Common Misconceptions: Introduction

Islam is perhaps the most misunderstood of the five largest world religions. This is especially true for countries such as the US. In and of itself, this does not present as a problematic issue; possibly many people do not much about Chinese folk religions but I doubt this is much of a problem. However, the misunderstanding of Islam does create an issue because of current events. These events have brought more attention to Islam and Muslims.

The more common of the misconceptions about Islam arise in the minds of non-Muslims mainly because they are constantly being bombarded by incorrect information about Islam and negative portrayals of Muslims. International media is controlled almost exclusively by the Western world. Now, the Internet is in on the game too. While no one actually controls the Internet, there is plenty of virulent propaganda about Islam around the web. Of course, Muslims too are putting this tool to use by attempting to portray the right image of Islam and Muslims, but they are far behind as compared to the propaganda against Islam.

Some non-Muslims have studied Islam and argue they know about the ‘true’ Islam and have no misinformation. But most of them have only read books on Islam written by biased critics of Islam. Bias is never a good thing and will often to lead to misunderstanding just as much as wrongful portrayals in the media do.

Most Muslims know Islam is a religion for all, not simply a religion for Arabs or some other group. Allah is the Creator of everything, and thus is the Lord of the entire universe, including all humans. Muslims are entrusted in spreading His message to everyone, but unfortunately many Muslims have fallen away from this da’wah (Arabic: call or invitation). Allah says in the Qur’an, ‘Who could be more wicked than those who hide a testimony they received from Allah? Allah is not unmindful of what you do.’ Qur’an 2:140

To a Muslim, da’wah is the spreading of positive propaganda about Islam. It can cover any topic within Islam: common practices, history, comparative religion, and more. However, especially in the case of Americans and non-Muslims, responding to misconceptions is probably more common than anything. Indeed, I often find myself trying to erase misinformation and replace that with the correct knowledge.

Thus the idea for a series touching upon common misconceptions was born. Drawing from articles published by qualified Islamic scholars as well as my own experiences, I will attempt to clear up common misconceptions.

There will be no set schedule as to when I will post what. If I have something else to post, then I will post that. If I don’t have anything to post or I would rather write a post in the series, then I will publish a part of the series. Nor do I know exactly how many posts in total there will be. Basically, I will simply be choosing a misconception or two to tackle as I go.

I hope anyone reading this series who does harbor any misinformation or misconceptions learn what they need to correct their image of Muslims and Islam. For those who are Muslims or already know about Islam, I hope you possibly learn something more along the way or are goaded to think differently or more thoroughly. Lastly, I hope my brothers and sisters in Islam take something from these posts in that they might be able to counteract any misconceptions they come across in their lives.