AFTER 9/11, lots of things were said about Islam, some of them contradictory, and many of them by people with believable credentials. My spouse and I didn't know what to think, so we started looking into it. We read lots of materials — pro-Islam books, anti-Islam books, and classic Islamic doctrines, like the Quran. We've been on an eight-year learning binge.We have become disgusted by people whose criticisms of Islam are motivated by bigotry and racism. And we've also became frustrated by people who know nothing about Islam but are so vehemently against the racist bigots that they said and believed foolish things about Islam — things that anyone with even a smattering of knowledge would know is not true.
Islam is an active and vital religion, and it is growing. It is having an increasingly powerful influence on world affairs. And most people in the free world do not even know the most basic facts about it, and yet make the assumption that Islam must be similar to other religions they are familiar with. This widespread assumption could have unexpected consequences because Islam is different than all other religions in many important ways.
My spouse and I are not Christians or Buddhists or Jews or Hindus. We are not the members of any religion. I thought this was important to point out. We don't have a religious ax to grind.
The purpose of this site is to begin the education process for non-Muslims who don't know much about Islam but are curious about it. Once your interest has been piqued, your next step is to read the Quran yourself. Fortunately, reading the Quran has been made relatively easy. Learn more about that here: An Easier Way to Read the Quran.
Below is a table of contents for this site. You will find the same table of contents in the upper right sidebar of every page. The pages can be read in any order. Here they are:
Prevent Bigotry and Racism
What Makes Islam So Successful?
An Eight Minute Video About Islam
Islam and Women's Rights
Do You Know Much About Islam?
A Muslim Woman Speaks About Islam
Gentle Jihad
An Easier Way to Read the Quran
Critique of Pure Islam
Criticism of Islam Versus Bigotry
Why Know About Islam?
Do Islamic Texts Encourage Violence?
What is Taqiyya?
Perfectly Legal Jihad
The Allegory of Pleasantville
A Conversation About Islam
Thank you for this excellent site explaining Islam. Your site is elegant, simple and easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteI have linked your explanation from my blog www.TheSocietyProject.org where I explain American Values vs foreign ones.
I'm losing hope. Unfortunately, bigots (and as bigots I don't mean us, but those to defend islam even if they know what it is) are winning.
ReplyDeleteThey say thing like
Genital mutilation - just their culture
Killing - just different values
etc...
There is no hope if they are willing to be dhimmies instead to stand up and say: 'This is our country! Respect our rules and if you don't like them, return to your homeland!'
This is how a culture evolves. Every new idea has to go through the same stages. First people think it's a bad idea. Then they're skeptical but listening. Eventually they think it was their idea all along.
DeleteOur challenge is how can you reach someone whose mind is already made up. The person you're talking to has already gotten a great deal of "education" about Islam from mainstream media. Mainstream "news" organizations not only present themselves as unbiased, but they all agree with each other on Islam. I don't know if that's because the Islamic PR machine is so effective, or just because somehow the "anti-Islam" position has been associated with conservatives and most people in the mainstream media are liberals, or what. But the upshot is that the person you're talking to has heard everyone in authority that he listens to — NPR and PBS and NBC and CBS and ABC and even the last two presidents — all presenting an identical point of view. Namely, that Islam teaches peace and terrorists are just wackos who have mistakenly attributed their violence and political actions with Islam, but really it has nothing to do with Islam, and besides, most Muslims are peace-loving people, and they are a persecuted minority so not only should we not criticize them, but we should bend over backwards to make them feel welcome in this country because that's the kind of people we are.
When someone gets the same message from so many different sources, and only hears people with your point of view in little clips on mainstream news — clips long enough to make the person look like a madman, but short enough to give the commentator something to belittle — then they feel completely certain their point of view is right.
That's why he will argue with what you're saying about Islam, even though he actually knows nothing about Islam.
Can you get better at reaching people? Yes. Talk to others who are trying to do the same thing by clicking here.