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Islam: Misunderstood throughout the World

James A. Bill (professor of government and director of the Reves Center for
International Studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia) writes -
'By the turn of the century, for the first time in history, the number of
Muslims (those who practice Islam) will have surpassed the number of Christians
in the world.
Islam is a monotheistic religion, civilization and way of life now practiced by
1.1 billion people. Easily the world's fastest growing religion, Islam is not
confined to the Middle East. It is a truly universal force. More Muslims live in
America today than all the Presbyterians and Episcopalians put together.

There are more than 1,200 mosques in the United States and 1000 mosques in
England, where the Muslim community has established its own national parliament.
There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi
Arabia put together. More live in Malaysia than in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait
combined. Nearly 20 million Muslims live in China.

Wherever one looks, Islam is on the move. As the people of many societies find
themselves rootless, disconnected and alienated, they increasingly seek help in
a comforting Islamic ideological refuge. In a world of incoherent violence,
widening inequities, political corruption and shattered families, many are
massing behind the green flag of Islam. This is essentially a populist movement,
a bubbling up from below, a march of the distressed, the dispossessed and the
oppressed. ....

… Although the great bulk of Muslims seek to improve their status through quiet,
moderate and pacific means, violent methods have been adopted by fringe
groups—elements also present in Christianity and Judaism. Oblivious to their own
profound ignorance and often harboring crude political motivations, many Western
opinion leaders consistently label all Muslims with words such as 'aggressive',
'militant' and 'uncivilized'. Islam is the 'religion of the sword'; Muslim
activists are 'terrorists,' and Muslims countries that challenge Western
policies are 'outlaw states'.

Muslims themselves maintain quite a different worldview. It is in the deepest
interest of the United States to attempt to understand this perspective. In
brief, Muslims see themselves as the afflicted, not the afflictors; they feel
themselves desperately on the defensive, not on the offensive; they consider
themselves the objects of violence, not the initiators of violence. In sum,
Muslims across the world consider themselves victims. In support of their
position, Muslims will take their Christian and Jewish neighbors on a quick tour
of the world. They inevitably begin with Bosnia, where nearly 200,000 Muslims
have been slaughtered by Serbian Christians. Muslims are horrified and sickened
by the fact that 22,000 Muslim women, aged 9 to 82, have been raped by Christian
troopers. Muslims wonder privately about the weak and very late Western
response.

In Kashmir, Indian occupying forces violently oppress Muslims, killing thousands
of Kashmiris. Elsewhere in India in December 1992 and January 1993, violent
Hindu mobs went on a rampage in Bombay, killing over 800 Muslims, destroying
5000 Muslim homes and forcing 200,000 Muslims to flee the city. Mosques were
firebombed and mothers watched as their sons were pulled from their homes and
slain or burned alive. In Tajikstan and other places in Central Asia, the
Communists have made a comeback and, with the help of Russian troops, have
attacked and killed more than 20,000 Muslims. Another 350,000 have been forced
to flee.

Even in China, Muslims find themselves under heavy military pressure. Chinese
troops oppress Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang.

In Algeria, when the Islamists scored a surprise victory in the December 1991
elections, the regime declared the election null and void. Since then, Algeria
has been the scene of a bloody civil war. The government blames Islamic
fundamentalists of striking terror in the very same areas where they had
received majority of votes from. The governments explanation of fundamentalists
unleashing waves of terror in their own strongholds, sounds very plausible
indeed and casts shadows of dound over the credentials of the secular government
instead.

A vicious cycle of misunderstanding, misguided policy and increasing violence
has been set in motion. Before this vicious cycle begins to spin wildly out of
control, it is essential that non-Muslims make a major effort to slow it down.
Such an effort will, as the very first step, require that stereotypes be
discarded.

Second, recent history shows that the application of force is not always an
effective way of countering a system of deeply held ideas and beliefs. The
steady flame of resurgent Islam will not be extinguished by the breeze of
bullets or the blast of missiles. A recently published report in Washington
Post, confirms Islam to be the fastest growing religion in the United States
despite hostile government policies and negative media stereotyping, only goes
on to prove the truth of this statement. It is time for everyone to take a crash
course on Islam. More recently, CNN too published a report, first of US kind
ever done in this part of the World, titled as: Islam in US - Growing and
maturing




For more information about Islam:

http://www.geocities.com/fares3456/1.html