This Is Islam

This Is Islam
by Marilyn Mackenzie


I really wanted to enter this contest:

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It said that it was a contest for non-Muslims to tell what Islam means to them.

But as I pondered this, I thought, “Most probably my entry in this contest will be deleted, as have other entries. It seems that the contest organizer wanted non-Muslims to write cheery things about Islam. There are some of those entries here, and they will undoubtedly be kept and will win. But is Islam really all bubblegum and roses? Not from what I’ve gathered in my studies and reading.”

I didn’t know much about any other faiths as a child, and I probably would not have been interested in studying Islam if I hadn’t met Matin in my junior year of high school. He was my boyfriend’s best friend. Matin didn’t speak much about this faith. He knew we were Christian; we knew he was a Muslim.

One day, as Matin and I waited in the car for Wayne, he said, “You know I have to kill you.” Of course that was a shocking statement, and when he explained his reason for saying this – that his holy book said he had to kill me if he couldn’t convert me – I was even more shocked. That’s when I started studying all kinds of religions and cults.

To me, being someone of the Islam faith is much like being a Mason. In each case, it appears that only those in the higher levels of authority really know or understand what it is really all about.

There are words clearly written in the Quran that say if a Muslim cannot convert someone to the faith, he/she must kill the infidel. Still, most followers (especially Westerners) claim either that the words do not appear or that it doesn’t really mean that.

The Masonic Lodge members are just as blind. Even while they are taking oaths about slicing someone’s throat if they ever tell the secrets, they claim it’s all symbolic.

Only those who rise through the ranks really know the motivation and the purpose of each of these, I believe. In each case, I wonder how one can follow something and not really know or understand what lies beneath the surface.

Although I was raised in a Christian home and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at the age of seven, I have studied most world religions and cults over the years so I could better understand them. As a teen, I studied them with quite an open mind, ready to change faiths if I could find one that was more real and true than the Christian faith. I found nothing of the sort. But I have continued to read and study over the years.

I believe that’s one thing that makes me different than those I have known who followed Muhammad. Most of them didn’t want to know about other faiths. They didn’t want to hear anything that would go against what they thought about their own faith.

Conversely, when someone attacks the Christian faith, I usually read what he or she has written and study to find out how the individual came to the conclusions made. One example was after reading The DaVinci Code and seeing the movie. I read with an open mind, then read the Bible and the works of biblical scholars to see how the book’s theories lined up with biblical truths and historical accounts.

But Muslim friends or acquaintances I’ve had would not approach criticism of their faith in the same way. Most would just say, “You’re wrong” and not be able to point out any proof.

Obviously, because the world has seen what can happen at the hands of extreme Muslims, we are all watching and trying to learn more about the faith.

Just today, I received a transcript of part of the interview on MSNBC’s Connected program on July 15 with Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker. Rehov has filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian areas.

Q – “Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?”

A – “All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail on earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million moderate Muslims to become extremists.”

Also in this morning’s email, I received an advertisement for a book by Robert Spencer - The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion. The introduction said: “As American and European leaders continue to assure us that true Islam is peaceful, and formulate foreign and domestic policy on that basis, it is more important today than ever before for non-Muslims to know exactly what Islam's founder, Muhammad, actually did and taught. Now, in The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion, Robert Spencer provides a frank and accurate picture of the Muhammad that Muslims around the world revere: a warlord who preached violence, ordered the assassinations of his enemies, and used his "divine revelations" for his personal self-aggrandizement.”

Whether we are Christian or Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist, or of any other faith, I believe we owe it to ourselves and to the world to know exactly what our religion means, what it stands for, and even how the world perceives it. If we are following a particular faith, then we must realize that we are going to be viewed in the same light as the most passive of our faith and as the most aggressive. We will be judged mostly by those who make headlines.

I wish I had been able to enter the above referenced contest. Deleting negative messages from contests is not how we will learn how others view our faith. Only by knowing both the positive and negatives that are being told and circulated about each faith will we truly begin to understand each other.