort of both genders but that all intermingle in other
areas of the center.
Worshipers are especially excited that
the center will now finally house all of their needed facilities in one space,
including the charter school and mortuary.
Non-Muslims are
welcome to visit and use the services, mosque leaders said. Females will not be
required to cover their heads as Muslims do, and young men can wear Bermuda
shorts. Muslim leaders in Southern California say they are trying to be less
insular and reach out more to the non-Muslim community by holding blood drives,
food giveaways, interfaith meetings and other activities. Last week, thousands
of elated worshipers flocked to the gleaming new mosque for its inaugural
Friday prayer meeting. “It feels like
it’s a whole new world,” said 19-year-old Omar Yamak. “You have a sense of love
of the community.” (HSH)
Sources:
1.Muslimvillage.com
2.
OnIslam.net
3.
telegraph.co.uk
4.
latimes.com
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