why don’t more moderate Muslims inform or show the positive side of islam and how the religion really is to the people in the Western countries.
i studied the religion and tried my hardest to expose myself to islam and islamic culture so i’m not ignorant on all the positives of the religion.
Most in the deep south know zilch about Islam so if any commotion does happen, i’m afraid of how people there might react.
Fox news and other extreme right conservative leaning media sources aren’t really helping with this image of muslims and islam, i wish the moderate muslims would try a lot harder to send a strong message.
Well one will always have haters in this World it's almost natural that there will always be hatred among people.
I think many Muslims and even non Muslims try very hard but against biggots there really is very little way you can make any headway.... there was only ever one treatment fo Abu Jahil.
the law abiding muslims have a responsibility to send a strong message to other muslims and nonmuslims as well
plus i wish i had time to do a search on how many muslims in the west support such groups like hezbollah which is an issue that might cause friction and conflict, if we were to have foresight. in the west it isn't seen in a good light
i don't know what a moderate muslim is, but a muslim that isn't extreme in his/her views just like there are extremists in every religious group that are harmful
The best way to communicate the message of Islam to others is by being a good example yourself. I used to feel that it is unfortunate that people form an opinion about Islam by judging us muslims and instead of blaming the driver (us) for messing up, they blame the car (Islam). But I have come to realise that this is actually a good thing.
The annual growth rate percentage of Islam was 1.44% pre-2000 and it has increased to 1.84% post-2000, whereas Christianity only had an increase of 0.02% and most other religions’ growth rate actually dropped. The figures are from the World Christian Database 2005 survey and confirmed by the Foreign Policy report of 2007.
There’s two good reasons for that: (1) Any publicity is good publicity (2) The majority of the muslims around the world are actually just normal, good people and we’re all over the place and when people interact with the normal aka moderate muslims, they automatically (without the need to hold religious debates) get the jist of the real Islam. As a result, the wise seek more knowledge about Islam and the ignorant - well they keep on doing what they’re best at - hating!
I don’t like discussing Islam with the non-muslims around me because it just feels awkward especially if they have absolutely no interest in religion. Besides, the Irish are completely clueless of Islam so a 10-minute debate isn’t going to get your point across to them. Despite the fact that I have never spoken out about my religion, I have a friend who is currently looking into Islam because he has been simply observing my way of life for the last 5 years. One other person on GS told me a guy in his class converted to Islam MashaAllah without the need for muslim students to preach.
My point is, be a good representative of Islam yourself, that’s the most important thing at present. Talk shows, lectures, public debates etc all come afterwards and every capable muslim should get involved in those too since dawah is the responsibility of every muslim, as Nisha rightly said.
Maybe it's just my experiences on the Internet, but it's very hard to give a good impression of Islam when Western people are too absorbed in the evil certain Muslims do. Also, there are bigots intent on portraying Islam in a bad light and it's pretty hard to deal with them. I just ignore them and try to be a good person and a good Muslim. It's hard to portray the positive side of Islam when it has so many detractors.
@Barbie , preaching islam isn't what i'm talking about, even i run away from the the christian missionaries that try to preach religion to me so i can understand why that might be a turn off discussing the religion, but i wish more "moderate" muslims would make public in your face type of appearances rather than ones like Wahhaj and Malik Ali Wahhaj is an imam at a mosque in Brooklyn. A U.S. attorney named him and 169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement. Malik Ali is a Bay Area Islamic activist who spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010. There he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group.
Most of the time it's the extreme ones like these that make the news and are highlighted. they even scare the moderate muslim probably.
yep i know the number of muslims is growing fast in the united states, that's why i feel like in the future these conflicts will be even more apparent. don't you guys think so?
@Barbie , preaching islam isn't what i'm talking about, even i run away from the the christian missionaries that try to preach religion to me so i can understand why that might be a turn off discussing the religion, but i wish more "moderate" muslims would make public in your face type of appearances rather than ones like Wahhaj and Malik Ali
Wahhaj is an imam at a mosque in Brooklyn. A U.S. attorney named him and 169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement.Malik Ali is a Bay Area Islamic activist who spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010. There he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group.
yep i know the number of muslims is growing fast in the united states, that's why i feel like in the future these conflicts will be even more apparent. don't you guys think so?
Most of the time it's the extreme ones like these that make the news and are highlighted. they even scare the moderate muslim probably.
Nisha, the above example makes less sense. Very recently, we heard of large number of priests who were accused to be involved in sexual crimes like pedophilia. Does that mean that every 'moderate' Christian is obligated to come out and start telling people that Christianity does not promote child molestation? No they dont have to, we all know that Christianity does not teach that and its handful of psycho priests who are abusing kids.
Those non Muslims who are fair minded would know that Islam does not teach violence. Those who are narrow minded wont listen to you and me anyways, so why bother.
these tea party protests are from the extreme people of the public but it’s an america that i’m not used to seeing, i wouldn’t really mind if a couple of the moderate muslims spoke up and made their views clear, showed a more positive image.
i think it’s something that most desis need to worry about not just the muslims. plus it depends on what part of the united states we live in…some red neck place in the deep south or orange country or the more liberal, multicultural cities
Muslims need to control the extremists amongst them who give them a bad name just as Christians, Hindus, Jews need to control theirs. “Moderate Muslims” just speaking up without any corresponding action to control extremism will not have any effect IMO.
^I totally agree but since islam is the one that's in the international news nowadays it's more important now for that to happen. the controlling within the Muslim community which would automatically show a positive image.
that's the thing though, how many moderate muslims support such controversial groups like hezbollah and do they see it as fighting for a good cause or do they see it as how the CIA and most of the western world sees it as a "terrorist" org
Muslims need to control the extremists amongst them who give them a bad name just as Christians, Hindus, Jews need to control theirs. "Moderate Muslims" just speaking up without any corresponding action to control extremism will not have any effect IMO.
Yea, and that still does not justify violent, racist and xenophobic epithets towards children.
Sure but muslims include african americans, white americans, europeans, arabs, asians, turks, iranians etc etc so I guess the entire world is reproducing at a faster rate. The number of converts (not just newborn muslims) has also increased e.g. the number of people who converted to Islam in USA post 9/11 is supposed to be the highest number reached ever since Islam arrived there. Point being, despite all the negativity out there, if people are interested in Islam, that’s because there’s plenty of good examples around them.
Nisha, I disagree with you when you say some moderate muslims should have spoken to those tea party protestors. I think all muslims there did the best by ignoring them because we all know those protestors weren’t there to listen, debate or understand, they were there to hate. They didn’t even show the protestors a finger which I so would’ve done There’s a time and place for these debates and this certainly wasn’t the right one. I like how they spoke out later on in blogs, newspapers etc.
that's the thing though, how many moderate muslims support such controversial groups like hezbollah and do they see it as fighting for a good cause or do they see it as how the CIA and most of the western world sees it as a "terrorist" org
Every Muslim I have met supports Hezbollah. When I was in Lebanon, I donated to a Hezbollah orphanage. When I went to college, I made a speech in favor of Hezbollah during the war in 2006. The most moral support I got for this was from my Jewish friends who have very Zionist political leanings, yet they never discouraged me from expressing myself, nor did they yell racist and violent epithets like the cowards in Orange county did. Supporting Hezbollah when they are protecting their country from Israeli bombing is not a crime. Supporting Hezbollah when they provide social and medical services to the poor is not a crime either.
And trust me, I'm pretty moderate. I moderately drink sharaab along with moderately smoking weed as well.
No entity in the world has killed more innocent civilians in the past 30 years than the US and Israel. Who is the terrorist here?
Nisha, I disagree with you when you say some moderate muslims should have spoken to those tea party protestors. I think all muslims there did the best by ignoring them **because we all know those protestors weren't there to listen, debate or understand, they were there to hate. **They didn't even show the protestors a finger which I so would've done :p There's a time and place for these debates and this certainly wasn't the right one. I like how they spoke out later on in blogs, newspapers etc.
Exactly. The Muslims in that situation, unfortunately have a "guest" mentality, so it makes it easier for hateful people to target them. These cowardly pieces of **** would never, ever do this in front of an African-American Muslim gathering, because, unlike the immigrant Muslims, the black Muslims tend to talk and sometimes fight back.
why don't more moderate Muslims inform or show the positive side of islam and how the religion really is to the people in the Western countries.
i studied the religion and tried my hardest to expose myself to islam and islamic culture so i'm not ignorant on all the positives of the religion.
Most in the deep south know zilch about Islam so if any commotion does happen, i'm afraid of how people there might react.
Fox news and other extreme right conservative leaning media sources aren't really helping with this image of muslims and islam, i wish the moderate muslims would try a lot harder to send a strong message.
You are the perfect example of moderate Muslim. You should try in your communities to send a strong message.
(2) The majority of the muslims around the world are actually just normal, good people and we’re all over the place and when people interact with the normal aka moderate muslims, they automatically (without the need to hold religious debates) get the jist of the real Islam. As a result, the wise seek more knowledge about Islam and the ignorant - well they keep on doing what they’re best at - hating!
There’s a time and place for these debates and this certainly wasn’t the right one. I like how they spoke out later on in blogs, newspapers etc.